I recently bought a 9070 GRE for $480 through a store deal, but I now have the option to return it and buy an open-box 9070 XT for $650. The upgrade would cost me an additional $170. My system has a Ryzen 9 5900X, 32 GB of DDR4 memory, a B450 Tomahawk motherboard, a 750-watt power supply, and an aftermarket CPU cooler. I play demanding AAA games at high settings on a 1440p monitor, and I'm hoping to keep the next graphics card for at least five or six years. Would the extra performance from the 9070 XT justify spending the additional $170?
4 Answers
I’d go with the 9070 XT in this situation. Your 750-watt PSU and 1440p target should make sense for the upgrade, and keeping the card for several years makes the higher upfront cost easier to justify.
Since you’re still within the return window and would get the full $480 back, the decision is simply whether the XT’s performance is worth $170 to you. If that amount would strain your budget, keep the GRE; if it’s comfortable, the XT gives you more headroom for future AAA games.
Check benchmarks for the games and settings you actually use, then decide whether the average FPS and extra headroom are worth $170 to you. The XT is faster, but the difference isn’t so large that it’s automatically the right choice for everyone.
For an XT, I’d probably make the upgrade if the extra $170 fits comfortably in your budget. Spread over five or six years, paying more now for better performance in demanding games could be worthwhile, especially at 1440p.
I’m planning to keep this GPU for at least five or six years, so I’m leaning toward paying more now rather than upgrading again soon.