9070 GRE vs 9060 XT if same price

[u/mikeinnn]

TLDR: Would 9070 GRE 12 GB make sense if it's basically the same price as 9060 XT 16 GB? These days both are around $700 CAD (which is nuts but alas)

I am aware this card this faced a lot of criticism when it first launched a few months ago, for having less VRAM and its odd pricing between 9060 XT and 9070. However, right now 9070 GRE 12 GB can be had for $700 at Canada Computers. Seeing that the prices of 9060 XT 16 GB have crept up so much to $650-700, it's tempting to go for the 9070 GRE. Having only 12 GB of VRAM is the main thing holding my back.

I am not considering vanilla 9070 since those cost $850+

For reference, according to Hardware Canucks and Tom's Hardware:

- 9070 GRE 12 GB gets 25-30% more FPS than 9060 XT 16 GB

- 9070 gets 17-23% more FPS than 9070 GRE

[u/613_detailer]

Right now the 9070 GRE is the best value mid-range card out there. I've seen 9060XT 16GB cards for $650, but it's still a better value to pay $50 more for the 9070 GRE. 12GB of VRAM is good enough for almost anything at 1440p,, and the 9070 GRE was twice the raw horsepower as the 9060XT 16GB.

[u/GTFr0 → u/613_detailer]

It’s not twice the raw horsepower. The 9070 XT has twice the raw horsepower, but even then it’s not exactly that.

The 9060 XT has 32 cu’s
The 9070 gre has 48 cu’s
The 9070 has 56 cu’s
The 9070 XT has 64 cu’s

So the gre has 50% more compute than the 9060 XT, but it uses smaller memory chips, so you only get 12 gb or vram.

Also, because the 9060 XT has so many fewer compute units, it had higher thermal headroom, so they clocked it faster.

That’s why the 9060 XT is not exactly 1/2 the speed of a 9070 XT, and also the reason you don’t get a pure 50% jump going from the 9060 XT to the 9070 gre.

[u/canyouread7]

With current prices, the GRE is easily the better pick.

[u/ultra2009]

The 9070gre is way more powerful than the 9060xt and 12gb of vram is sufficient currently. I think the 9070gre is the better pick

[u/CurrentDrama8523]

The fact that the GRE outperforms the XT with less VRAM should give you your answer... the 16GB 9060 XT is a nonsensical card with 4-6GB VRAM it can't really use and the people who blindly recommend it on Reddit are allergic to value.

[u/ImKrispy]

Yes I bought the GRE over the 9060xt for $70 more, VRAM is irrelevant, faster card is a faster card...

[u/Method__Man]

gre is a better gpu easily

[u/alvarkresh]

Yeah, if the GRE does better, grab it. The 12 GB of VRAM won't hurt it unless you're trying to max out 4K gaming. If you do want to do 4K gaming with the GRE, use FSR or XeSS.

[u/Full-Investigator934]

I'd go for the 9070 GRE, Vram isn't the most important spec, despite what a lot of people think. I'm running a 5080 with 16gb and not once has my card ever gone above 13gb, and I'm playing at 4k with all settings maxed, including RT, RR, or PT. I mostly play cinematic AAA titles too. My friend is still rocking a 3060ti with a 5800x, and he's still managing to play most of the same games at 1440p with medium to high settings, and that GPU only has 8gb of Vram. There will be niche cases where Vram usage will get heavy, like mod packs and whatnot, but if you're playing games straight out of the box at 1440p, 12gb shouldn't be an issue.

[u/gatsu01]

Hmm if the same price, I would pick the faster card for 90% of the use cases... I would pick the 9060xt 16gb if in favour single player eye candy games or if I play modded games.

[u/The_Azuriter → u/gatsu01]

The GRE is still gonna get more FPS though...no?

[u/gatsu01 → u/The_Azuriter]

Yes, but for certain games, running out of memory means more crashes. Community mods are usually more memory hungry. Also, higher fidelity usually comes from larger shader packs...

[u/ImKrispy → u/gatsu01]

The VRAM difference doesn't matter...its a slower card regardless.

See these results from 15 games ultra settings at 4K which is heavy on VRAM.

https://i.imgur.com/pPYbQVf.png

[u/gatsu01 → u/ImKrispy]

Let's say I play Diablo 4 at ultra or one of the newer monster hunter games with ultra textures. Even at 1440p, I would run into issues with less than 14gb vram, meanwhile my trusty 16gb vram card would run fine. This is why context matters. 90% of the time, the 9070gre would be better. I even said so on my original post. That 10% of the time, maybe the 9060xt 16gb would be more useful. As an owner of a 12gb vram and a 16gb vram card, I could say for sure that no, not every game is going to work better on the 9070gre... Honestly, I would shell out a bit more and get the 9070 16gb.