5700 xt vs. rtx 2070 super for a new build

hossdaddy

2[H]4U
Joined
Mar 1, 2007
Messages
2,847
Hi Guys I am speccing out a gaming system for my buddy and was wondering what your thoughts are. The CPU will be a Ryzen 5 3600 with 16 gigs of 3200mhz ram.

Here in Canada the 2070 super is about $679 and there is an evga 5700 xt THICC for $519. I know there were some driver issues around christmas but, from what I have read they are all worked out.

The performance seems to be coin flip between them. That price difference will cover most of the cost of the 144hz monitor he wants to buy.

Am I crazy to recommend the 5700 xt?

TIA
 
Not crazy, just cheap.

If your buddy needs to save coin, get the 5700XT.
If your buddy wants in general a much better driver experience and possibly would like to experience DLSS and RTX, get the 2070S.

Personally I wouldn't/don't recommend Radeon anything to friends atm.
Unless, of course, I dont care if they stay my friends... :p
 
I just watched this video and it seems pretty solid.

I like the way he used 2 cards with same cooler and brand but the way he dirty installed the drivers kinda runes the test. He mentioned a mystery restart as well? Did he even bother to check event viewer? What he tested like 2 games only lol
 
Techspot did a massive 37 game comparison of the 5700XT and 2070S.

TL;DR, the 5700XT is slower than the 2070S by 6% on average at 1440P and 9% on average at 4K. If that's worth the $100+ premium for a 2070S, then go for it.

Personally, I've got both a 5700XT and 2070S in both of my daily drivers and I prefer the 2070S. The 5700XT had some growing pains IME where I could replicate a crash 100% just by using the included Wattman overlay. I've since stopped bothering with Wattman (and overlays in general, on that machine) and it's been just as stable as my 2070S rig. The only thing I prefer about the 5700XT rig is the universal sharpening is completely application agnostic whereas the image sharpening filter on the 2070S requires game/application-level support. It's a minor nitpick because reShade can basically do the same thing, but it's not as turnkey as AMD's solution.
 
Techspot did a massive 37 game comparison of the 5700XT and 2070S.

TL;DR, the 5700XT is slower than the 2070S by 6% on average at 1440P and 9% on average at 4K. If that's worth the $100+ premium for a 2070S, then go for it.

Personally, I've got both a 5700XT and 2070S in both of my daily drivers and I prefer the 2070S. The 5700XT had some growing pains IME where I could replicate a crash 100% just by using the included Wattman overlay. I've since stopped bothering with Wattman (and overlays in general, on that machine) and it's been just as stable as my 2070S rig. The only thing I prefer about the 5700XT rig is the universal sharpening is completely application agnostic whereas the image sharpening filter on the 2070S requires game/application-level support. It's a minor nitpick because reShade can basically do the same thing, but it's not as turnkey as AMD's solution.
but from aug of last year?...i suspect recent drivers have massive changes from then
 
This is from August 2019



I'll just remind again that DLSS is moving along nicely as well

 
but from aug of last year?...i suspect recent drivers have massive changes from then

Technically October was when I moved the 5700XT from my primary rig to my wife's and got the 2070S in my primary, but true, more stability fixes have rolled out since then. The most recent update mentions black screen fixes specifically from the overlay, so I would expect it to be more stable. OTOH, I didn't have to even bother with stability issues when I dropped the 2070S in. Combined with the objective performance advantage, I can see how many would skew to the green team.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Auer
like this
Techspot did a massive 37 game comparison of the 5700XT and 2070S.

TL;DR, the 5700XT is slower than the 2070S by 6% on average at 1440P and 9% on average at 4K. If that's worth the $100+ premium for a 2070S, then go for it.

Personally, I've got both a 5700XT and 2070S in both of my daily drivers and I prefer the 2070S. The 5700XT had some growing pains IME where I could replicate a crash 100% just by using the included Wattman overlay. I've since stopped bothering with Wattman (and overlays in general, on that machine) and it's been just as stable as my 2070S rig. The only thing I prefer about the 5700XT rig is the universal sharpening is completely application agnostic whereas the image sharpening filter on the 2070S requires game/application-level support. It's a minor nitpick because reShade can basically do the same thing, but it's not as turnkey as AMD's solution.
You can apply sharpening at the global or game level in the NVIDIA control panel. Works for every game.
 
These cards will become bargain bin bottom of the barrel soon as Ampere and Big Navi roll out :)
 
I would be surprised if Ampere delivered anything astounding in real world use cases. But we will see.
 
I've been using my 5700 xt (XFX RAW II version) for awhile now and here's my feedback:
For $50-100 more I think I'd go with the 2070 even if performance is equal. While my Linux gaming experience has generally been good, I've recently had some issues on Windows with the Witcher 3's DLC and some other games. There's also been a lot of driver issues reported online, and cooling & noise on the reference models isn't great.

I've had issues with the video going out consistently on certain cutscenes, forcing a restart and setting of the graphics options to a low to get past that point. Generally my driver experience hasn't been terrible, but I've spent probably a couple hours troubleshooting issues and that time is worth more than $50. And I'm still getting the issue despite recent updates so I'm sure there will be more wasted time in the future.
 
There is absolutely no way I would spend $100 extra on a 2070S over a 5700XT for the 6% performance bump at 1440p.

DLSS is useless unless it happens to be supported on one of the games you play. Until it is widespread, it's not actually a feature, it's just a talking point.
 
You can apply sharpening at the global or game level in the NVIDIA control panel. Works for every game.

Thanks for pointing this out. Been tinkering with it since you posted, but it would be ideal if this setting were accessible in the overlay for on-the-fly adjustments like AMD's solutions. It's still a very minor nitpick as I basically use Reshade to accomplish the same thing.
 
There is absolutely no way I would spend $100 extra on a 2070S over a 5700XT for the 6% performance bump at 1440p.

DLSS is useless unless it happens to be supported on one of the games you play. Until it is widespread, it's not actually a feature, it's just a talking point.

That $100 buys you peace of mind that your drivers won't implode at any given time. To some people, that's worth something.

As you so aptly pointed out, DLSS (and RTX) is supported on some games that people play, And it makes a world of difference.
 
That $100 buys you peace of mind that your drivers won't implode at any given time. To some people, that's worth something.

As you so aptly pointed out, DLSS (and RTX) is supported on some games that people play, And it makes a world of difference.

Let's pretend that there are people out there (including myself) who haven't had any major driver issues with the 5700 series cards. I had one problem and it turns out it was a game issue that was subsequently fixed by Ubisoft in a game patch. And let's also pretend that there also exist people who have had issues with Nvidia drivers (including myself) depending on the game they play. I don't buy into the $100 piece of mind argument. In the case of the OP, it's a $160 difference before he found a deal. That's just too much money for such a small difference.

DLSS is like the boy who cried wolf. Ever since August 2018, we've been waiting for it and RTX in general to be useful. As far as I'm concerned, Jensen Huang is a liar in that he was promoting features that are barely used in a handful of games 18 months after launch. Additionally, these features are usually not available at game launch but via an update weeks/months after. The hardcore gamer probably has already played the game and isn't likely to return to it just to see the difference. The only major value of the cards above the 5700xt is the increased rasterization performance that AMD cannot match, which is a very valid point. Until Nvidia is enabling RTX features on 75%+ of new releases at launch time, it's just a talking point. Unfortunately, that isn't going to be with the Turing generation, so it looks like Jensen got the last laugh.

I'm not talking as an AMD fanboy. I had a 2060, 2060S, and a 2080S in my main computer at various times since RTX launch and currently have a 1660Ti in a spare computer.
 
Last edited:
Cheapest 5700XT with good ratings: $365 after using coupon code.
https://www.newegg.com/msi-radeon-r...on=5700xt&cm_re=5700xt-_-14-137-464-_-Product
Why or why would one buy a 5600XT over a 5700 or a great deal 5700XT is beyond me unless $30-$80 is impossible to afford. Just sell something on Ebay for the cost difference, the performance difference is very significant.

Cheapest 2070s: $489 after rebate card and coupon code
https://www.newegg.com/evga-geforce-rtx-2070-super-08g-p4-3172-kr/p/N82E16814487454?Item=N82E16814487454&Description=rtx 2070 super&cm_re=rtx_2070_super-_-14-487-454-_-Product&quicklink=true&RandomID=16255688424922520200317201919

489/365 = 1.34
The 2070s is 34% more expensive, EVGA definitely has the best service for repairs or replacement over MSI. I cannot predict tomorrows game usage of either DLSS or RT or performance on first generation RTX, only look at what is available today. For me there is not much there at this time. Some good prospects I do believe. Anyways my 5700XT experience for the most part has been very good. It would be very hard to recommend the 2070s due to cost reasons over the 5700XT unless one hopes/believes it will support well RTX games of the future and if those games are worth while and you want to play, unless current titles that have RTX you really want to play and can get enough usage to warrant the extra cost.

If one wants a RT card, I would recommend waiting for next generation AMD/Nvidia cards or game console to decide what is best. Now if you have the extra bucks, want to experiment etc. Current generation RTX 2070s could be fun.
 
^^^ there's actually a $30 rebate on that MSI card also bringing the total to $335AR. So closer to 46% more expensive.
 
noko

If DLSS and RT(X) keeps moving in the right direction my early adopter non-S 2070 might have a longer life than the 2 years I was expecting.
So far it's been a fun ride.
 
If you are helping a friend build. Just go Nvidia. I have been burned by AMD cards way too many times in the past to the point I just recommend Nvidia for the sake of not having any complaint calls.
 
Its anecdotal in the end. But numbers suggest more people(including myself) have had major driver issues with AMD than with NVIDIA ( I have yet to have driver issues with 2x9600gts 2x9600gso 1x250gts 1xGTX770 1xGTX970m 3xGTX1050 1xGTX1070 and 1xRTX2080ti while I the first AMD card I bought an 7870HD wouldn't stop crashing for 8 months in the games I played most commonly and a 5700xt that is only now(maybe) not crashing in Destiny2. On the other hand I had a lot of luck and enjoyed playing with a 7670m+8650g crossfire system. I would personally go with NVIDIA. I took a leap of faith with the 5700xt because of the price to performance and I regret it. Now I have a(way to expensive) 2080ti and I really dont regret it. In the end it's up to you but for personal reasons I will be avoiding AMD for awhile in the GPU sector for a bit again.
 
Note that Recent drivers have fixed a lot of the 5700xt problems, however, there are still some issues. Black screens have still been reported. Also, i have heard reports of dx9 games not playing well with the 5700 series. One of the dx9 games I play has a bit of frame skipping. I would suggest anyone trying to save money by grabbing a 5700 card first research what its current issues are.
 
Back
Top