What CPU do I need for the Radeon RX 7800 XT?

At 1440p, the Ryzen 5 3600 is the slowest processor that keeps the Radeon RX 7800 XT fully fed. At 1080p the card can run faster, so you need more: the Core i7-11700K or better.

Is the Radeon RX 7800 XT good for 1440p?

Yes. It averages around 100 FPS at 1440p on high settings in our model, enough for a high-refresh monitor in most games.

Is 16GB of VRAM enough on the Radeon RX 7800 XT?

Yes. 16GB covers high textures at 4K in current games and leaves headroom for the next few years.

Is the Radeon RX 7800 XT faster than the GeForce RTX 5070?

No. The GeForce RTX 5070 is about 6% faster at 1440p in our model (106 vs 100 FPS).

Radeon RX 7800 XT CPU pairing and bottleneck

Model frame rate limits of 130, 100 and 60 FPS at 1080p, 1440p and 4K, assuming the processor never gets in the way.

The Radeon RX 7800 XT is a high-end graphics card in our database and a high-refresh 1440p card that can handle 4K at tuned settings or with upscaling.

Its 16GB of memory leaves room for high textures at any resolution for years.

Its closest NVIDIA rival is the GeForce RTX 5070, which is 6% faster at 1440p.

Estimated FPS in Popular Games

Game (settings)	1080p	1440p	4K
Cyberpunk 2077 (High, no ray tracing)	~105	~80	~50
Fortnite (High, DirectX 12)	~170	~130	~80
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (High)	~150	~115	~70
Counter-Strike 2 (High)	~310	~240	~145

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	Core i7-11700K	126
1440p	Ryzen 5 3600	98
4K	Ryzen 5 1600	60

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
Ryzen 9 3950X	113 cpu	100 gpu	60 gpu
Core i7-9700K	111 cpu	100 gpu	60 gpu
Ryzen 9 3900X	110 cpu	100 gpu	60 gpu
Core i5-11400	109 cpu	100 gpu	60 gpu
Core i5-11400F	109 cpu	100 gpu	60 gpu
Core i7-10700F	109 cpu	100 gpu	60 gpu
Ryzen 5 5500	108 cpu	100 gpu	60 gpu
Core i5-10600K	107 cpu	100 gpu	60 gpu
Ryzen 7 3800X	107 cpu	100 gpu	60 gpu
Core i7-8700K	105 cpu	100 even	60 gpu
Ryzen 7 3700X	105 cpu	100 even	60 gpu
Ryzen 5 3600X	103 cpu	100 even	60 gpu
Core i5-9600K	100 cpu	100 even	60 gpu
Ryzen 5 3600	98 cpu	98 even	60 gpu
Ryzen 3 3300X	95 cpu	95 cpu	60 gpu
Core i5-10400	94 cpu	94 cpu	60 gpu
Core i5-10400F	94 cpu	94 cpu	60 gpu
Core i7-7700K	94 cpu	94 cpu	60 gpu
Ryzen 5 3500X	93 cpu	93 cpu	60 gpu
Ryzen 7 2700X	92 cpu	92 cpu	60 gpu
Core i3-10100F	91 cpu	91 cpu	60 gpu
Core i5-9400F	89 cpu	89 cpu	60 gpu
Ryzen 5 4600G	88 cpu	88 cpu	60 gpu
Core i5-8400	87 cpu	87 cpu	60 gpu

Written up in detail

Ryzen 5 5600 with Radeon RX 7800 XT at 1440p

Radeon RX 7800 XT Compared

RTX 4070 vs RX 7800 XT — The RX 7800 XT is about 11% faster than the RTX 4070 at 4K and 10% faster at 1440p.
RX 7800 XT vs RX 6800 XT — The RX 7800 XT and RX 6800 XT are effectively tied: within 2% of each other at every resolution.

Specifications

Manufacturer	AMD
Series	AMD RX 7000 Series (RDNA 3)
Video memory	16 GB
3DMark Time Spy (graphics)	19,059
PCI Express	4.0 ×16
Released	2023

Radeon RX 7800 XT