Looking for a midrange GPU to play games at 1440p comfortably at ultra settings

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MaximumFlounder9110@reddit

I play all of the games listed at ultra setting 1440p with a 5600x 32gb ram and a 5060ti 16gb and get 120fs with no ray tracing in FH6, 90-100 in crimson desert and 85-90 in RDR2 - I came from a 3060ti as well. For the money if I was buying again I would go for a 9070xt .

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T2_daBest@reddit

You get 120fps stable extreme settings bo Ray tracing?

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MaximumFlounder9110@reddit

In Forza Horizon 6 - yes 120fps ultra on 95% of settings that matter (no ray tracing) - and that’s with DLSS balanced but no frame gen, honestly I’ve been testing and with dlss quality and frame gen x2 enabled I’m getting about 150-175fps with no distinguishable delay in response time.

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T2_daBest@reddit

Oh I thought you were using extreme.

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T2_daBest@reddit

Yeah for the money a 9060xt is bare minimum with those realistic expectations of fps you have. If you can squeeze for a 9070 go for it you won't regret it but if not the 9060xt will work. It should be able to run almost every game max setting (not including rt) with at least 60fps.

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ezbonez@reddit

5070

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Ryan32501@reddit

7800XT, 9070/XT, 3080, 4070S can all achieve this

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justanotherguy1977@reddit

Nice to see the 7800XT mentioned. Great card, have had it since aug 2024. Hard to get now, and pricy.

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notyouraveragecrow@reddit

Sadly yes, otherwise it would be a great alternative to the 9000 series with FSR 4.1 coming in summer!

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Jioo@reddit

In the last like 18 months I got the 7800xt, 5800x3d, new ram and an m.2, and goddamn these were some of the luckiest purchases I've made in retrospect cause everything went up in price by like 2x or is out of stock.

I gambled on FSR 4 coming to 7800xt and checked every now and then for an update but had given up recently, just to be told by a friend that it has been announced like 3 days prior to our conversation.

Never bothered with the leaked version cause I mostly played multiplayer games and did not wanna risk getting banned over it

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Withnogenes@reddit

I upgraded from a 3060 to a 7800XT because I got for about 400$. Insane, I absolutely love it!

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notyouraveragecrow@reddit

You did well with that for sure! Nice to have some luck every now and then! :D

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JoeZocktGames@reddit

I would not recommend the 3080 anymore. 10GB will be a huge bottleneck going forward.

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Im12AndWatIsThis@reddit

As someone rocking a 3080 I would agree here. I have a 10GB variant (o7 to EVGA's last generation) and can pretty regularly cap that on newer games. Often I will dial textures down a notch or two.

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beirch@reddit

DLSS reduces VRAM usage. Maybe you're thinking of frame gen.

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Im12AndWatIsThis@reddit

Fair enough. It seems i was incorrect in that assessment. The rest of my comment is still accurate.

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Flastnoles11@reddit

Down voting him don't make him wrong 🤣👍

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Bunating@reddit

3080 has a 12gb model and the 10 gb should still be good for awhile at 1440p

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JoeZocktGames@reddit

Forza Horizon 6 needs textures dialed down on the 5070 with Raytracing enabled or it starts to stutter. That is a 12GB card and a brand new one at that. It'll only get worse going forward. Why spending so much money then dialing down settings?

If you spend 600 dollars mid 2026, do NOT buy anything less than a 16Gb card. 9060 XT, 9070, 9070 XT and 5060ti are all within that price range.

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Bunating@reddit

Textures on extreme

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JoeZocktGames@reddit

Which the 9070 comfortably handles without any issues.

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Truenoiz@reddit

Because it actually has VRAM and not an AI slop version of it.

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Bunating@reddit

I have a 3080 and run everything on high/extreme, ray tracing on high at 1440p and get a solid 83 fps locked so I don’t know what you’re talking about

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Mikaeo@reddit

https://youtu.be/oMQj1lVj56U?si=QFG6wE0y_9RY2-07

That's a blatant lie, no you aren't.

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_anoyd_@reddit

I use a 12gb 3080 and the only setting I have not on extreme is the environment texture quality. I bumped it down to ultra and everything else is extreme and RT on high. I get a solid 60+ fps in dlss quality at 1440p. And if I’m using OBS and discord I reduce the env geometry quality to ultra if I feel like I’m losing frames. When I first booted the game I had everything on extreme+rt and it was stuttering like crazy. The game showed my card only got 9.5GB VRAM and as soon as I turned down the texture from extreme to ultra it fixed itself.

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_anoyd_@reddit

And yeah I don’t think anyone should consider getting a 3080 now if their priority is to max out everything at 1440p native in 2026. Isn’t the 9070/9070xt and 5070ti the only ones in the market that can do it comfortably rn?

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Bunating@reddit

I mean right there in the video it shows you 3080 at extreme preset at 1440p is 79 fps average native, and I said I have extreme and high settings, so lower than extreme preset and I have dlss, tell me how I’m lying

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ChocolateNeat4489@reddit

1440p with upscaler on is NOT 1440p. It's 1080p with quality and even less with other presents. It may still look good but it isn't 1440p.

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JoeZocktGames@reddit

Now go to the RT extreme settings in the video

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Bunating@reddit

That’s everything on extreme with extreme rt at native which I’m not doing

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JoeZocktGames@reddit

Good but Op asked for a card for the HIGHEST SETTINGS!

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JoeZocktGames@reddit

Yeah, thought so. 1440p Extreme in Forza Horizon 6 with a huge gap between the 3080 and the 5070.

That's a no brainer to pick the newer card.

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JoeZocktGames@reddit

Good for you, but you aren't buying new and recommending a 10Gb card in 2026 is pretty dumb.

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Bunating@reddit

As stated before the 3080 has a 12gb model. You can get a 3080 for like 300 bucks, what he’s asking for a 3080 comfortably handles. All the other options are great too but don’t tell him it’s a bad idea to buy a 10gb card when the 10 gb card outperforms some of the 16gb cards. It’s not all about vram

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JoeZocktGames@reddit

Listen, I know this debate. You have a 3080 and are fine with it. Doesn't mean it's a smart thing to recommend a two generations old card in 2026 when there are so many better options.

Or bluntly asked: What makes the 3080 a better pick for his request of 1440p maxed out gaming than a 9070 or 9070 XT? Or even a 5070?

He has the budget. Why would he buy a pre-used, two gens old card that does everything worse than these cards?

And saying it's not all about the VRAM is careless about the future proofing of the purchase. It will become much faster a bottleneck than the 16GB cards. That is a fact and if you disagree, you are delusional.

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StrifeTribal@reddit

Well said! I don't think anyone here is calling the 3080 a bad card by any means! But to recommend it as a new upgrade is absolutely insane.

A 9070/9070 XT is exactly the range this guys looking for. I know I am bias and love my 9070 XT, but it's just a really amazing card at the price point.

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JoeZocktGames@reddit

The 9060 XT 16Gb put the 3080 in a really tough spot. Better RT performance, similar raster performance, more VRAM and all this for ~400 dollars.

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deleted_by_reddit@reddit

[removed]

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No-Actuator-6245@reddit

I upgraded from a 10gb 3080 when the 5080 released. Even back then I had run into the 10gb VRAM limit a couple of times at 1440p. Ok it’s easy to fix dropping settings but it was already a limitation 1-2 years ago, it’s only going to get worse.

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Hetstaine@reddit

Not comfortably in Ultra in 1440 @ up to 100fps as op states. I recently sold my 10gb 3080 for this reason and moved to a 5070ti for comfortable 100 on a 34" uw 1440.

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Im12AndWatIsThis@reddit

I have a 3080 10gb and it is not delivering what OP is asking for in this post.

I can tweak settings around high or so at 1440p and usually hit 60+ FPS (with some DLSS action) on most things like Crimson Desert, Forza, other demanding titles... but at that point we aren't "at highest settings" which is the request

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Commercial-Cat5169@reddit

9070xt. My friend plays on ultra at 4k without any issues.

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Individual_Option901@reddit

I always recommend 5070 for the way to spend least money and maximise 1440p.12gb only a major problem for 4k.

The Nvidia feature set is worth it versus 9070 because when you upscale to 1440p for ray tracing and path tracing, the Nvidia AI models matter a lot more than they do at 4k because you're coming from low internal resolutions. The Frame gen is a bonus, better than AMD versions.

At 4k entry level I say the opposite, AMD 9070XT a great choice because it's hard to see the real world difference at that resolution of upscaling, therefore pocketing a few hundred savings is great.

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According_Spare7788@reddit

At this price range, probably rx 9070 or rtx 5070, maybe 9070 xt if it can be found for that price.

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Otacube3@reddit

What about 9060xt 16 GB version?

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chickenpattyenjoyer@reddit

Proud owner of a 9060xt 16gb here. In my experience it’s really more of an entry level 1440p card but it’s great at 1080p. At 1440p in modern games at ultra I’m lucky to break 70fps and usually average in the high 50s low 60s. The frames are better if you’re willing to play at medium or high though, and imo lower settings are worth it to play in 2k.

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According_Spare7788@reddit

Not comfortably imo. You can do 1440p, but with some sacrifices and RT is gonna be difficult if that's the "ultra settings" you mentioned. More and more games are relying on RT.

The performance of the 5060 ti/ 9060 xt is not quite there.

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Serious-Cloud1127@reddit

in my country 9070 is 770$ and xt 850$

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Sumeung-Gai@reddit

6900 /50xt, 9060xt 16gb, 9070 / xt, 7800xt, 4070 S/ ti, 5070, 5060 ti 16gb, 3090 / ti,

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Khalidd0dd@reddit

I have the 5070 and its so great in 1440p i really recommend this card

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stevenmass7@reddit

Get yourself an Nvidia card and save yourself headaches and better optimisation

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turned_tree@reddit

Rx6800xt

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Locke357@reddit

I upgraded from 3060ti to 5070 for 1440p with a 5700X3D, would recommend

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Dizzy335@reddit

with a 7600 you have plenty of CPU headroom for either card. the 9070 non-XT hits around 500-550 now which puts it right in your range, and for open world games like RDR2 the 16GB VRAM is going to matter more than the raw performance gap versus the 5070. RDR2 at max settings already chews through 12GB at 1440p with RT on -- the 9070 just future-proofs that build better for the next few years of games in your list

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NetEquivalent4669@reddit

4070 super

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Sakragator@reddit

Including frame gen you can hit 110 FPS in crimson desert. I have a 9950x3d.

Most gpu’s will be bottle necked by your cpu so you won’t get the full power.

I used to have a 12700k with my 4080 super and I got 1/2 of the frames I currently get.

Also I would personally avoid amd just go nvidia whatever within your budget.

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Plenty-Industries@reddit

For that 500-600 price range, you're looking at the 9060XT 16GB or 5060Ti. For $630-650 you can get into a 5070 or 9070.

at ultra settings

Gonna be real with you here broski... Running any/all games at Ultra is a MASSIVE area of diminshing returns. You get very little improvement in graphical fidelity compared to any other preset such as Medium and High, for a dramatically reduced amount of performance.

The secret to having the best of both worlds: Performance and Fidelity; is running games at optimized settings. There are several channels on youtube that have optimized settings for games that I follow. 2 of which I personally use is Benchmarking and Hardware Unboxed (when they do such a video).

Any of the above mentioned cards can comfortably run at 1440p with optimized settings (with Ray Tracing and Reconstruction off, and without rescaling) at 60-100fps with ease.

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itsabearcannon@reddit

Genuine question - why ultra?

The vast majority of even seasoned gamers have difficulty telling the difference between “high” and “ultra” in a lot of modern titles thanks to texture sizes being so high by default. “Ultra” can sometimes cut your frame rates from “high” by 30-50% just because it enables things like 16x AA that are visually indistinguishable from 4x.

Not saying you can’t go for 1440p ultra but a lot of people throw that around as a magic word that they think will buy them the best experience when in actuality it’s like spending an extra $600K on top of the base Veyron’s $1M price to buy a Veyron Super Sport that goes 4MPH faster.

“Highest” settings doesn’t mean “best”. Just because you crank it up doesn’t mean you’ll notice it. My 5090 will chug if I enable 2.5X resolution scaling in GTA V at 4K to render it at an effective ~6.5K resolution. Does running the “best” settings make the image so much better that it’s worth nuking my frame rate from ~120 FPS down to sub-30? No.

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Brilliant-Ad-3308@reddit

Ultra settings now include path tracing

So you need a 5070 Ti or 5080 for 1440p max settings.

(Even if you don’t use path tracing, Crimson Desert with Ray Regen will still kill your fps)

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RyZoX972@reddit

Rx 7900 xtx is the way to go. Absolute beast in 1440p, and still rocking in 4k. I got mine for 500€.

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deathdisco_89@reddit

If you can beat the bots, the 9070 for $529.99 would be a great deal tomorrow- https://www.newegg.com/doorbuster?template=1

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Syrath36@reddit

Good luck, when they had the 7800x3d it was gone instantly. I got one through to check out then bam an email 5 mins later saying it was outta stock at that price.

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CCPainters@reddit

1070 TI

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ducklord@reddit

II must add something almost everybody else seems to have skipped: if by "at the highest settings" you mean not only setting all "usual" settings at their max values, but also enabling path tracing, then, bad news, not even the fastest and most expensive "consumer" (har-har) GPU available, Nvidia's RTX 5090, can't pull it off in some games (if you also want up to 100FPS).

For example, recent reviews of the new Batman Lego game talk about how it can turn into a 60FPS affair if you set everything to the max, and even a PC costing over $5000 can't pull it off.

"But the textures are detailed" and stuffs :-D

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ds2121able@reddit

I got a refurbished 5070 for around that price and it’s perfect for what you’re looking for. I played all three of those games at 1440p and some others at 4K as well.

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Impossible-Move-2096@reddit

3060 Ti already solid, but for 1440p ultra in that $500–600 lane, 7800XT or 4070 Super are the sweet spot. 3080’s fine today, but VRAM could bottleneck later.

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JoeZocktGames@reddit

Makes no sense to recommend last gen cards which cost almost the same as their current successor. 9070 (XT) and 5070 are better and cost the same.

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JorgitoEstrella@reddit

Rtx 5070 is perfect for that

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baemochiws@reddit

7900 gre, 9070 non xt, 5060ti

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fapimpe@reddit

My 3090 does that but depending on the price I'd go for a 40 series or 50 series. Just google the main game you play and the videocard name on youtube. It'll show the FPS at 1440 and ultra.

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Comrade_Chyrk@reddit

Currently using a 4070ti super and it plays anything at 1440p ultra. If you can find one at a decent price, id recommend it. Otherwise, a 5070 would be good

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harooooo1@reddit

from lowest to highest i would go smth like this:

6800 xt, 7800 xt, 7900 gre, 9070, 9070 xt

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nexus1242@reddit

For highest settings you need a 5090

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NoQuestion6367@reddit

wait so youre coming from a 3060 ti, any reason youre not considering just going 9070xt and calling it a day? seems like everyone in here agrees thats the sweet spot for your budget and itll actually handle ultra at 1440p without the vram anxiety. the 5060ti 16gb suggestion is interesting tho, didnt realize it was keeping up that well in those titles

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Green_Attitude_2989@reddit

5070ti. Anything lower you'd need to tweak some graphic settings

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AdstaOCE@reddit

9070

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lnklsm@reddit

ultra and 100 fps? no. "ultra" settings are mostly for the newest or even future cards. difference between high and ultra is relatively small. FH6 sure, RDR2 sure, Crimson Desert will probably run at high and for 100FPS you will probably need some agressive DLSS, aside of that, all the suggested GPUs are great

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flesjewater@reddit

Used 7900gre or even XT should be within that range

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daviedoom@reddit

I have a very similar system (7600X3D) and landed on the choice of a 5070 about a year ago. I have no complains. VRAM hasn't been a concern in my case.

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New_Loquat_4381@reddit

6800xt 7800xt , 9060xt 16gb 9070xt

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ExtensionDesigner240@reddit

I just got a 7900gre. Fantastic value for this purpose

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DTEMP008@reddit

My 9060 xt was hitting 90 fps on high+rt, so it should be able to do ultra at at least 70fps

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dorting@reddit

9070/5070

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whatuseisausername@reddit

I had the same GPU and upgraded to a 5070, and I game at exclusively at 1440p. I don't know about being at all ultra settings, but I have a mix of ultra and high settings on most games and get my fps in that range. You'll probably have to lean on DLSS more on more modern games if you want to be at ultra settings.

Frame generation also helps alot too, but I don't normally need it to get over 60fps. I think the only game where I do need it to get that is Ark Survival Ascended, and it's pretty poorly optimized so I can't really blame the GPU too much for that. For RDR2 I normally get around 80 fps iirc at max settings, and I'm using DLAA via the Nvidia app.

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FK7_@reddit

I’m running a Ryzen 5 7600x and rtx 5060 ti 16gb and am playing Forza horizon 6 all ultra settings with DLSS hitting 170fps. RDR2 and cyberpunk ultra to high settings hitting 150+ fps. The 5060 ti 16gb gets shit on a bit but nvidia dlss is truly amazing and worth the premium over amd fsr.

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RadioAdam@reddit

9070 chews up everything I throw at it. Regardless of settings.

1440p @ 144hz

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NoxHalcyon_i@reddit

Oh yea youre only throttled by your monitor at this point. Its a fantastic card

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dr_dohh@reddit

i have a 5070xt - it can do that but i got it around 700 usd street price. if you’re lucky you can get it at 600

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deathdisco_89@reddit

What is a 5070xt?

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dr_dohh@reddit

i meant 9070xt . will correct and edit

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Agent_Nate_009@reddit

Amazon has a Powercolor RX 9070 for $595 right now.

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Jedi_Pacman@reddit

ASRock one for $579 at Micro Center too. But big if on being by a Micro Center to actually buy one so yeah

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King_Zilant@reddit

9060xt 16gb

Cheap Power efficient And it can do 1440p 120fps easily

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Objective-Tap9317@reddit

That is not midrange brother

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Sydren@reddit

It kinda is? I'd say its mid-high at best, since a 70 class card does the job. 80 class cards are high end and 90 class cards halo products. Its only because the pricing is fucked that 70 class cards feels like high end when it should be midrange.

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F9-0021@reddit

Kind of depends on how unoptimized the game/engine is. Subnautica 2 for example I get around 100fps or so at 1440p maximum settings on a 4090.

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JoeZocktGames@reddit

Sell the 3060ti for like 200 dollars and then buy a 5070ti or 9070 XT

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Heavensfrontdoor@reddit

9070!!! Or a 3080TI for like 300(if lucky)3080ti outperforms 7800xt in everything besides power consumption and vram

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thelovebat@reddit

Depending on the pricing you can find for GPUs, I would say an RX 9070 at the higher end of that price range or an RTX 4070 Super at the lower end of that price range would be graphics cards to keep an eye out for. If the 4070 Super isn't hitting the Vram limit in games it's actually a pretty powerful graphics card and it should be fine in that regard for 1440p.

Both the RX 9070 and RTX 4070 Super are pretty power efficient for their tier of performance, which also helps when being able to select a power supply for the system as a 750 watt power supply can comfortably power either of them plus any great gaming CPU if you eventually upgrade from the Ryzen 7600.

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