The release of AMD’s new flagship graphics cards, the RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT, has been met with a flood of media.
Hardware-centered YouTube channels, news sites, and Reddit communities have resparked the ever-ongoing conversation of comparing one new piece of hardware to what was already on the market. As reviewers and consumers have gotten their hands on the first GPUs available, which sold out on Newegg by the end of the first day of availability (restocking is ongoing!), the evaluations started.
How do the new 5700 and 5700 XT hold up to the competition, how do they handle today’s best games, and how do they stack up against AMD’s former “enthusiast” cards, the Radeon VII and Vega 64?
Right now, as it’s only been a few days, it would be too early to compare it to the competition, being Nvidia in this case. Why? Well, within the first couple of weeks after any major hardware release, there are too many asterisks and what-ifs involved that accompany new releases, such as BIOS updates, driver updates, bugs, and more. After reviewers have had the GPUs for a couple weeks, those are the most accurate benchmarks to compare against one another.
For now, though, we’ll use PCGamer’s early benchmarks just to see how well the new cards handle the best games on the market right now, as well as how they stack up against AMD’s former best-in-class Vega 64 and Radeon VII cards.
Best games for the 5700 and 5700 XT
Each and every time a new graphics card comes out, and each and every time benchmarks are then reviewed, we’re all collectively reminded that choice of game matters just as much (sometimes even more than) the GPU you’re using.
For instance, AMD’s new RX 5700 XT handles one game, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, super well, almost matching Nvidia’s RTX Titan in FPS. On the other hand, it performs much, much worse with Total War: Warhammer 2, getting trumped by Nvidia’s original 2060, let alone the 2060 SUPER. This may change with BIOS or driver updates, but this is usually the case with any GPU—some games were built with that card’s architecture in mind, and others aren’t.
That being said, we’ve compiled a list of some of the 5700 XT and 5700’s best-performing games, using 1080p at Ultra settings as the standard.
1. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
The 5700 XT performs significantly well in Ubisoft’s last Assassin’s Creed title, nailing an average of 69 fps at ultra settings, and that’s a darn good-looking game.
2. Far Cry 5
The XT performs really well in this title, too, but the regular 5700 really shines, nearly matching its XT counterpart, only falling short in average fps by four, at a 126 to 122 average fps comparison.
3. Shadow of the Tomb Raider
The 5700 XT and 5700 are some of the best-performing cards for this title, both surpassing 110 fps at ultra settings, but the XT is still significantly better than the standard 5700 on this one.
4. The Division 2
The Division 2 is an incredibly well-rounded game, as early benchmarks seem to show competitive results across both AMD and Nvidia, which means the results for both are fair. The 5700 competes as a top-tier card, falling short behind the obvious Titan and 2080 variants for Nvidia.
5. Forza Horizon 4
It’s easy to tell that this Forza title was made with AMD in mind, as the Radeon VII, Vega 64, and 5700 XT blow almost every other card away as the best performers by a significant margin.
Against the Vega 64 and Radeon VII
AMD’s old guard, the Vega 64 and Radeon VII, are easy to compare against with the new 5700 and 5700 XT cards. It’s strange to call the Radeon VII old at all, as it just came out in February, but still, as it was touted as AMD’s “enthusiast” card, comparing the new cards to it almost seems necessary.
For starters, let’s compare prices. AMD’s top-of-the-line Radeon VII still sits close to $700, depending on the manufacturer, and the Vega 64 varies a bit more wildly, typically sitting near $400 for certain sellers despite its age. The prices of the new 5700 cards are, as you’d expect from AMD, much less. The flagship 5700 XT sits at $400, and the 5700 costs $350. With the XT being $300 less than the Radeon VII, you’d expect a massive leap in performance, but that’s not the case, at least with gaming.
In fact, the 5700 XT, despite how much less it costs compared to the Radeon VII, just barely (and we mean barely) misses the Radeon VII’s average fps in PCGamer’s 11-game test. We’re talking an fps difference of three. Across all 11 games, the $700 Radeon VII clicks in at 114 average fps, and the $400 5700 XT’s average is 111 fps at 1080p Ultra settings. The differences at 1440p Ultra and 4K are just as negligible.
The regular 5700 has a similar difference to the Vega 64, but on the other side of the spectrum. The 5700, at all of PCGamer’s tested resolutions and graphical demands, actually performs a bit better than the Vega 64, despite it costing less than the 64. Sure, graphics cards can do more than just play games, but if playing games is what you’re in the market for, there’s virtually no reason at all to pick up a Vega 64 or Radeon VII over the 5700XT or 5700, given the price difference and closeness in performance.
