The RX 6700 XT is still good in 2026 for 1080p and most 1440p gaming, and the cheap 8 GB cards sold today are not an upgrade over it. If you do upgrade, the card to buy right now is the Radeon RX 9070 at €590: it nearly doubles the 6700 XT’s average frame rate at 1440p, has 16 GB of memory and draws about the same power. Below roughly €500, keep your card.
Every performance number below comes from one benchmark suite, Tom’s Hardware’s GPU hierarchy, so the old card and the new ones are measured the same way. Prices are the lowest EU listings on GPU Prix as of October 2026. If you want to try your own budget or resolution, the GPU upgrade calculator opens with the RX 6700 XT already selected.
Where the RX 6700 XT stands today
AMD launched it in March 2021 with 12 GB of GDDR6, 40 ray accelerators and a 230 W typical board power. It was a mid-range card then and it is a mid-range card now. The 12 GB is what keeps it relevant: at 1440p ultra it averages 54.3 fps in Tom’s suite, and at 4K ultra it averages 28.0 fps, which is more than some brand-new 8 GB cards manage.
Ray tracing is its weak spot. At 1080p ultra with ray tracing on, it averages 27.1 fps in the same suite. Every card in the upgrade list below at least doubles that.
The upgrade ladder, from €379 to €723
| Card | Lowest EU price | VRAM | 1440p ultra avg fps | vs RX 6700 XT | 4K ultra avg fps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RX 6700 XT (yours) | — | 12 GB | 54.3 | — | 28.0 |
| GeForce RTX 5060 | €379 | 8 GB | 59.8 | +10% | 21.8 |
| Radeon RX 9060 XT 8GB | €423 | 8 GB | 62.5 | +15% | 29.7 |
| GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB | €505 | 16 GB | 73.4 | +35% | 40.2 |
| Radeon RX 9070 | €590 | 16 GB | 104.0 | +92% | 57.7 |
| Radeon RX 9070 GRE | €597 | 12 GB | 86.6 | +59% | 46.3 |
| Radeon RX 9070 XT | €705 | 16 GB | 116.5 | +115% | 65.8 |
| GeForce RTX 5070 | €723 | 12 GB | 96.4 | +78% | 54.3 |
Skip the 8 GB cards
The RTX 5060 at €379 is 10% faster at 1440p and 22% slower at 4K, where its 8 GB runs out. The RX 9060 XT 8GB at €423 is 15% faster at 1440p and roughly level at 4K. Spending €400 for a 10–15% gain and less memory is a sidegrade, not an upgrade. If an 8 GB card is all the budget allows, the honest advice is to keep the 6700 XT and save. If you are weighing 8 GB Nvidia cards anyway, our RTX 4060 Ti 8GB vs RTX 5060 Ti 8GB comparison covers the two.
€505: the smallest upgrade that counts
The RTX 5060 Ti 16GB is the first card that is clearly faster without cutting memory: 35% more at 1440p, 44% more at 4K, and 56.2 fps with ray tracing at 1080p against the 6700 XT’s 27.1. It’s a fair choice if €505 is a hard ceiling. Per frame, though, it costs more than the next step up.
€590: the RX 9070 is the one to buy
At 1440p ultra the RX 9070 averages 104.0 fps, 92% more than the 6700 XT, for €590. That works out to about €5.67 per fps, the lowest of any card in the table. At 4K it more than doubles the old card (57.7 vs 28.0), and with ray tracing at 1080p it reaches 67.6 fps, about 2.5 times the 6700 XT.
It also fits the PC you already have. AMD rates the RX 9070 at 220 W typical board power with a 650 W minimum PSU, the same PSU recommendation it gives for the 6700 XT. If your power supply runs a 6700 XT today, it should not need replacing. Check that the card fits your case first, because board lengths vary by model.
The RX 9070 GRE looks like the cheaper version, but right now it isn’t: €597 for 12 GB and 86.6 fps at 1440p, against €590 for 16 GB and 104.0 fps. Buy the plain 9070 unless the GRE drops well below it.
€705 and up: worth it only for 4K
The RX 9070 XT adds 12% at 1440p over the RX 9070 (116.5 vs 104.0 fps) for €115 more, which is 19% more money. That trade makes sense only at 4K or on a high-refresh 1440p monitor. More on that card in why the RX 9070 XT is underrated. The RTX 5070 at €723 is slower than the RX 9070 at 1440p (96.4 vs 104.0 fps), has 4 GB less memory and costs €133 more, so for raw frames per euro it loses. Its stronger ray tracing (74.1 fps at 1080p) only matters if you play mostly ray-traced games.
So, is it time to upgrade?
Our pick: the RX 9070, or no new card at all. The middle of the market doesn’t serve 6700 XT owners well.
- Keep the RX 6700 XT if you play at 1080p, or at 1440p without ray tracing, and your games still run where you want them. Nothing under €500 is a real step up.
- Upgrade to the RX 9070 (€590) if you want 1440p at high frame rates, 4K, or usable ray tracing. It’s the best value per frame on sale in the EU right now.
- Stop at the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB (€505) only if €505 is your absolute limit.
What this can’t tell you
These are average frame rates from one test system with a very fast CPU. An older processor can hold back a new card, especially at 1080p, so your real gain may be smaller. Prices are the lowest listings found in a single EU country on the day checked, before shipping, and they move: the RX 9070 GRE was €105 cheaper on GPU Prix the day before this was written. Shops in your country may charge more. The used market isn’t included, and we could not find a reliable EU price for a used RX 6700 XT, so we can’t say what selling yours would cover.
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