Nvidia has a $400 option in the RTX 2060 Super, which could have been added to the mix but we wanted to make this a more straightforward comparison. When it came time to pick one, we polled readers what they wanted to see and almost 80% of the votes were in favor of the 2070 Super comparison. We won’t ignore the price difference and neither should you as we work through the results.

As for the graphics cards used, representing the red team we have the Powercolor RX 5700 XT Red Devil which retails for $440 and for the green team the MSI RTX 2070 Super Gaming X Trio which retails for exactly $100 more at $540. The benchmark was put together using the GeForce Game Ready driver 436.02 and the Radeon Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.8.1 for the AMD GPUs. The standard GPU test rig was set in place comprising a Core i9-9900K clocked at 5GHz with 16GB of DDR4-3400 memory, all installed inside the Corsair Crystal 570X. Tests took place at 1440p and 4K resolutions. We’ll check about a dozen results in better detail and then jump to our 37 game breakdown graphs.

Benchmarks

Let’s start with Forza Horizon 4 because only about a week ago the 5700 XT was matching even the RTX 2080 Ti in this title. However, the latest GeForce driver update brought about massive performance gains in Forza and Apex Legends. In this example we’re looking at a gigantic 30% performance uplift. GeForce GPUs were doing well in Forza Horizon before but comparatively it was a title that favored Radeon GPUs. With this improvement we now see the RTX 2070 Super edging out the 5700XT at 1440p and provide a nice 7% gain at 4K. This result is a game changer for Nvidia, no pun intended, but it really will help the 2070 Super pull ahead of the 5700 XT.

Nvidia managed some small gains in World War Z as well. Performance at 1440p is pretty much neck and neck but we do see the 5700 XT run into some 1% low issues at 4K. This is a shame given it was able to render 97 fps on average which is a very solid result.

The 5700 XT remains ahead in our Battlefield V benchmark, though again it’s the 1% low performance that’s questionable, particularly at 4K. When you consider that AMD’s charging $100 less the results don’t look half bad now do they.

The other game where Nvidia has made a good step forward is Apex Legends. Here the 2070 Super is now 10% faster at 1440p. Not enough to justify the price difference, but at least it’s clearly faster in this title now.

Counter-Strike: GO… apparently 300 fps on average is a good number for this game, so you’ll achieve that at 1440p with either graphics card using maximum visual quality settings which isn’t what competitive games use necessarily, so with competitive settings expect… around 1,000 fps or whatever your CPU can handle.

Frame rates in F1 2019 are competitive, basically we’re looking at identical performance using either GPU. The 5700 XT was a whisker faster at 4K, but overall you’re looking at a very similar gaming experience.

Another heavily requested old banger is The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt. Admittedly though, it is a quality game that’s still very demanding. The RTX 2070 Super provided 11% more frames on average at 1440p, though we do see identical 1% low performance.

Wolfenstein: Youngblood plays best on the 2070 Super, though at 1440p with maximum quality settings we’re still seeing over 120 fps at all times with the 5700 XT, so how much that extra 10% performance matters is up to you.

Mad keen Fortnite players will want to use a GeForce GPU. The RT 2070 Super was 17% faster on average at 1440p which is almost enough to justify the 25% increase in price. A strong showing for Nvidia though if you’re using lower settings when discussing $400+ GPUs it probably doesn’t matter.

Nvidia has slightly improved performance in Strange Brigade and now the 2070 Super is a good bit faster than the 5700 XT, offering 12% more performance at 1440p and a 23% stronger 1% low result.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has the GeForce performing 10% faster at 1440p and 9% faster at 4K. With ‘competitive’ esports settings both will maintain well over 100 fps at all times.

Project Cars 2 has usually favored GeForce GPUs heavily, but even so the 2070 Super is just 10% faster at 1440p which isn’t a significant margin given the price difference. It was also 6% faster when comparing 1% low data and we see that performance is also quite close at 4K.

Finally we have World of Tanks where the 2070 Super was 7% faster on average at 1440p with both GPUs averaging over 130 fps.

The Full Game Breakdown

As expected the GeForce RTX 2070 Super is the more powerful GPU though it was only faster by a ~10% margin in this smaller set of games we just checked out. Given it costs 25% more though, that won’t make it the best value option to justify the extra investment. Before we make a cost analysis, let’s check out how they stacked up across all 37 games tested. Actually, before we dive into the full results, let’s take a look back at our day one results (early July) for a quick refresher. There’s no Apex Legends test here but we did test Forza Horizon 4 which used to be a massive win for AMD. Below: For reference only – older benchmarks from July 8, 2019 (Radeon RX 5700 XT launch day)

From that 2% margin at launch, we now find that the 5700 XT is 6% slower at 1440p with 37 games. Not exactly an earth shattering change but a change nonetheless. While the 5700 XT is roughly $100 (20% cheaper) than the 2070 Super, it was never 20% slower at 1440p. It was 19% slower in Warhammer Vermintide 2, we also saw a 16% margin in War Thunder and 15% in Fortnite. But when looking at all the 37 games we tested it was just 6% slower overall and that makes the 5700 XT a really good value.

The margin does widen at 4K, here the 5700 XT was 9% slower on average and up to 24% slower in War Thunder and 22% slower in Metro Exodus. For those gaming at 4K, we could see a reason to purchase the RTX 2070 Super, but in terms of value the 5700 XT is still technically better.

Now here’s a look at the cost per frame data. The 5700 XT (PowerColor Red Devil) comes out at a cost of $4 per frame at 1440p, or 14% cheaper than the MSI RTX 2070 Super Gaming X Trio. For those gaming at 4K, the RTX 2070 Super fairs a little better as the 5700 XT was only 9% cheaper per frame here, a reasonable discount so you’ll have to weigh up what’s more important for you, outright performance or value.

Wrap Up

If you have $400 to spend on a graphics card, it’s clear that the Radeon RX 5700 XT is the best option. Based on this data we estimate it’s around 10% faster than the RTX 2060 Super, so that makes it 10% better in terms of cost per frame. If you weigh your buying decisions more on value then the 5700 XT is also a better buy than the RTX 2070 Super, as we just saw it’s around 14% cheaper per frame. However, this will depend on the games you play as the GeForce will get favorable results in games such as Vermintide 2, War Thunder and Fortnite, where you just get next tier performance for the extra money you pay.

Overall the 5700 XT is very punchy at 1440p and we think it’s fair to say that the 5700 XT eliminates the RTX 2060 Super and it almost does the same to the 2070 Super, but the fact that the 2070 Super was faster by a noteworthy margin in about a dozen of the games tested, means it’s a worthwhile option for those seeking some extra performance. If you exclusively play titles such as Battlefield V, CS:GO, Deus Ex Mankind Divided, Far Cry New Dawn, For Honor, Just Cause 4, World War Z, DiRT Rally 2, F1 2019, Warframe and about half a dozen other titles that we tested, then the 2070 Super makes way less sense.

We already spelled this out in our recent update to The Best Graphics Cards. For the best high-end 1440p GPU we’re going with the Radeon 5700 XT as the best option in the $400 - $600 range. Unless you’re spending considerably more – there’s a brief window for buying the RTX 2080 at $660 which is a better deal than buying the Super version – there are no other options.