The RTX 5070 12GB and RX 9070 XT 16GB are both selling for around $900 at a nearby store, despite the unusually high pricing. This would be my first PC, and I plan to use it mainly for 1440p gaming, programming, GIS, and occasional content creation. I also want the system to last roughly four or five years without upgrading. I am not particularly interested in running LLMs, and I do not think my GIS work requires CUDA. With those workloads in mind, which graphics card would be the better choice?
4 Answers
For mostly gaming and general use, I would pick the 9070 XT without much hesitation. The RTX 5070 can still offer slightly better image quality in some upscaling situations and may have better support in particular applications, but the 9070 XT has a substantial performance and VRAM advantage at the same price.
At the same price, the RX 9070 XT is the stronger gaming card. It is closer to the RTX 5070 Ti in performance than to the regular RTX 5070, and its 16GB of VRAM should also age better for 1440p gaming over the next several years.
The main reason to choose the RTX 5070 would be a specific software requirement. CUDA, some Nvidia-accelerated production tools, and Nvidia's upscaling features may make it preferable for certain workloads. If your programming, GIS, and editing applications do not depend on CUDA, the 9070 XT is the more sensible option overall.
The $900 price is painful for either card, but if the complete 9070 XT build is only about 20% more expensive than a system with a 16GB 9060 XT, upgrading to the faster card makes more sense if you want to avoid replacing the GPU for several years.
I am not focused on LLMs, and my GIS work does not appear to require CUDA, so that probably removes the biggest reason to choose Nvidia. I am hoping to keep the build for four or five years.