AMD’s new Radeon RX 5600 XT graphics card is a great performer for the money, so is
the RX 5700 still worth considering? I’ve compared 15 different games at 1080p and 1440p
resolutions to help you decide!
Let’s start out by looking at the differences in specs, there are quite a few similarities
between them. Both the 5600 XT and 5700 have the same number of compute units, stream processors,
and texture units. The main difference is in the clock speeds, TDP, and the memory,
where the 5700 has 8GB of GDDR6 compared to the 6 in the 5600 XT.
I’m using the Sapphire Pulse version of the 5600 XT, and I’ve applied the updated
BIOS which improves these key specs.
The system that I’m testing with has an Intel i7-8700K CPU overclocked to 5GHz on
all cores in an MSI Z390 ACE motherboard, along with 16GB of DDR4-3200 CL14 memory in
dual channel. You can check the links in the description for details on all of the components
as well as for up to date pricing.
Testing was done with the latest Windows 1909 fully up to date, and with the latest version
of Radeon drivers available at the time of testing, so with all of that out of the way
let’s get into the results.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare was tested in campaign mode. I’ve got the 1080p results
on the lower half of the graph, and the 1440p results towards the upper half. In this test
there’s basically no real difference between the two, both in terms of average FPS or 1%
low.
In control the RX 5700 is ahead, with a 5.5% higher average frame rate at 1080p, rising
slightly to a 6.3% lead at 1440p with similar changes to the 1% low performance. The difference
wasn’t that big, but this was one of the games that saw a larger difference between
the 5600 XT and 5700.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was tested using the games built in benchmark tool, and the 5700
was almost 6% faster at 1080p, and this lowered down to a 4.7% lead at 1440p.
Battlefield V was tested in campaign mode, and saw the largest difference between the
two at 1080p out of all games tested, with a 7.6% higher average FPS from the 5700, and
this lowered a little to a 6.2% improvement at 1440p.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested with the games benchmark tool, and this was another
game that saw bigger differences between the two when compared to most of the other games
we’re looking at here, with almost an 8% higher average FPS at both resolutions from
the 5700.
There was less of a difference observed in Apex legends, which was tested with all graphical
settings set to maximum. At 1080p there was just a 4% higher average FPS with the RX 5700,
and this dropped down to just a 2.6% higher frame rate at 1440p, or less than a 3 FPS
difference.
Borderlands 3 was tested with the game’s benchmark tool, and there was a bit more of
a difference this time around, with the 5700 coming out 4.7% faster at 1080p, and there
was a larger 7.3% boost at 1440p.
Fortnite was tested using the replay feature, with the exact same replay file used for all
testing. The results were a little strange here, the 5600 XT was a little ahead, though
realistically most of the results were so close together it’s within margin of error,
regardless the performance was very similar.
The results in PUBG were also very similar, with a slight edge to the 5600 XT, but again
it’s extremely slight, and just like Fortnite the exact same replay file was used for all
testing.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was tested using the built in benchmark, and was another game
that didn’t see much of a difference, well at least at 1080p. At 1440p however, the 5700
was able to hit an average frame rate 5.6% ahead of the 5600 XT.
The Witcher 3 was another title that saw basically no difference at all between the two, at least
not one that you’d practically notice anyway, the results were essentially the same.
Ghost Recon Breakpoint was tested using the built in benchmark, and the 5700 only had
a small 1.3% boost to average FPS over the 5600 XT at 1080p, although the gap widened
at 1440p, where the 5700 was now 6% faster.
Overwatch was tested in the practice range, so while not quite the same as actual gameplay,
it allows me to perform the same test pass more accurately which is ideal for comparison
purposes. At 1080p the 5700 was almost 3% higher than the 5600 XT, then at 1440p it
had less than a 2% lead.
Rainbow Six Siege was tested with the games benchmark tool, and this was another test
where the results between the two were essentially the same, again like many other titles tested,
you’re not going to be able to actually notice any difference while playing on either
card.
I’ve tested CS:GO with the Ulletical FPS benchmark, because that one time I didn’t
include it people got mad. At 1080p the 5700 was scoring 4.6% higher average frame rates,
then at 1440p the difference was much closer together, with the 5700 only 1.6% ahead, while
1% low performance was similar from either.
Over all 15 games tested the RX 5700 was just 2.9% faster than the RX 5600 XT at 1080p.
As you can see though it really depends on the specific game, some like Battlefield 5
in particular seem to benefit from the additional VRAM with the 5700, while others saw basically
no difference.
At 1440p the average improvement seen with the RX 5700 increases slightly to 3.1%. The
results at this resolution varied more so than at 1080p, and we’re expecting some
games to have an advantage here due to the VRAM difference between the two.
Although I’m testing with a reference 5700, from other tests I’ve seen, the results
in gaming performance compared to higher end options are very small, and it would hardly
change the conclusion.
The 5700 is performing better, and if we look at total system power draw from the wall we
can see that it’s using 6% more power when compared with the 5600 XT.
As both cards have different cooling solutions I haven’t looked at thermals as it would
be less of a fair comparison.
Now for the final difference, the price. You can find updated prices linked in the description.
At the the time of recording, the RX 5600 XT is launching at $280 USD, while the RX
5700 has an MSRP of $350 USD, so 25% more money.
I think this will make the 5700 a little harder to justify now, the 5600 XT is just offering
so much better value and in many cases isn’t performing all that much worse. It might be
a different story a year or two from now if games start utilizing more VRAM, but today
the 5600 XT offers a whole lot of the performance for a fair bit less money. It’s going to
come down to whether or not you want to pay more for the 5700 to get the little extra
boost.
So with all of that in mind which would you pick? The newer Radeon RX 5600 XT, or RX 5700?
Let me know in the comments, and if you’re new to the channel consider subscribing for
future comparisons and tech videos like this one!