I'm looking for a sanity check on upgrading my RTX 3070. I'm choosing between an ASRock RX 9070 for £575 and an ASUS Prime RX 9070 XT for £669. My current Corsair CX650F 650W Bronze PSU may need to be replaced for the XT, adding to its total cost, while I'm hoping the standard RX 9070 can run without a PSU upgrade.
My system has a Ryzen 5 5600X, 32GB of DDR4-3600 memory, an MSI B450 Tomahawk Max II motherboard, and an RTX 3070 Eagle OC. I may eventually upgrade the CPU to a Ryzen 7 5800X3D. I play at 1440p on a 27-inch 165Hz monitor and don't expect to move to 4K soon.
I've recently returned to PCVR with a Quest 2 and plan to move to a Quest 3. My VR games include Half-Life: Alyx, Asgard's Wrath, Skyrim VR, and various UEVR titles. I've noticed the RTX 3070's 8GB of VRAM becoming a limitation, so the 16GB on either RX 9070 model is appealing. I also play or plan to play games such as Hogwarts Legacy, Spider-Man, Helldivers 2, Elden Ring, Control Resonance, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Horizon Forbidden West.
The RX 9070 XT is roughly 10–15% faster at 1440p, but the extra graphics performance may not justify the card's higher price plus a PSU upgrade. On the other hand, I want this upgrade to last as long as possible. Is the RX 9070 the better value for my setup, or is the XT worth the additional cost? I'd also appreciate advice about AMD's RDNA4 cards for PCVR, since VR performance may differ from standard 1440p gaming benchmarks.
3 Answers
The main caution is PCVR. Nvidia has traditionally had an advantage in VR compatibility and frame-time consistency, so normal 1440p averages won’t tell the whole story. Before buying, I’d look for Quest 2 and Quest 3 benchmarks specifically covering UEVR and the games you care about. The extra VRAM on the RX 9070 is attractive, but make sure AMD’s VR experience meets your expectations first.
The RX 9070 XT is generally around 10–15% faster at 1440p, though the exact difference depends on the games and card models. On paper the standard RX 9070 looks like the better value here, especially once you include the cost of replacing the 650W PSU. You could also undervolt or reduce the XT’s power limit, but that doesn’t eliminate the need to check the manufacturer’s PSU recommendation. For your use, both cards’ 16GB of VRAM would be a substantial improvement over the 3070’s 8GB.
Your overall logic makes sense: the £575 RX 9070 gives you a large upgrade from the RTX 3070, doubles the VRAM, and may let you keep the current PSU. The XT’s extra performance is useful, but the total platform cost becomes much less attractive once a PSU upgrade is included. Check the exact ASRock model’s power requirements and connector setup before assuming the existing PSU is sufficient.
That’s where I’m leaning too. The standard RX 9070 seems like the better value, and I don’t think the modest performance difference will hurt its long-term usefulness enough to justify the extra expense.