What CPU do I need for the Radeon RX 6700 XT?

At 1440p, the Ryzen 5 1600 is the slowest processor that keeps the Radeon RX 6700 XT fully fed. At 1080p the card can run faster, so you need more: the Ryzen 7 2700X or better.

Is the Radeon RX 6700 XT good for 1440p?

Yes, at sensible settings. It averages around 71 FPS at 1440p on high settings in our model, so 60 FPS and above is realistic, with upscaling helping in the heaviest games.

Is 12GB of VRAM enough on the Radeon RX 6700 XT?

For 1440p, yes. 12GB handles high textures at 1440p today; at 4K with ray tracing a few games already want more.

Is the Radeon RX 6700 XT faster than the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti?

They are effectively tied, within 1% at 1440p in our model. Price, memory (12GB against 8GB) and features should decide it.

Radeon RX 6700 XT CPU pairing and bottleneck

Model frame rate limits of 96, 71 and 40 FPS at 1080p, 1440p and 4K, assuming the processor never gets in the way.

The Radeon RX 6700 XT is a mid-range graphics card in our database and a 1080p high-refresh card that can run 1440p at sensible settings.

Its 12GB of memory is comfortable at 1440p today, with less headroom at 4K.

Its closest NVIDIA rival is the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, which lands within a few percent of it at 1440p.

Estimated FPS in Popular Games

Game (settings)	1080p	1440p	4K
Cyberpunk 2077 (High, no ray tracing)	~75	~55	~30
Fortnite (High, DirectX 12)	~125	~90	~50
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (High)	~110	~80	~45
Counter-Strike 2 (High)	~230	~170	~95

Modelled estimates with a processor fast enough not to hold the card back, rounded to the nearest 5 FPS. Counter-Strike 2 is usually limited by the processor well before these figures. See the methodology for how they are produced.

The slowest CPU that will not hold it back

Resolution	Minimum processor	Estimated FPS
1080p	Ryzen 7 2700X	92
1440p	Ryzen 5 1600	71
4K	Ryzen 5 1600	40

Notice how the requirement drops as resolution rises. At 4K this card is working so much harder per frame that a far slower processor keeps up without trouble. The search starts at four cores and eight threads: below that a game stutters whatever the average frame rate says.

The processors it lands closest to

The 24 processors whose frame rate limit sits nearest this card's, fastest first. The tag after each number says which part hits its limit first. For any other combination, use the calculator.

Processor	1080p	1440p	4K
Core i5-11400	96 gpu	71 gpu	40 gpu
Ryzen 5 5500	96 gpu	71 gpu	40 gpu
Core i5-10600K	96 gpu	71 gpu	40 gpu
Ryzen 7 3800X	96 gpu	71 gpu	40 gpu
Core i7-8700K	96 gpu	71 gpu	40 gpu
Ryzen 7 3700X	96 gpu	71 gpu	40 gpu
Ryzen 5 3600X	96 gpu	71 gpu	40 gpu
Core i5-9600K	96 even	71 gpu	40 gpu
Ryzen 5 3600	96 even	71 gpu	40 gpu
Ryzen 3 3300X	95 even	71 gpu	40 gpu
Core i5-10400	94 even	71 gpu	40 gpu
Core i5-10400F	94 even	71 gpu	40 gpu
Core i7-7700K	94 even	71 gpu	40 gpu
Ryzen 5 3500X	93 even	71 gpu	40 gpu
Ryzen 7 2700X	92 even	71 gpu	40 gpu
Core i3-10100F	91 cpu	71 gpu	40 gpu
Core i5-9400F	89 cpu	71 gpu	40 gpu
Ryzen 5 4600G	88 cpu	71 gpu	40 gpu
Core i5-8400	87 cpu	71 gpu	40 gpu
Ryzen 5 4500	86 cpu	71 gpu	40 gpu
Ryzen 3 3100	86 cpu	71 gpu	40 gpu
Ryzen 5 2600	82 cpu	71 gpu	40 gpu
Core i3-9100F	81 cpu	71 gpu	40 gpu
Ryzen 5 1600	73 cpu	71 even	40 gpu

Radeon RX 6700 XT Compared

RTX 3070 vs RX 6700 XT — The RTX 3070 is about 20% faster than the RX 6700 XT at 4K and 15% faster at 1440p.
RTX 4060 Ti vs RX 6700 XT — The RTX 4060 Ti is about 15% faster than the RX 6700 XT at 4K and 13% faster at 1440p.

Specifications

Manufacturer	AMD
Series	AMD RX 6000 Series (RDNA 2)
Video memory	12 GB
3DMark Time Spy (graphics)	11,973
PCI Express	4.0 ×16
Released	2021

Radeon RX 6700 XT