Part Recommendations

[BigAl01]

I was hoping to wait for the new RX 9000 series of GPUs coming out in March 2025,  but you-know-who has started a tariff war and I don't wish to pay a tax premium that's sure to be levied on components coming from China.  So I just ordered a Sapphire RX 7900 XT for $649 USD on Amazon, the same GPU I had purchased back in July 2023 for a much higher price.  I need this to replace an RX 590 Fatboy that's temporarily in my 'Through the Looking Glass' build; I had taken it's RX 7900 XTX out for my new build 'Green with Envy' earlier this week.  I know, it's complicated. 

You guys should act quickly if you wish to avoid being caught up in the tariff war.  It won't be a good time, trust me.

This is an excellent GPU. I have several RX 7900 XT's now.

[Vynski]

I had to replace the old RX 480 last summer and was considering the 6950 series.  However I weighed the benefits of RDNA3 to RDNA2 and got the 7600 instead.  

If RDNA4 benefits are equivalent to the RDNA3 it will be a huge step in performance.

I'm not a big gamer, but just in my GPU performance testing the 7600 absolutely blew the 5700XT to pieces.  The 5700XT is running on a Ryzen 9 3900X and the 7600 is running on a Ryzen 5 5600.

[BigAl01]

You are doing well with those GPUs.  I needed to 'up my game' with all these LAN parties I've been having!

[BigAl01]

I would like to add that I ordered this card on 02 February 2025 at the price of $649.  Now it is two days later (04 February 2025) and the price is $761.  That's around a 17% increase in price, likely due to the tariffs. 

[cpurpe91]

I have the same model 7900 XTX. It is fantastic.

[BigAl01]

How about this?  Today the Sapphire 7900 XT is back to $649 again!  What's going on Amazon?  My order still hasn't shipped, but it's not due until 14-19 February 2025.

[BigAl01]

Oh boy.  My RX 7900 XT shipped today.  It should arrive late tomorrow.  Good luck finding an RX 7900 XT for sale right now below $800 USD.  

[cpurpe91]

That is a steal. I got my XTX for 840 USD.

[BigAl01]

It arrived.  Checking on Amazon today, the cheapest RX 7900 XT is $730 USD for a PowerColor Hellbound.  That's several hundred less than any other one that's available.  This is insane.

Molly approves of this purchase. Well, she's actually approved of all my computer component purchases.

[BigAl01]

I got the GPU installed yesterday and did a bit of gaming.  Works great.

Yes, I was looking through the glass top as I installed the new RX 7900 XT GPU.

[eebiii]

Don't you think it's time @BigAl01?

EK-Quantum Vector² EVO for NITRO+/Pulse RX 7900 XT/XTX D-RGB - Ni + Plexi

[BigAl01]

Time to sip the Kool-Aid?  I'm just not ready to jump into custom water cooling.  I do like the AIOs though. 

[Awol]

Im looking to get one of these

GPU Water Cooler RX 7900XTX Reference Design | Alphacool

[ajlueke]

I like the water block EK did for reference 7900 XTX boards.

Thankfully, my PC was upgraded to AM5 with a 7950X3D and an RTX 4090 the last round.  The level of performance uplift in the current generation has been pretty anemic, so I feel like I'll just be sitting this upgrade cycle out entirely. 

[eebiii]

It is my favorite block by far vs any GPU block I have ever used. It's like an ice-cold blanket around the 7900xtx. I have never reached 60C and I have tried. It's in my son's computer now and after long hard gaming sessions and all the other crap he leaves running while gaming it won't get over 52C and 52C was only once. I love it!

[Bmacek01]

I don't really need to replace my RX 6900XT this year, but I was hoping to upgrade to a RX 9070XT and sell the 6900 to pay half or so.  I guess we'll see what happens to new and used prices.

[mengelag]

MicroCenter has most of their AMD GPUs on sale right now. At least $50 off for most of 7000 and smaller discounts on the 6000 series.

[BigAl01]

At our nearby Microcenter, they don't have any of the 7900 XT or XTX GPUs in stock.  

[eebiii]

Same at our local Microcenter. Only 7800xt available.

[cpurpe91]

I should look at my local Microcenter.

[cpurpe91]

Seems it has yet to hit us. I give it a week at most.

[ajlueke]

It does look like @BigAl01 isn't the only one with this idea though.  Stock of most GPUs appears really low right now.  My local Microcenter is basically picked clean.

[Montagyuu]

Post election I figured it best to upgrade my system before inauguration. Won an ebay auction for an r7 5800x3d and snagged an rx 7900 xtx for $820 shortly after.

[ed6698]

I picked up a Asus Tuf RTX 4070 Ti Super OC online from Best Buy about a month ago for about $50 more then MSRP. I could not believe they were showing it in stock at 2pm in afternoon, so I hurried up and placed the order, a day later I got a email saying shipping was delayed, so I figured it was gonna turn up sold out and I would not be getting it. Following day got a email saying it was shipped, was at my door 3 days after I ordered it.  Now they can't be found anywhere except Newegg 3rd party for about $600 more then MSRP and are shipped from Hong Kong. I wasn't really looking to buy anything at the time, was just being curious with how the market has been lately with supply and cost. It is actually pretty nice card IMO, runs MSFS 2024 great. I actually like it better just using TLAA with no DLSS or Frame Generation.

[BigAl01]

If you've got $1K USD burning a hole in your pocket, you can run over to Microcenter right now and get in line for the RTX 5070 Ti; I bet they sell out before the waiting line is down to a 15 minute wait.

I wonder how much the scalpers will add to the retail price when these sell out?

[mengelag]

Only problem is that it's Nvidia. I'll wait the 9070XT or 9070XTX for a cheaper price. The only thing Nvidia has going for it is it's RTX5090, but that's only because AMD has nothing on the market to compete with it. But then you run the risk of your power connector catching fire lol. 

[ajlueke]

Even there, the RTX 5090 is 30% faster than an RTX 4090 for 25% more money at MSRP.  So the price to performance is still the same.  Plus you have to commit to 600W instead of 450W.

It does have an extra encoder, so if you do a lot of encoding work it might be worth it.  It will speed things up a bit.

The RTX 5070 Ti is a good deal if you can get it at $750, and pretty bad at $900 and over.

[Robert-thomas]

Sounds like a smart move, especially with the uncertainty around tariffs and the potential price hikes. The Sapphire RX 7900 XT at $649 USD is a great deal, especially compared to the higher prices we’ve seen in the past. I totally get the complexity of your build—it’s awesome that you’re upgrading your ‘