My current setup is pretty dated, but still doing alright for what I’m playing, although I’d like better framerates and a bit more “futureproofing” for when I start playing the more demanding games in my backlog.
Parts are:
- R5 2600x;
- 2060 Super;
- 16GB @ 3466 16-18-18-18-36;
- 1440p 144Hz monitor.
Currently playing The Witcher 3 Next Gen at medium details, DLSS set to quality and no RT. I get 50-80 fps, which isn’t too bad, but I’m aiming for high details and 120+ fps.
The most resource intensive game I have in my backlog is probably TLoU (or RDR2, or CP2077), and I’d like to play those at high/120 fps too, not really interested in RT.
At the moment I’m looking to get a 7800XT.
Do you think I can get away wih just a GPU + PSU upgrade, or would the 2600x cause too great a bottleneck at target resolution/details/fps to ignore?
For the GPU I’m considering a 7800XT instead of a 6800XT mainly because of the lower power consumption and slightly higher performance. Also the 7800XT comes with a very neat backplate plus GPU support bracket.
Issue is I don’t know if that justifies a ~15% price increase (price right now is $600 equivalent for the 6800XT and $690 equivalent for the 7800XT). I do like the looks of the 7800XT a bit more though lol so if current CPU and RAM can work with the new GPU at target resolution/details/fps, and there aren’t huge drawbacks to getting the 7800X instead of the 6800XT, I’m willing to spend those extra $90 on the former.
What do you think?
Thanks in advance to anyone replying!
For what it’s worth I have a 2600 and a 6700 XT on a 550W PSU on 1440p 144Hz coincidentally and it does alright but I don’t play super new games or max out settings. Not ideal but good enough for me.
Oh, wow, that’s such a coincidence haha! So 550W PSU would be enough for the 6700XT? Yours isn’t titanium rated, is it?
Would you mind sharing some of the games you play and the FPS you get? Thanks!
It’s a Corsair TX550M so just a regular gold. If you’re just upgrading your GPU to a 6700 XT then you should be alright with a PSU from a reputable brand. I haven’t played a lot of very demanding things yet because I only upgraded recently but I can get 100ish FPS on Borderlands 3 with settings around medium-high and about 100 on Counter Strike 2 (but it’s in beta and not utilizing resources fully on my machine at the moment).
Since you seem to prefer gaming at higher settings, you’re most likely gonna be GPU bound in most titles unless you’re into stuff like CSGO or big sim games.
But it comes down to whether a 6700 XT is enough or if 6800 XT + PSU upgrade (and possibly a CPU upgrade down the line) is the better choice for you. The performance gap between the two is sizeable at around 40% at 1440p ultra (https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html).
Either is a fine choice in my opinion but it just depends on how much you want to budget for the upgrade. A 750W + 6800 XT should leave room for a future 5800X3D upgrade if they drop further in price.
Thanks a lot, appreciate the insight!
That’s good to hear, I have a 550W Seasonic Focus Gold, so there shouldn’t be any problems, although my R5 2600X has a 95W TDP while your R5 2600 has a 65W TDP, so I might be on the edge.
GPU is always the bottleneck for my kind of gaming haha, that’s why I thought I could get away with keeping my current CPU, as right now on TW3 I see a 30-45% utilization while GPU is constantly at 99%.
The 40% higher FPS at 1440p of the 6800XT is a not gigantic considering the price difference ($400 vs $690), but would allow me to postpone a future GPU upgrade for much longer considering that I do play some new games, even though I spend the majority of my time on older ones.
I guess I’ll keep researching and considering the 6700XT, although currently the choice that seems to make more sense to me is getting a 6800XT and PSU right now, and eventually get a better CPU down the line when prices go down a bit and I have filled my PC upgrades piggybank once again haha
Thanks again!
Don’t know if you still care, but after looking around a bit more I found a 6800XT for MUCH cheaper than the 7800XT I wanted to buy ($530 vs $690, always converted) and at this point I really can’t justify a 30% price increase just for a slightly lower power consumption, 5% increased performance and an admittedly much cooler design of the one I set my eyes on lol
This way, if I wait a bit, I can fit GPU, CPU and PSU into my upgrade budget! Thanks again for the help!
I have no idea why some people found the 7800 XT to be anything but a cashgrab at its current price point tbh. Benchmarks are within spitting distance of each other depending on game and resolution so it’s closer to like 3% at 1440p from what I saw. Yeah 500USD is closer to the going price for the 6800 XT these days.
Doesn’t it have support for some stuff that the previous gen doesn’t have? I may have read about FSR3? Could be wrong, though, I haven’t properly researched and just picked the newest and fastest card I could afford.
Glad I posted this, you got me to save money haha so thanks
Also I just looked up its dimensions and the 6800XT will fit in my case without removing the front fan, whereas the 7800XT won’t. So, thanks to you I keep winning! Nice
Yeah, that is true. I forget about the extra features sometimes because I tend to prefer native res most of the time though I haven’t tried the latest gen’s implementations of frame generation/dynamic res.
When your GPU does everything you need it to, it’s nice to run games at full resolution. As good as upscaling might be, the difference in clarity is noticeable