I'm planning a new gaming PC with a Ryzen 7 9800X3D or 9850X3D, 32GB of DDR5 memory, and an ASUS ROG B850-A Gaming WiFi motherboard, but I haven't chosen a graphics card yet. I'm deciding between the Radeon RX 9070 XT, GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, and RTX 5080. The 5080 seems quite expensive, so I'm trying to find the best balance between price and performance.
My main goal is playing Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K, although I'd also like strong 1440p performance. I may change some of the other components later as I save money, so I'm open to suggestions for a more sensible motherboard, memory kit, or other parts if that would let me spend more effectively on the GPU.
4 Answers
Before choosing the GPU, decide which monitor you’ll be using. For a standard 1440p display, the 9070 XT or 5070 Ti should provide plenty of performance. For a 4K high-refresh monitor and maximum Cyberpunk settings, you’ll need to consider the RTX 5080 or accept compromises with upscaling and ray tracing. Also, don’t overspend on the motherboard just for future upgrades; a reliable B850 board around the midrange price point should be enough.
For Cyberpunk at 4K with heavy ray tracing or path tracing, Nvidia has an advantage because of DLSS and frame generation. The RTX 5070 Ti is a reasonable middle ground, while the RTX 5080 is the better choice if you want higher settings and more headroom. However, every card you listed will benefit from upscaling at 4K, especially with ray tracing enabled.
The RX 9070 XT is probably the strongest performance-per-dollar choice. The RTX 5070 Ti or 5080 only make sense if the extra cost fits comfortably without forcing you to cheap out on other important parts. You could also save money with a less expensive B850 motherboard and a standard DDR5-6000 CL30 kit; premium branding on those parts doesn’t improve gaming performance.
The 9070 XT should handle 4K Cyberpunk well with sensible settings and upscaling, and you may not need frame generation if you’re happy with the image quality and frame rate. The 5070 Ti and 5080 are faster, but the price increase can be large compared with the actual performance gain. Full path tracing is a different story, though; none of these cards will make that effortless at native 4K.
That matches my experience. The 9070 XT can be very playable at 4K without frame generation, but demanding ray-tracing presets vary a lot from game to game.
I’m not necessarily trying to use maximum ray tracing settings all the time. I mainly want a smooth 4K experience without spending more than I need to.