I'm trying to decide between the 5070 Ti and the 9070 XT for gaming at 1080p. I know both cards are overkill for this resolution, but I'm specifically looking to max out esports titles. I have the budget for either card, and I'm curious about the raw performance difference between the two at 1080p, particularly since it seems there aren't many benchmarks available for these specific models at this resolution. I understand I'll be CPU bottlenecked, but I've already accounted for it in my build with a 9800x3d or 9850x3d processor. While I know the 9070 XT generally offers better price-to-performance, I'm primarily interested in performance here. Additionally, I've heard good things about AMD's encoder lately, which could sway me since I enjoy streaming casually. I'm also considering moving to 1440p later this year, but my current focus is on achieving a high refresh rate at 1080p first.
5 Answers
You're right in considering the long-term benefits. It's often said that investing in higher-end cards pays off as games become more demanding. Plus, the 9070 XT includes the AV1 encoder, which is great for streaming.
If you're focusing on one specific esport, check the benchmarks for that game, as certain titles benefit from different hardware. PNG's 5070 Ti shines in games with better optimization for it.
If budget isn't an issue, I'd definitely recommend going for the 5070 Ti. It’s simply the superior card in raw performance and offers features like DLSS and better NVENC support, which can be crucial for streaming.
For raw performance, the 9070 XT tends to outperform the 5070 Ti by about 5-12% in most scenarios. However, if you’re doing anything that takes advantage of NVIDIA's CUDA cores or if you plan to stream a lot, the 5070 Ti might be the better choice.
Don’t forget about the potential CPU bottleneck at 1080p. Both cards will perform similarly due to the CPU, so if you're looking strictly for gaming at this resolution, pick whichever is cheaper between the two.

Related Questions
Lenovo Thinkpad Stuck In Update Loop Install FilterDriverU2_Reload