Launched four years ago, the RX 5700 XT was among the first GPUs from AMD to feature a cutting-edge architecture and 7nm TSMC chip. Learning much from the Vega series graphics cards, the RX 5000 series features a newly developed Radeon DNA platform. AMD is adamant about making the RDNA the mainstream architecture for its GPUs, as we have witnessed its third iteration in the RX 7000 series.

The RX 5700 XT is a well-established gaming GPU. It has some fine attributes and qualities that make it a suitable choice, even for today’s mid-range builds. This graphics processor is mainly curated for gamers, with its substantial gaming optimization and sheer performance.

Its features are what you would expect for a 2019 mid-range GPU. With more than 2500 Streaming units, no raytracing cores, and only 40 compute cores, clocked for almost 2 GHz, the RX 5700 XT is meant to deliver a valid and relevant 1080p experience with fundamental lighting systems like Rasterization.

Although the RX 5700 XT is a pretty affordable 8GB VRAM card in today’s highly-curated graphics component market, Today,  we are going to find and discuss some other worthwhile display cards with the same categorization.

GPU equivalent to the RX 5700 XT

Considering the present GPU landscape, the best ideal substitutes for the 5700 XT are the RTX 2070 Super and Intel ARC A750. The RTX 2070 Super and ARC A750 both have what the RX 5700 XT is missing: specialized raytracing engines. Although their raytracing capabilities in light of modern standards can be argued upon, the good thing is that they have them. So, regarding creative workloads where raytracing’s realistic approach is required, these alternatives offer more practicality.

EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 Super XC

The RTX 2070 Super is a high-end GPU of its time, but now, with expected depreciation and more robust competitors, it’s best to describe it as a mid-range GPU. This graphics card pulls outstanding framerates for up to 1440p gaming.

Although a bit older, the 2070 Super’s optimal design is still convenient for high-fidelity gaming and efficient workflow. Its 8GB VRAM, alongside 40 first-gen ray trace cores and massive 320 Tensor cores, facilitates a competent efficacy.

These cores expedite users to test Nvidia’s upscaling and raytracing technologies in their earliest forms. Moreover, it also consists of over 2500 Shading cores, and all these cores are clocked for around 1850 MHz.

Feature EVGA RTX 2070 SUPER XC AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT
Architecture Turing RDNA 1.0
Core Clock (MHz) 1605 MHz 1605 MHz
Boost Clock (MHz) 1800 MHz (+2%) 1905 MHz
CUDA Cores 2560 2560
Memory Type GDDR6 GDDR6
Memory Size (GB) 8 GB 8 GB
Memory Bus Width (bits) 256 bit 256 bit
Memory Speed (Gbps) 1750 MHz 14 Gbps effective 1750 MHz 14 Gbps effective
TDP (Watts) 215 W 225 W
DirectX Version 12 Ultimate (12_2) 12 (12_1)
OpenGL Version 4.6 4.6
VR Ready Yes -
Ray Tracing Cores 40 -
Ports 1x HDMI 2.0 3x DisplayPort 4.1a 1x USB Type-C 1x HDMI 2.0b 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
Price $349.99 $280.00

Intel ARC A750

Alongside many formidable processors, Intel has set foot in the dedicated graphics market with its ARC series. Coming slightly above in performance, the ARC A750 is configured to be a mid-range GPU worth less than 300$.

It combines a fairly efficient architecture and chip design with many other necessary features to outperform the RX 5700 XT. Its VRAM is identical to the 5700 XT, but its distinct core count is what matters. Closely resembling Nvidia cards, the A750 has 28 ray processors, almost 450 Tensor cores, and over 3.5K Shaders.

Moreover, it can fabulously attain 2.4 GHz frequencies, which conveys speedy response times and faster data execution. Overall, it is a considerable GPU with still much to improve, but it is an excellent alternative, nonetheless.

Feature Intel Arc A750 AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT
Architecture Generation 12.7 RDNA 1.0
Core Clock (MHz) 2050 MHz 1605 MHz
Boost Clock (MHz) 2400 MHz 1905 MHz
CUDA Cores 3584 2560
Memory Type GDDR6 GDDR6
Memory Size (GB) 8 GB 8 GB
Memory Bus Width (bits) 256 bit 256 bit
Memory Speed (Gbps) 2000 MHz 16 Gbps effective 1750 MHz 14 Gbps effective
TDP (Watts) 225 W 225 W
DirectX Version 12 Ultimate (12_2) 12 (12_1)
OpenGL Version 4.6 4.6
VR Ready - -
Ray Tracing Cores 28 -
Ports 1x HDMI 2.1 3x DisplayPort 2.0 1x HDMI 2.0b 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
Price $858.98 $280.00

Conclusion

The 5700 XT can generate smooth gameplay for up to 1440p, but it isn’t made for raytraced lighting. It still uses the older rasterization technique to light up rendered environments, which are slowly becoming obsolete as more and more people with creative work are gravitating towards raytracing’s realistic outputs.

Newer or specialized graphics cards, like the RTX 2070 Super and ARC A750, are much more reliable options in that regard. Although one can run raytracing on any processor or card with proper drivers, the processing power needed is too much.

Hence, the RX 5700 XT is a robust GPU only for gaming, whereas the alternatives discussed above are all-rounders, handling games and creative workloads with much more finesse.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the RX 5700 XT worth buying now?

It depends on your budget. If you have a tight budget, the RX 5700 XT is an excellent GPU with up to 1440p gaming potential. However, if you can stretch your budget a bit, you can get better alternatives with a sub-300$ price and better efficiency than the RX 5700 XT.

Can the RX 5700 XT do raytracing?

Despite no hardware ray-tracing acceleration cores, the RX 5700 XT can still do raytracing. This can be achieved with shaders via software, but this type of raytracing isn’t as efficient as the one done on GPU with dedicated ray acceleration cores.

Zain Ali
Zain is a gamer who turned into a tech enthusiast the day he got his first PC. He loves to play with whatever components he can get his hands on. His love for custom PC hardware is unfathomable, and he keeps it alive by writing about it as well as doing practicals in real life along with the continuation of his degree in business administration.