I currently have an RX 580, 16GB of DDR4 memory, a Ryzen 5 5500, and an ASRock 750W Gold power supply on a Gigabyte B550 Gaming X WiFi motherboard. I'm considering moving to 1440p and found a used RTX 3070 for $220 or an RTX 3080 10GB for $320. I would undervolt the 3080 to reduce power consumption and load on the PSU. Which card would be the better choice for the money? I'm also considering a CPU upgrade later, but the graphics card is the main decision right now.
3 Answers
Your 750W Gold PSU should be sufficient for a 3080, assuming it’s a decent-quality unit and has the proper separate power cables. Undervolting is still a good idea because the 3080 can use a lot of power for relatively small performance gains. You can usually reduce power draw substantially without losing much performance.
I’d be cautious about upgrading from the Ryzen 5 5500 to a 5500X3D unless you’ve confirmed it gives a meaningful improvement in the games you play. A 5700X3D would be a more substantial AM4 upgrade, while keeping the current CPU and putting the money toward the GPU may give you more noticeable results at 1440p.
The 3070 is the better budget option if keeping costs down is the priority. It should handle 1440p well with sensible settings, but 8GB of VRAM is becoming limiting in some newer games. Since this is a birthday purchase and you don’t want to overspend, the 3070 is still perfectly reasonable if the extra $100 matters.
That makes sense. My main concern is getting good value since someone else would be paying for the upgrade, so I don’t want to spend more on the 3080 unless the difference is genuinely worthwhile.