I'm looking to upgrade from my RTX 3070 and recently bought an open-box Gigabyte RTX 5070 Windforce for $700 at Best Buy. After reading some reviews saying the 5070 may not be worth the price, I'm wondering whether I should return it and choose a different card instead. I like using DLSS, although I don't use ray tracing very often. My current processor is a Ryzen 9 3900X, and I'm considering upgrading to a Ryzen 9 5900XT because I may get into video editing, streaming, and coding. I currently play at 1440p and 144Hz. Should I keep the RTX 5070, or would an RX 9070 or 9070 XT make more sense?
5 Answers
Some people would return the $700 open-box 5070 and look for a better-priced RX 9070 or 9070 XT, since those cards can provide more gaming performance for similar money. However, if the RTX 5070 is performing well in your games and you care about DLSS or Nvidia’s software ecosystem, keeping it is perfectly reasonable. There isn’t an urgent need to replace it just because reviews were lukewarm.
Your monitor resolution matters here. At 1440p, you’ll usually get a reasonable balance between CPU and GPU load, though competitive games may still be limited by the Ryzen 9 3900X. An RX 9070-series card could be attractive for raw performance, while the RTX 5070 is the safer choice if DLSS and Nvidia’s productivity features are important to you.
If you can find an RX 9070 or 9070 XT for roughly the same price, it may offer better overall performance, especially in standard rasterized gaming. AMD’s FSR is generally considered less consistent than DLSS, but it has improved significantly, and the extra performance can help at 1440p. I’d seriously compare current prices before deciding.
Before installing the new processor, update the motherboard BIOS and chipset drivers. It’s also worth checking the BIOS PCIe link-speed setting instead of leaving it on Auto; use the highest generation your motherboard supports. The 5900XT may help with editing, streaming, and coding workloads, but make sure the upgrade is worthwhile for your specific applications and that your board supports it.
The RTX 5070 is still a meaningful upgrade from the RTX 3070, particularly if you value DLSS, ray tracing, or Nvidia’s advantages in video-editing software and streaming. Since you already have the card, test it in the games and applications you actually use rather than relying only on general reviews. At 1440p, it should be a capable match for a 144Hz monitor, depending on the games and settings.
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