Worth upgrading to a 6700 XT?
Posted by epicfighter26@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 15 comments
I built my PC somewhere in 2020, with a Ryzen 5 3600, 16 GB 3200mhz dual channel, my GPU is a GTX 1060 3GB since I bought it from a friend for a pretty good price.
Is the upgrade to an RX 6700 XT worth it? Because i can find a used one for \~$200 USD in my country, and from what I read online, it can still perform really well for 1080p.
The other option would be a used RTX 3070, but feels like everyone online is saying that 8GB vram is just not enough for more modern titles.
So yeah, do you think the 6700 XT would pair well in 2026 with a Ryzen 5 3600?
Celestial_aki@reddit
6700 XT is the right call â 12 GB VRAM future-proofs 1080p well into 2027/28, while the 3070's 8 GB is already choking on Alan Wake 2 / TLOU / Indiana Jones at max textures. R5 3600 will bottleneck it slightly in CPU-heavy titles but at 1080p high-refresh you're fine. Repaste the stock cooler while the case is open.
pragomatic@reddit
That is such a significant uplift I wouldn't worry too much about bottleneck style stuff. It's a fine idea to upgrade.
epicfighter26@reddit (OP)
i was lowkey considering just waiting a bit more for another paycheck and getting the 9060 xt 16gb, but idk maybe the bottleneck with the 3600 wouldn't be worth the extra cash, especially since my monitor is 1080p
TokageLife@reddit
Stick with the 6700XT. The 9060XT is definitely better but not enough so to justify being double the cost.
Look up how to use FSR4 on 6000 series cards via modding and you should be set for a while yet.
Extra-Lawyer-2865@reddit
How much is the 9060xt 16gb?
epicfighter26@reddit (OP)
brand new, about $450-$500, used I saw some listings for $400
Extra-Lawyer-2865@reddit
Just get the 6700xt. Its like 90% of the performance at 1080p.
VoraciousGorak@reddit
Either is a fine choice, really. The 9060 XT will last longer at a given resolution before needing to reduce settings and will find its legs if you do upgrade the CPU; the 6700XT is cheaper today and still an insane uplift from the 1060 3GB.
WizardMoose@reddit
I'd go with the 6700xt, then down the line also grab a 5600x when you can. It's a pretty nice jump in performance from the 3600.
The VRAM is what's important now. Too many devs are relying on automatic lighting effects baked into UE5, and now more engines are allowing the same functions which eat up tons of VRAM.
epicfighter26@reddit (OP)
yeah, that's kind of what i was thinking as well, i am genuinely so tired of 3gb vram, played resident evil 2 remake recently and had to play with the settings a lot for a stable stutterless experience, the 6700 xt just seems like it can deliver solid performance in pretty much any title, it's also pretty cheap compared to other gpus, and I read that it's also going to receive official fsr 4 support in the future
WizardMoose@reddit
I wouldn't worry about FSR4 for it. Who knows how it'll run on the 6000 and 7000 series cards.
One thing I'd also consider, used 3080 can be found for $350 if you can get your budget up there.
epicfighter26@reddit (OP)
yeah the 3080 is really good still, honestly a part of me just wants to go AMD because I genuinely like their business model more than nvidia, especially how they handle their drivers on linux
aminy23@reddit
That's fair, it mostly breaks down into philosophy over practicality.
Nvidia has had open source drivers on Linux for years, and the majority of their business is now about using GPUs on Linux.
It's fair to not like Nvidia for getting rich off of free software.
But it's also important to consider the age of a graphics card. If we expect a card to last 7-10 years, then one that's 4-6 years old has most of its life used up.
WizardMoose@reddit
If you're looking into Linux, then for sure AMD is the way to go. I went with a 7900XT a little more than a year ago because I just despised Nvidia and what they're doing. Haven't thought about looking back since. Love their cards now.
Pumciusz@reddit
Idk about other GPUs in that price, maybe there's something better, but in a vacuum that's really similar to the upgrade I did and I really enjoyed having twice as many frames on a higher resolution.