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Graphics Card Upgrade Advice - Budget c£600

4Play

4Play

4Play

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Joined
4 Oct 2009
Posts
1,039
Location
Hull East Yorkshire
Afternoon All,

Looking for some advice please regarding a graphics card upgrade. I currently have a 1080 (a relic of an older better time!) which has served me well but I feel its more than earned its retirement.

My PC specs are currently as follows:

CPU - Ryzen 3700x
RAM - 32gb DDR4
MB - Aorus x570 elite
GPU - 1080 8gb
PSU - I can't remember the make or power exactly but it will be a good quality 750-850 watt on the basis I've seen lots of advice over the years on this forum not to scrimp on the PSU!

I know I have needed to upgrade for a long time but I honestly despair at how GPU prices have moved over the years and I just can't justify spending more then £600 on one PC component.....

I have a 1440p monitor which is fine resolution wise, I have no intention of upgrading to 4k anytime soon. Ray tracing looks good on some titles but again is something I can take or leave. Games wise I plau League of Legends, CS2, Valorant, Hell Divers with some MMO's mixed in from time to time. Upcoming titles I'd like to play is the Gears of War remaster and RES9 next year.

I've done some research and I'm thinking either:

16gb 9060 XT - Seems the best value for the budget and would still be a big jump in performance from what I currently have.

5070 - Can get them for close to £500 now, although I'm concerned the 12gb VRAM isn't going to cut it for future titles? Doesn't seem to have reviewed well either but was this because of the driver issues at launch?

9070/9070xt - Can get these for around buget maybe slightly more but seems to have reviewed well. Looks to be above MSRP at the moment due to their popularity?

Thoughts and advice absolutely welcome.

Thanks all.

4play
 
Hi,

What games do you plan to play? Some games work better on AMD, some on Nvidia.

Foe example, Call of Duty games play great on AMD.

Also, features are also important. Do you think you want Ray tracing, or not so much. Ray Tracing is better on Nvidia cards at RTX 5070Ti level, and above. The same could be said for DLSS 4 or FSR 4. The latter solution is from AMD, the former Nvidia. DLSS is the more popular upscale software, at present.

In my circumstance, I got an AMD Sapphire RX 9070XT Nitro Plus, for £684.00. I don't regret it.

Note, 16 gigabytes of VRAM will have more of an impact over the next few years. 8 or 12 gigabyte VRAM cards will not cut-it once PS6 and Xbox (whatever name they call it) release new consoles in 2027, or 2028. Because I predict the consoles will have 24-32 gig of video memory onboard. But this all depends on how long you want to keep your new video card.

Cheers

Von
 
Given your someone who doesn't appear to upgrade your graphics card that often I would get pay a bit more now and get 16Gb card as it will have the legs to cope with games as they get more demanding.
 
4Play said:
Thoughts and advice absolutely welcome.
Click to expand...
9060 XT does do pretty well for the money, but it is a very different class of card to a 9070/9070 XT (e.g. they can even be double the framerate at higher resolutions in some games).

If it was me, I'd get a 9070 XT or 5070 Ti for longer-term 1440p gameplay, though I know you don't want to spend more than 600 and you can't get either card for that.
 
Gears of War Reloaded and Resident Evil 9 will probably take some grunt to play at 1440p high settings. I don't think the 9060XT will be enough. Also, the 5070's 12GB could be a problem.

The 9070 non-XT is the cheapest I would go, 16GB VRAM, faster than the 5070. OCUK currently sells for £560, within budget.

I'd then make a plan to upgrade the rest of the system. See first how much the 3700x holds you back in Gears of War. If it's OK, then get ready to upgrade around black friday, there's usually £20-£50 off CPUs, motherboards, and RAM.
 
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Thanks everyone for your input and advice, much appreciated.

As a few have stated in this thread, I'm not one to upgrade every GPU generation so it probably does make sense to spend a little more now for an element of future proofing. On that basis I'm going to go with either the 9070 or 9070XT, even if it is a little over my originl budget.

Is there any particular variant of the 9070 or 9070xt that people would recommend? It looks like the Sapphire Nitro and Hellhound models have reviewed well.
 
4Play said:
Is there any particular variant of the 9070 or 9070xt that people would recommend? It looks like the Sapphire Nitro and Hellhound models have reviewed well.
Click to expand...
I'd rather have the Pulse over the Nitro. The purposeful use of the 12VHPWR/12v-2x6 is a decision I find boggling and in TPU's comparison the Pulse was actually a little bit cooler/quieter. Though, to be fair, it was using ~40 watts less power than the Nitro.
 
RX 9070. It performs well in UE5 games.

PSU should handle that fine.

If looking for a Nvidia card instead, you could wait for the Supers to come out, and then the RTX 5070 TI might be within budget.

I get the impression that Nvidia hasn't / can't produce enough RTX 5070 TIs.
 
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4Play said:
Thanks everyone for your input and advice, much appreciated.

As a few have stated in this thread, I'm not one to upgrade every GPU generation so it probably does make sense to spend a little more now for an element of future proofing. On that basis I'm going to go with either the 9070 or 9070XT, even if it is a little over my originl budget.

Is there any particular variant of the 9070 or 9070xt that people would recommend? It looks like the Sapphire Nitro and Hellhound models have reviewed well.
Click to expand...

I would get a RX 9070 with a decent all around heat profile.

Some of the 9070 models have maximum memory temperatures near/ at 90 degrees C, see review here:
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/asrock-radeon-rx-9070-steel-legend-oc/38.html

I don't see a problem with the XFX RX 9070 QuickSilver OC, and the prices seem fine.

It's a good idea to read some reviews, however. I've read a few reviews of XFX cards, and the thermals are generally good.
 
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I would get the 9070xt if you can stretch to it if you can't then 9070, but also be on the lookout for second hand 5700x3d which will give you additional boost I frames, @1440p the card will last you a long time. Unfortunately these silly gpu prices are here to stay and will most likely get worse over the next few years before it gets any better.
 
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A 9070 XT could be worth it if playing demanding games at 1440p.

The card does reasonably well in Oblivion remastered at 1440p:

TES-p.webp


Link:
https://www.techspot.com/review/2991-amd-radeon-9070-xt-vs-nvidia-rtx-5070/#The_Elder_Scrolls_IV

I'm not sure if AMD is done with the RDNA4 series yet, though. The naming scheme of xx60, xx70, kind of implies that they could still go after Nvidia's 5080.

I think what AMD said at the time, was that they wanted to focus on graphics cards that a decent number of people could actually afford (without needing a high capacity PSU as well).
 
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Tetras said:
I'd rather have the Pulse over the Nitro. The purposeful use of the 12VHPWR/12v-2x6 is a decision I find boggling and in TPU's comparison the Pulse was actually a little bit cooler/quieter. Though, to be fair, it was using ~40 watts less power than the Nitro.
Click to expand...
Yeah I thought the 12vh connector on the nitro was an odd choice, would far rather 2 or 3 8 pin PCIe.

I've had my 7900XT for about 18 months and can easily see it being a 3-5 year card given the current rate of stagnation, unless I can pick up a 4090 for cheap (or 5080S a couple of years after they come out)
 
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