I currently have an AM4 gaming system with a Ryzen 7 5700X, Gigabyte B550I Aorus Pro AX motherboard, 750W Cooler Master power supply, and two 1TB NVMe drives. I recently sold my RTX 3060 Ti because its 8GB of VRAM was starting to cause problems in newer games such as Crimson Desert.
I am deciding between an Asus RX 9070 OC for €640 and an Asus RX 9070 XT 16GB for €780. The €140 difference could instead go toward a future CPU upgrade. Nvidia is not very attractive in my area because comparable 16GB cards cost considerably more.
My main target is 1440p gaming, including Elden Ring, Crimson Desert, Path of Exile 2, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, and eventually Cyberpunk 2077. I am not planning to move to 4K. I would also prefer to keep this system for several years rather than immediately spend money on a new AM5 platform.
Would it be wiser to buy the RX 9070 and eventually upgrade to a Ryzen 7 5800X3D, or should I buy the RX 9070 XT and keep the Ryzen 7 5700X? Is the 5700X likely to hold back either card at 1440p, and are there any other upgrade options I should consider?
4 Answers
The RX 9070 XT is also a perfectly sensible choice if you want maximum longevity and do not plan to replace the platform soon. At 1440p, the 5700X may limit frame rates in some CPU-heavy games, but it will not make the XT unusable. Increasing resolution or visual settings generally shifts more of the workload to the GPU.
Do not buy the 5800X3D preemptively. Install the new GPU, monitor GPU usage and frame-time consistency, and see how your games perform. The 5800X3D can improve minimums and CPU-heavy titles, but the difference is not automatically worth paying around €350 for. If you find a good deal later, a 5700X3D or 5800X3D would be the sensible final AM4 upgrade.
Your 750W power supply should generally be adequate for either card as long as it is a good-quality unit and the required power cables are used correctly. A 9070 GRE could be worth checking if it is substantially cheaper, but between the two cards you listed, the regular 9070 offers the better value for a fixed 1440p setup. Save the remaining money for a later platform upgrade instead of jumping to AM5 right now.
For 1440p, I would start with the RX 9070 and keep the 5700X. It should deliver a huge improvement over the 3060 Ti and is already a strong match for that resolution. The XT is faster and may last a little longer, but the €140 premium is fairly large for roughly a 10–12% performance increase. You can always upgrade the CPU later if testing shows that you are actually CPU-limited.
That makes sense. I am hoping to keep the system for around five years, so I wanted to be sure staying on AM4 was still reasonable.
The 5800X3D is still about €350 here, so I will probably wait rather than buy it immediately.