I'm planning a new gaming PC because newer and upcoming games are likely to be too demanding for my current handheld system. I'd like to play Star Wars Zero Company, the next Witcher 3 expansion, and eventually The Witcher 4. I'm mainly targeting smooth 1080p performance, with the option to try 1440p later. I'm not concerned about maxing out every setting—I'm comfortable lowering graphics settings and using upscaling, as I previously played through Cyberpunk 2077 on an RX 480.
I'm building around the GPU first and can currently get these cards for roughly:
- Sapphire RX 9070 GRE 12GB: $600
- Gigabyte RTX 5060 Ti 16GB: $550
- Sapphire RX 9060 XT 16GB: $500
With only $50 between each tier, which one offers the best value? I've been leaning toward the RTX 5060 Ti, but I'm unsure whether it's worth paying extra over the RX 9060 XT. I'm considering pairing the card with either a Ryzen 5 9600X or Ryzen 5 7600X3D.
4 Answers
The RTX 5060 Ti makes sense if you value DLSS and Nvidia’s upscaling quality more than raw performance. Its 16GB of VRAM is useful for longevity, and DLSS can make 1440p gaming look good without needing native resolution. That said, at these prices the GRE is considerably faster, so I’d only pick the 5060 Ti if its software features are a priority.
The RX 9070 GRE looks like the best value among these three. It gives up 4GB of VRAM compared with the 16GB cards, but the extra GPU horsepower matters more for current gaming performance. It’s also worth checking whether a standard RX 9070 is available locally for only $50–$75 more, since it offers additional performance and VRAM.
I’d double-check the GRE price first. It has recently been available closer to $480 in some stores, so $600 may not be a particularly good deal in your area.
The RX 9070 GRE is the strongest card here, and the performance gap between the xx60 and xx70 classes can be around 20–30% depending on the game. For just $50 more, I’d choose the GRE if you want the system to remain useful for longer. It should be especially appealing for 1440p.
All three should handle 1080p well, especially since you’re comfortable adjusting settings. For the best performance per dollar, get the RX 9070 GRE if $600 is affordable. Choose the RX 9060 XT only if keeping the budget as low as possible matters more, or if the GRE price seems inflated. Your proposed CPUs are both suitable for this class of GPU.
The 5060 Ti is a reasonable card, but paying only $50 more for a substantially faster GPU makes the GRE difficult to overlook. The choice mainly comes down to whether DLSS is worth giving up that extra performance.