AMD RX 5700 XT Revisited: RDNA Architecture Turning Point and 2026 Gaming Performance

RX 5700 XT gaming benchmarks demonstrate strong 1080p and 1440p performance across modern titles despite aging architecture and VRAM limitations.

Hardware by Godrics01 on Mar 08, 2026

In 2019, AMD took one of its most daring steps in years by abandoning the old GCN architecture and replacing it with a completely new GPU architecture called RDNA.

The goal was clear: to improve IPC, power efficiency, and gaming performance so that it could eventually compete with Nvidia in the mid- to high-end market. Radeon RX 5700 XT was the card that demonstrated that modification.

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Specifications for Launch and Core

RX 5700 XT launched in 2019 with a last-minute price drop to $399, which was directly in line with Nvidia's prices for the Super versions of the RTX 2060 and RTX 2070. TSMC's 7nm process was used to make the Navi10 GPU, which has more than 10 billion transistors. The core clock can reach 1900MHz, but certain cards, like the one tested here, can exceed 2GHz. The card has 8GB of GDDR6 memory and connects to your computer through a PCIe Gen4 port. The TDP is 225W.

MSI Gaming X: Design and Build

MSI Gaming X model was tested. This is one of the better-designed RX 5700 XT cards. There are two fans for cooling, along with a few RGB lights surrounding MSI's logo. There is a big cooler and a metal backplate on the card. The GPU needs two 8-pin power cords. It has three DisplayPort outputs and one HDMI2.0 input for connecting to displays.

Cooling, taking apart, and putting back together

When we first got the card and tried it out, the hotspot temperatures went up to 100°C nearly right away. There was still a warranty sticker on it, and AMD says this temperature is within the acceptable range.

There are 15 screws on the backplate; you only need to remove the screws with the remover to remove the cooler. The cooler comes off the PCB once you take out the screws and unplug the fan and RGB headers. The PCB design of the card is black. The 7th-generation Twin Frozr cooler is large and features many heat pipes. After disassembling it, the card was cleaned and repasted before testing.

Results of the Synthetic Benchmark

We start testing with fake benchmarks. RX 5700 XT got more than 13,000 points in Fire Strike Extreme. The result is better than the dual-GPU Radeon Pro Duo. The Time Spy score was more than 10,000. That puts the RX 5700 XT ahead of both the RX 6600 XT and the RTX 3060.

When using ultimate quality and extreme tessellation in the Heaven test, the RX 5700 XT doesn't perform as well as the RX 6600 XT. Itis about the same as the RTX 3060. Another test uses the extreme preset from Chernobylite's built-in benchmark. RX 5700 XT averaged 100 fps.

Tests of Gaming Performance

Next, we tested the game. Testing for Starfield was conducted in Akila City with the high preset, a render scale of 100%, and FSR3 enabled. The average frame rate stayed around 60 fps, even in that hard sector.

The next test is Stalker 2 with FSR3.1 and native anti-aliasing set to high. RX 5700 XT averaged 87 fps, with 1% of the time dropping to 64 fps. The RE Engine lets you change a lot of the graphics settings in Resident Evil 4. We set the quality preset to FSR2 and the texture allotment to 4GB. The average was 116 fps, with 1% above 90.

We tested Forza Horizon 5 at the highest settings. RX 5700 XT averaged 117 fps. We tested Cyberpunk 2077 using the high preset, FSR2.1 at the quality level, and a medium crowd density. The GPU averaged 98 fps, with a low of 69. Lastly, we tested GTA5 Enhanced Edition with all parameters set to their highest levels, save for ray tracing. RX 5700 XT averaged 118 fps.

AMD, RX 5700 XT, Revisited, RDNA Architecture Turning Point and 2026 Gaming Performance, NoobFeed

The Shift Away from GCN and RDNA

Moving to RDNA was a big change. Before switching to RDNA, AMD used the GCN architecture for roughly eight years. In this case, GCN reverts to the Radeon HD 7900 series. AMD's RDNA architecture offered better performance and power efficiency than earlier designs.

Final Thoughts

Testing shows that the RX 5700 XT is still good for gaming at 1080p and 1440p, but there are some limits. The GPU doesn't support hardware ray tracing. In some newer games, the 8GB of VRAM could be a problem. RX 5700 XT is still a good choice if your workload and gaming needs are right, even though it costs roughly $140 secondhand.

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