I'm putting together a 1440p gaming setup and really don't enjoy tweaking settings, troubleshooting drivers, or fiddling with configuration files. I want a graphics card that works well out of the box. The options I'm considering are an RX 9070 for €730 and an RTX 5070 for €799. Is the extra €70 worth paying for Nvidia features such as DLSS and broader upscaling support, or could the RTX 5070's 12GB of VRAM become a limitation at 1440p in newer games?
5 Answers
The RX 9070 should be fine as a plug-and-play card. I recently bought a similar AMD card and was gaming without problems immediately. I eventually changed a few settings in the driver software out of curiosity, but none of that was necessary for stable gaming.
I don’t think the Nvidia premium is automatically worth it. The RX 9070 is generally faster in traditional rasterized games, costs less, and has more VRAM. Twelve gigabytes may already become restrictive in some demanding games, particularly with frame-generation features enabled, so the extra memory on the 9070 gives it more breathing room.
If you already expect AMD software to cause headaches, I’d simply buy the RTX 5070. Both cards should work without constant tweaking, but confidence in the purchase matters. If you can live without DLSS and prioritize performance per euro plus VRAM, the RX 9070 is the stronger value; choose Nvidia if DLSS or ray tracing is essential.
I’d lean toward the RTX 5070 if DLSS is important to you. It can make a big difference, especially when using higher resolutions or demanding settings, and the extra €70 is relatively small at this price point.
The RX 9070 offers better value if you mostly care about standard rendering performance. AMD’s newer upscaling support is improving, and the card also gives you more VRAM. Nvidia still has the clearer advantage in ray tracing and DLSS, but the ray-tracing gap is much smaller than it used to be. AMD can also be the more flexible choice for virtualization or Linux use.
That’s been my experience too. DLSS Quality lets me run demanding games at high or maximum settings while keeping performance smooth, and I rarely need to adjust anything manually.