Budget GPU for 1440p

J.Morre · April 26

Hi everyone,

I'm thinking about upgrading my GPU from an RX 6600. I mainly use my PC for everyday tasks and gaming — mostly Dota 2 and other esports titles — and now I want to do so at 1440p on high settings.

I checked with my local PC shop, and within my budget, I have a few options: RTX 3070, RX 7600, and RX 6700 XT. From what I understand (and based on their advice), the RX 7600 is the weakest, while the RTX 3070 is slightly better than the RX 6700 XT but about 25% more expensive.

Could you please advise me on which GPU would be the best choice? Also, if there are any other GPUs around the same price as the RTX 3070 that you recommend, I'd love to hear about them and will check with my local PC shop for availability.

One more thing — should I be concerned about my PSU if I upgrade? I'm currently using a 650W unit. Thanks a lot!

Tetras · April 26

The 3070 is better, yes, but it also has 4GB less VRAM, so personally I'd take the 6700 XT.

I must say though, have you actually tried the 6600 at 1440p? Sure, it isn't ideal, but most esports games will still run fine.

17 minutes ago, J.Morre said:

Also, if there are any other GPUs around the same price as the RTX 3070 that you recommend, I'd love to hear about them and will check with my local PC shop for availability.

What price is it?

There's a lot of cards you could consider, if available:

Arc B580

RX 67x0 XT, RX 6800

RX 7700 XT, RX 7800 XT

4060 Ti 16GB/5060 Ti 16GB

4070, 4070 Super, 5070

9070, 9070 XT

17 minutes ago, J.Morre said:

One more thing — should I be concerned about my PSU if I upgrade? I'm currently using a 650W unit. Thanks a lot!

A quality unit will run a 6700 XT, a poor quality unit: maybe not, we're only talking about 70 watts more from the 6600.

Eigenvektor · April 26

7 minutes ago, Tetras said:

I must say though, have you actually tried the 6600 at 1440p? Sure, it isn't ideal, but most esports games will still run fine.

I'm using a (slightly undervolted & power limited) RX 6600 at 1440p and it works perfectly fine in a lot of games. Of course it doesn't do high refresh rate in the latest AAA, but Dota 2 I would expect to work just fine.

I'd get the monitor and see how my current GPU performs, rather than replacing it preemptively.

J.Morre · April 26

10 minutes ago, Tetras said:

The 3070 is better, yes, but it also has 4GB less VRAM, so personally I'd take the 6700 XT.

I must say though, have you actually tried the 6600 at 1440p? Sure, it isn't ideal, but most esports games will still run fine.

I have not actually, this is actually a follow-up post when I was asking whether I should upgrade to 1440p monitor (as there is a really nice 27 inch 1440p 185hz locally) and a few people thought that my Rx6600 is not suitable for 1440p - which made me think that I should upgrade my GPU first, and then my monitor.

12 minutes ago, Tetras said:

What price is it?

Based on current exchange rate, the Rtx 3070 locally is about 372 USD - it recommends the 750W though, so I will need extra budget for PSU upgrade.

15 minutes ago, Tetras said:

Arc B580

RX 67x0 XT, RX 6800

RX 7700 XT, RX 7800 XT

4060 Ti 16GB/5060 Ti 16GB

4070, 4070 Super, 5070

9070, 9070 XT

Every intel GPU is not available here
Rx67x0 XT and Rx6700 are not available

The rest of the GPU are over my budget (at least 50% more than the 3070 here)

21 minutes ago, Tetras said:

A quality unit will run a 6700 XT, a poor quality unit: maybe not, we're only talking about 70 watts more from the 6600.

I'm using a MSI A650BN - which should be decent enough I think

J.Morre · April 26

1 hour ago, Eigenvektor said:

I'm using a (slightly undervolted & power limited) RX 6600 at 1440p and it works perfectly fine in a lot of games. Of course it doesn't do high refresh rate in the latest AAA, but Dota 2 I would expect to work just fine.

I'd get the monitor and see how my current GPU performs, rather than replacing it preemptively.

I think it's a good idea to try out 1440p monitor first then. Dota 2 has been quite heavy lately, so that was my main concern only I think.