I'm building a gaming PC with a Ryzen 7 7800X3D and 32GB of DDR5-6000 memory, and I'm trying to choose a graphics card for 1440p gaming at up to 240Hz, mainly in competitive FPS titles. I want strong performance without overspending, especially with current pricing being affected by demand for AI hardware. The options I'm considering are the RTX 5070, RX 9070 GRE, and RX 9060 XT. The 9060 XT has more VRAM, but I'm unsure whether its narrower 128-bit memory bus and lower bandwidth limit its ability to use that VRAM effectively. The 9070 GRE is currently my preferred option because it costs about $899 AUD from my local supplier, while the cheapest RTX 5070 models are around $1,100 AUD and the RX 9060 XT is about $950 AUD. Is the 9070 GRE the best choice for high-refresh-rate FPS gaming, or would the RTX 5070's features and performance justify paying more?
4 Answers
If you can find a regular RX 9070 at a reasonable price, it would be the best middle ground. It offers more performance and VRAM than the cards listed while often costing less than an RTX 5070. However, if your supplier only has the GRE and the 5070, the GRE still makes more sense for value at the prices you mentioned.
The RTX 5070 is a reasonable choice if you care about ray tracing, upscaling, frame generation, or Nvidia-specific software. It can also perform very well in some games, but 12GB of VRAM should be viewed as adequate rather than especially generous for a new high-end build. For competitive FPS games at 1440p, the RX 9070 GRE should provide plenty of performance, and the money saved could be put toward a better monitor or other components.
A rough performance order would be RX 9070 XT, RX 9070, RTX 5070, RX 9070 GRE, then RX 9060 XT, although the exact ranking changes depending on the game and whether ray tracing is enabled. The 9060 XT’s extra VRAM is useful for longevity, but it does not automatically make it faster. Its narrower memory interface and lower bandwidth can limit performance, so I wouldn’t buy it solely for the larger VRAM capacity when targeting 240Hz.
That was my concern with the 9060 XT. I wasn’t sure whether the extra VRAM outweighed the lower bandwidth and overall performance, but it sounds like it isn’t the best match for a high-refresh-rate build.
The RX 9070 GRE looks like the strongest value from the prices you listed. The RTX 5070 may be faster in some rasterized games and has Nvidia’s feature set, but paying roughly $200 AUD more is difficult to justify if your priority is straightforward 1440p FPS performance. I’d choose the 9070 GRE unless you specifically need Nvidia features such as CUDA or particularly strong ray-tracing performance.
That’s what I was leaning toward as well. The 9070 GRE is about $899 AUD from my supplier, compared with roughly $1,100 AUD for the cheapest 5070 models.
I haven’t been able to find a standard 9070 through my chosen supplier, so the realistic choice for me is currently the 9070 GRE versus the 5070.