I currently have a Ryzen 7 5700X, a Gigabyte B550I Aorus Pro AX motherboard, 32GB of DDR4 memory, a Cooler Master 750W power supply, and two 1TB NVMe drives, but no graphics card after selling my RTX 3060 Ti. Its 8GB of VRAM was starting to cause problems in games such as Crimson Desert.
I am deciding between an ASUS RX 9070 OC for €640 and an ASUS RX 9070 XT 16GB for €780. Nvidia cards with 16GB of VRAM seem considerably more expensive, so they are probably not practical for my budget.
My main target is 1440p gaming on a two-monitor setup. I play games including Elden Ring, Crimson Desert, Path of Exile 2, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, and eventually Cyberpunk 2077. I would like the system to last around five years, although I do not need to play every new release at maximum settings.
I had considered moving to a newer platform, but replacing the motherboard, processor, and RAM would be expensive, especially since I also need a graphics card. The biggest possible upgrade for my current system would be a Ryzen 7 5800X3D, though it costs around €350 here and I would need to save for it.
Would it be wiser to buy the RX 9070 and upgrade the processor later if necessary, or spend the extra €140 on the RX 9070 XT and keep the 5700X? Is the 5700X likely to be a serious limitation at 1440p, and are there any better options I should consider?
5 Answers
Do not upgrade the CPU just because of bottleneck discussions. The 5800X3D is excellent, but the difference will mainly show in CPU-heavy games and frame-time lows rather than every typical AAA title. Buy the card, monitor your GPU usage and frame rates, and only replace the 5700X if you are actually unhappy with the results. If you find a 5700X3D or 5800X3D at a substantial discount, then it becomes a more attractive upgrade.
I would start with the graphics card and keep the 5700X for now. At 1440p, the RX 9070 should already provide a strong experience at high or ultra settings without ray tracing. The XT is faster and may age better, but €140 for roughly a 10–12% performance increase is not automatically a great value. Try the new card with your current processor before spending another €350 on an X3D chip.
That makes sense. I am hoping to keep the system for at least five years, but I also do not know what hardware will look like by then. The 5700X may be good enough for much longer than I expected.
Staying on your current platform is reasonable. A GPU upgrade will make a much larger difference than moving from one modern processor platform to another for 1440p gaming. Buy whichever RX 9070 model offers the best price and cooler, then save for a future platform change instead of forcing an expensive upgrade now.
For your stated resolution, I would lean toward the regular RX 9070 at €640 unless you specifically want the extra longevity or plan to increase settings later. The XT makes more sense for 4K or if the price difference is much smaller. Either card should work with your 750W power supply, assuming it is in good condition and you use the recommended power cables. A lower-priced RX 9070 GRE could also be worth checking, but it should be meaningfully cheaper than the standard 9070 to justify giving up some performance.
The RX 9070 XT is the better long-term purchase if the extra €140 fits comfortably in your budget. It gives you more GPU headroom and 16GB of VRAM, which could help as newer games become more demanding. At 1440p, the 5700X might limit performance in some CPU-heavy games, but that does not mean the combination will perform badly. You can always upgrade the processor later if testing shows a real limitation.
The 5800X3D costs about €350 here, so I will probably wait for a better price. I am glad to hear the 5700X is not an urgent problem at 1440p.