I recently bought a 9070 GRE for $480 through a Micro Center deal, but I now have the option to buy an open-box 9070 XT for $650. Since I'm still within the return period, I could return the GRE and pay an extra $170 for the XT. My system has a Ryzen 9 5900X, 32GB of DDR4 RAM, a B450 Tomahawk motherboard, and a 750W power supply. I game at 1440p and mainly play demanding AAA titles at high settings. I'm hoping to keep the next GPU for at least five or six years. Would the XT's performance increase justify spending the additional $170?
4 Answers
I’d compare benchmarks for the specific games and settings you play, then decide whether the average FPS and extra headroom are worth $170 to you. The XT is faster, but it isn’t a massive generational leap, so the value depends on how much you care about maintaining higher settings over the next few years.
The decision mostly comes down to your budget and how much the XT costs after returning the GRE. Because you can still return the GRE for the full $480, the real comparison is $480 versus $650 rather than buying a second card outright. If $170 is comfortable, the XT makes sense for high-settings 1440p AAA gaming; otherwise, the GRE should still be a solid choice.
For an upgrade to the XT, I’d probably spend the extra money if it fits comfortably in your budget. Since you’re planning to keep the card for five or six years, the additional cost works out to a relatively small amount over its lifespan, and the extra performance should help in demanding 1440p games.
I’d go with the XT in this situation. It may not deliver a dramatic improvement in every game, but the extra performance can make a difference when newer, more demanding titles arrive. Just confirm that the open-box card has a normal return period and that your 750W power supply meets the XT’s recommended requirements.
That’s my thinking too. I don’t expect to replace the GPU for at least five or six years, so I’m leaning toward paying the difference now for the extra headroom.