I recently bought a Radeon 9060 XT 16GB OC Edition for $479 on sale to replace my RTX 2060 6GB. It is still sealed, and I could probably resell it without taking a major loss. After watching benchmarks, though, the 9070 GRE appears to be roughly 30–35% faster, and it costs about the same as what I paid for the 9060 XT in my country.
I mainly play at 1440p, including Cyberpunk 2077, Palworld, Warframe, Deadlock, Path of Exile 2, Black Myth: Wukong, and other demanding newer games. My display supports 4K, although I assume the 9060 XT would require heavy upscaling and reduced settings at that resolution.
The complication is that my current CPU is an i5-11400F, so I may not see the same gains shown in GPU benchmarks. I am also considering replacing the platform with an AM5 bundle, such as a Ryzen 5 9600X or 7600X with 32GB of DDR5, rather than spending more on the graphics card. Would it be smarter to keep the excellent deal on the 9060 XT, upgrade the CPU platform, or resell it and move to the 9070 GRE?
4 Answers
An AM5 bundle may make more sense for your system. The 11400F is still usable, but a Ryzen 5 9600X or similar processor would give you a stronger base for future GPU upgrades and reduce CPU limitations. An older AM4 option could save money, but it also leaves you on a platform with less upgrade potential and DDR4 memory.
I would be reluctant to give up 16GB of VRAM for a relatively modest upgrade. The GRE is faster, but the extra performance may not justify the hassle and potential resale loss when newer open-world games are becoming more demanding. The 9060 XT should be a reasonable 1440p card with sensible settings and upscaling.
The 9070 GRE would provide a noticeable performance increase, but the upgrade may not feel as large with an i5-11400F, especially in CPU-heavy games. Since the 9060 XT was an unusually good deal and is still sealed, keeping it and putting the money toward a newer CPU platform may offer better overall value. You can always upgrade the GPU later when prices improve.
An 11900K could extend the life of the current motherboard, but it may be expensive for a relatively small platform upgrade. I would compare its real local price against a complete AM5 bundle before deciding.
The decision mostly comes down to the actual price difference after selling the 9060 XT. If you can sell it for nearly what you paid and the 9070 GRE is genuinely close in price, the GRE is a valid choice for higher settings and better 1440p performance. If selling costs leave you needing to spend several hundred dollars more, the upgrade is much harder to justify.
That is my main concern too. I would rather keep the extra VRAM and wait for a future GPU upgrade than trade memory capacity for around 30% more performance right now.