I'm planning a new PC after several years with a 2021 laptop that is starting to struggle. I mainly play visually demanding open-world and exploration-focused games, including Red Dead Redemption 2, heavily modded Skyrim, modded Minecraft, the Horizon series, and Ark: Survival Evolved. My priority is running high or ultra settings at 4K with smooth performance, including ray tracing when practical.
I also use GIS software for work, so the GPU needs to be NVIDIA. I'm considering cards such as the RTX 5070 Ti, 5080, or 5090 and would appreciate advice on what fits these games best. In particular, what performance and features would I be giving up by choosing a 5080 instead of a 5090?
4 Answers
The RTX 5070 Ti is probably the best value for your games. It can handle 4K very well with DLSS, and frame generation can help in especially demanding titles. The RTX 5080 is roughly 15–20% faster, so it makes sense if you want more headroom for ray tracing and higher settings. The 5090 is difficult to justify unless money is no concern, especially at current prices.
The real difference between these cards is how much compromise you want to make. The 5070 Ti can generally deliver 4K around 60 FPS with DLSS and optimized settings, while the 5080 gives you more room for native resolution, ultra presets, and ray tracing. A 5090 mainly buys higher frame rates and the ability to turn on everything without worrying about settings, but it is extremely expensive for the improvement.
A 4070 Ti Super is still a strong option if you find one at a good price. It can run Red Dead Redemption 2 at maximum settings and handle heavily modded Skyrim smoothly. For your mostly single-player games, anything consistently above 60 FPS should feel good, so a previous-generation card could offer much better value than the newest models.
I’m using an RTX 5070 Ti with 4K DLSS Quality in Red Dead Redemption 2 and seeing around 100–110 FPS with max settings. Even demanding path-traced games can be playable with DLSS and frame generation. If you’re comfortable using those features and occasionally adjusting a few settings, the 5070 Ti is a surprisingly capable 4K card. I’d look at the 5080 only if you specifically want more ray-tracing headroom or prefer to rely less on upscaling.
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