It's telling that the 9070 is literally off the charts for a lot of the specific game tests, and that card is within striking distance of the real price on the ground. 9060 XT has a real chance of beating this card if the rumors about the high frequencies are true. 9060 XT being half a 9070 XT but keeping the same frequencies seems like it could beat a 5060 Ti that is half of a 5070 Ti but with lower frequencies.
You're discovered one of W1zzard's secrets (stuff like that is not new; there are other things he does as well but I'm not about trying to fight with the guy...I'll work out reality from available info myself).
Really appreciate the cats coming out and talking about VRAM (again), in which I wish more would just say what a few already do:
Realistically most want 12GB right now, but that could have been said for anything between >8-12GB for a while...but it too will soon be a bottleneck. IMO it's likely 16GB will be too before-long, but not as severe.
In my estimation, the ideal is probably >/~18-20GB for the long-term future, but I also think there's a decent chance 16GB will still be playable/usable for quite some time; just lower settings or <60fps on avg.
So, realistically-speaking, if you're buying a card right now, you should try to buy one with at least 16GB if you can. On the same token, do not expect one with 12GB to be a great experience for very long.
I said this with the 4070 series, which has proven true, and is also true of the 5070. There are times it is enough, there are many it barely squeaks by, but more instances of it being a bottleneck WILL occur.
Your mins/1% lows
will suffer, and as game demands increase current ('acceptable') variance will become stutter; in some cases already is. Just expect it to be much more frequent (as we enter a new gen).
I also appreciate that some are starting to speak up about the reality of RT etc, which is to say IT JUST DOES NOT WORK WELL ON <$1000 nVIDIA GPUs AT INTENDED REZ FOR > 1 GEN. This is why it's a farce.
There are already instances in which the difference you're paying for something like 5070Ti->5080 is to be able to have 1440pRT. But in reality, both will likely suck come a new gen of hardware/new consoles.
Hence buying into it, especially on a low-end card, is incredibly ill-advised. In many instances it cannot take advantage of those features with playable settings, and some that barely can won't in upcoming titles.
I like to show the lineage on 3080, because they hard sold the card on RT even though it has massive problems now; they also did the 4070 series and it does as well. It's kind of a crock and makes me sad.
Where now you can literally show people, those things set aside, where overclocking a 6800xt/7800xt/7900xt, for instance, or 7900xtx for 4k, really do work just as well for most usable situations, if not better.
I really do hope for a future where people can look at past generations, see what has happened with them, and then extrapolate the same will occur before making a new purchase and getting caught in the trap.
They may make different decisions. In-fact, I think many will/would; perhaps some may "overbuy" (which you almost have to do imho), but maybe others just buy something like a 9070/xt for 1080p to begin with.
I see the standing Australian man also more-or-less said what I have (about RT) in not so many words, and am grateful for that. I really do hope more people understand where we're coming from and take note.
Just like VRAM (which HUB wasn't always hip to either, but did catch on quicker than most-everyone else and I do think has helped consumers with their advice).
I get it; being forward-thinking means you take a lot of shit from people that are defensive of their purchases and/or trying to justify their personal wants/budget, or being sold on certain short-term gimmicks.
But somebody has to at least put that information out there so less people get suckered, especially if other products may work better for their short/long-term goals and somebody can help them understand that.
I'm glad that it would appear that more are starting to see the light and explain those things to people...and hope that continues. This launch (from many reviewers) gave me hope.