AMD RX 5700 XT: Reddit's Verdict After Years of Real Use

Name: AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT
Brand: Amd

Mar 2026

Last Analyzed

7/10

Overall Rating

Positive Reviews

Negative Reviews

Summary

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is a 2019 RDNA1 card that has aged remarkably well for its price on the used market, consistently praised for 1080p and 1440p60 gaming. Reddit sentiment is largely positive among budget-conscious buyers who picked it up used for $100–$150, with the card earning a reputation as a dependable 1440p workhorse that punches above its used price tag. However, the community is clear-eyed about its ceiling: 8GB VRAM is increasingly a pain point in newer titles, it lacks hardware ray tracing and mesh shader support, and a handful of games now either require or default-enable RT in ways the 5700 XT simply cannot handle. Early driver chaos at launch is mostly historical now, though some users still encounter occasional quirks. The general verdict is "buy it cheap, enjoy it, don't overpay."

Pros

Strong 1440p60 performance in most non-RT titles — users report steady 60–80fps at 1440p in demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077, Hogwarts Legacy with FSR2 quality, and Horizon Forbidden West on medium-high settings
Excellent 1080p value on the used market — picked up for $100–$150, it delivers performance comparable to an RTX 3060 at a fraction of the cost
FSR2 and FSR3 Frame Gen compatibility extends the card's life significantly — titles that would otherwise struggle run well at Ultra with upscaling enabled
Overclocking headroom on third-party cooler models (Sapphire Nitro, ROG Strix, MSI Gaming X) — users report stable 2100–2300MHz clocks with undervolting, with one user running the same rig for 6 years at 1440p 100–140fps
Power efficiency relative to its performance tier — lower TDP than competing Nvidia cards of the era makes cooling and PSU requirements more forgiving
BIOS flash trick allows the non-XT 5700 to perform within 5% of the XT with a simple mod, giving budget builders extra flexibility

Cons

8GB VRAM is the card's real Achilles heel going forward — users explicitly say their next upgrade will be forced by VRAM limits, not frame rate, as modern AAA titles increasingly exceed 8GB at higher settings
No hardware ray tracing or mesh shader support — Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Alan Wake 2 have non-optional RT that reduces the 5700 XT to unplayable frame rates at 1440p; Indiana Jones requires RT entirely
FSR4 support is confirmed RDNA4-only, and XeSS 2 performs notably worse on RDNA1 vs RDNA2 hardware, narrowing future upscaling options
Reference blower cooler was notorious at launch — loud, hot, and widely panned; only third-party AIB models (Sapphire Nitro, ROG Strix) are recommended for used purchases
Driver quirks still surface for some users — settings resets, refresh rate detection failures after display reconnects, and emulator performance issues reported, though most are traceable to Windows Fast Startup or cable quality rather than the GPU itself
Better used-market alternatives exist at similar prices — RX 6600 XT, RX 6700 XT, and Intel Arc B580 all offer more VRAM, mesh shader support, and longer driver longevity for $150–$250

Six Years In, Owners Still Won't Sell It

Multiple long-term owners on Reddit describe turning down upgrade offers and trade deals, citing that the 5700 XT simply keeps delivering at 1440p with FSR. One user ran the same R5 3600 + 5700 XT combo for six years at 1440p with consistent high framerates — still going strong.

The $140 Card That Beats a $300 GPU — If You Dodge RT

On the used market around $100–$150, the 5700 XT trades blows with cards that cost twice as much at launch. The catch is that its value evaporates the moment a game forces ray tracing, where it either crashes out or drops to unplayable framerates — a scenario becoming more common in recent AAA releases.

The VRAM Wall Is Coming, and Owners Know It

Community consensus isn't that the 5700 XT is too slow — it's that 8GB VRAM is the clock ticking. Reddit threads are full of owners saying their upgrade trigger won't be FPS but the moment a game refuses to load textures. That day is getting closer with every new AAA title.

User Reviews (45 of 339 analyzed)

164

madn3ss795r/Amd21d agopositive

Tldr: good performance per dollar and performance per watt; the reference cooler is shit.