Four and a half years ago, I upgraded my graphics card from an AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB to a Radeon RX 5700 XT 8GB, which you can read about in this article: I Just Upgraded To The ROG Strix RX-5700 XT GPU. Four years is a long time in tech, and when it was launched in 2019, the RX 5700 XT was competing against the Nvidia RTX 2070Ti. I had been hankering for an RTX card for ray tracing, but Nvidia’s prices were sky-high, combined with a worldwide shortage of GPUs. Anyway, it satisfied my outbreak of STS – Shiny Thing Syndrome – and has performed beautifully ever since, unlike AMD’s Adrenaline drivers, but that’s another story.
STS Strikes Again!
Gaming and GPU technology move quickly, and soon enough, STS hit me again. With so many games adding new features and GPUs getting faster and faster, I began to look at replacing the 5700. Perhaps FOMO – Fear of Missing Out – could also have been a factor, so I set my sights very high and began to look at AMD’s new RDNA 4 9000 series cards and Nvidia’s RTX 5000 series. In the end, it was a toss-up between AMD’s RX 9070 XT 16GB and Nvidia’s RTX 5070Ti 16GB cards. This time around, I really wanted to go the Nvidia route since I hadn’t used one of their cards since the GTX 970 in 2015, and I was keen to see how the RTX series did ray tracing. However, the debacle over Nvidia’s 12VHPWR (or 12+4 pin) 16-pin power connector burn-outs ultimately put me off, so it had to be the RX 9070 XT.
Gigabyte Aorus Elite RX 9070 XT 16 GB
I really wanted to continue with an Asus card, but they were difficult to find, and the Asus Prime examples were in shops located in dodgy areas of Buenos Aires. In the end, I found Gigabyte’s top-of-the-line card in a city centre shopping mall dedicated to all things computer-related – paradise for me. Naturally, I had researched the GPU market extensively, and once I got tired of endless YouTube benchmarks and bar charts, I got on my bike and bought the card.
Is Your PC Case Big Enough?
I have a Cooler Master Storm Trooper full tower case. It’s enormous, will accommodate up to eight spinner hard drives, has numerous filters, and when fully loaded, weighs an absolute ton! But, I was under the mistaken belief that practically any GPU would fit in the case, because when I bought the case, most GPUs were less than 30cm/11.8in long, with the RX 5700 XT being around 31cm. However, I spent so much time investigating the Gigabyte RX 9070 XT that I didn’t pay enough attention to its dimensions – it’s 34cm/13.4in long, and I struggled to fit it in the case, with literally mm to spare.
The card also came with a sturdy anti-sag bracket, but because the fit was so tight, I’ve been unable to set that up. However, since it’s been nearly five years since I gave the PC a good spring clean, I’ve stripped the case down to the metal and will be rebuilding it over the next couple of days.
How Does The RX 9070 XT Perform?
It’s more than twice as powerful as the RX 5700 XT, has double the VRAM, and will handle ray tracing, so I’ll be writing a further article with some before and after benchmarks once I’ve put the PC back together, if I can remember where everything goes.
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Ahh Marc, I wish I hadnt read this article! Not because I disagree or dont like it (I hasten to add) but about 6 months ago I upgraded my system and bought a Radion RX 7800 XT. I couldnt help but look at the RX 9070 XT prices and specs and if I had only waited a couple of months I could have got the RX 9070 XT for much the same price as I paid for my RX 7800 XT.
I am just not brave enough to tell my wife that I want to buy a GPU upgrade again so it will have to wait – LOL
As I said I upgraded my system a short while ago and like many what did I forget? The PSU, its time for me to move that up to a 1000 watt.
Alan
Hello Alan
There’s no doubt that GPU prices are now getting silly and your 7800 XT is at a similar price to the 9070 XT where I live, hence my choice. My thinking was that if I upgrade now, I may as well go for broke. I might add that I was on my best behaviour leading up to this, so my wife was very gracious about it, fortunately.
I did consider upgrading my 850w PSU, but again, prices for 1000w and up are crazy. Besides, my current PSU manages fine, for now…
Cheers
Marc
The issue I have with the PSU Marc is that its a 750w and multiple sites that work out what they think you should have varies so much. Both ends of the scale was silly to say the least, one saying that I should be fine with 500w and another saying I need at least 1400w! I settled on 1000w to meet things half way and besides that I dont have anything unusually demanding.
Its hard to get an accurate estimate on just what I need.
Yes, Alan, I take those estimates with a pinch of salt too.
Mind you, that 1000W PSU should last you until the next big thing comes along!
Thanks Marc
Not long before the 5000 NVidia series came out I anticipated the inevitable shortage of the new cards and purchased a (relatively speaking) bargain-priced 4080 Super GPU and have been gratuitously patting myself on the back for foresight ever since. Especially so when it quickly became apparent that, not only were new 5080’s virtually unobtainable at launch, but reviews revealed that they gave you only a negligible frame rate boost over the previous Super card. I need a powerful card to drive my Microsoft Flight Sim 2024 at decent frame rates with a VR headset although the old 3070 I kept in the old build is still a great card.
Like you I had to check very carefully before purchase that the 4080 Super would fit but as mine was part of a complete new build with a new case I could ensure the GPU length clearance beforehand. Where I almost came unstuck is that given how also expandingly wide the new GPUs are (similar to my waistline) the card power connector comes very close to the flash clear glass aquarium-look sides of the case. If I didn’t want the cable being placed under strain by being pressed on by the glass sides (given the 12VHPWR potential burning issues) I needed to go with a correctly oriented right-angle connector. This took me a couple of wasteful purchases to finally get the perfect one I was happy with. I keep meaning to list the incorrect ones on EBay but can’t be bothered with the hassle of selling for a small amount.
I did look at AMD but they just weren’t quite up there comparatively with the Ray tracing and visuals are everything in a photo realistic flight sim.
Cheers
Reg
Hello Reg
As I mentioned, I would definitely have gone Nvidia had it not been for the connector burn-outs, not to mention the scalper prices in Argentina. Having said that, last year I rebuilt a client’s PC with a 4000 series card and he’s not had any connector problems to date.
MFS is very demanding and I have MFS 2020, which I haven’t played for years, but might fire it up on the 9070.
As for PSU PCIe cables, yes they are bulky, so I’m going to get some sleeved extensions which are easier to manipulate.
Cheers
Marc