I'm putting together a PC with an Intel i5-12400F and can buy either a used RTX 3070 for about $280 or a Radeon RX 6700 XT for around $240. The prices are close, but I'm unsure which card offers better overall value. I care about gaming performance, VRAM longevity, ray tracing, and features such as upscaling. Which one would you choose?
3 Answers
Both cards are fairly close overall. The RTX 3070 is the better choice if you care about ray tracing, DLSS, streaming, or CUDA-related applications. For regular rasterized gaming, the 6700 XT’s extra VRAM and $40 lower price are more compelling. I’d choose the 6700 XT unless the 3070 is in noticeably better condition or you specifically want Nvidia features.
I’d lean toward the RX 6700 XT at $240. Its 12GB of VRAM gives it more breathing room in newer games, especially at 1440p, and the lower price makes it the better value. The RTX 3070 is somewhat faster in traditional performance and has better ray tracing, DLSS, and Nvidia-specific features, but its 8GB VRAM can become a limitation sooner.
For this price difference, the 6700 XT is the safer gaming purchase. The 3070 can deliver higher performance in some games, but 8GB may force you to lower texture settings sooner. The 6700 XT has weaker ray tracing and a less capable feature set, so pick the 3070 only if those features matter more to you than VRAM and price.
The 6700 XT is listed at $240 and the 3070 is about $280, so I’m mainly trying to decide whether the Nvidia features justify paying extra.