Our launch day coverage of the GeForce RTX 4070 includes: NVIDIA Founders Edition, ASUS Dual, Gainward Ghost, MSI Ventus and PNY RTX 4070. Tomorrow we'll have another round of reviews, for cards selling above the MSRP of $600.
Today NVIDIA is launching their fourth GeForce 40 Series graphics card—the GeForce RTX 4070. Just three months ago we saw the release of the $800 RTX 4070 Ti, now the green team's new card comes without the "Ti," for $200 less. Under the hood, the RTX 4070 is very similar to the RTX 4070 Ti. Both cards are based on the NVIDIA AD104 graphics processor and feature 12 GB GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit wide memory bus. Of course you're getting all of NVIDIA's GeForce 40 goodies, like DLSS 3 Frame Generation and improved ray tracing cores. What is different is the number of cores in the GPU—the RTX 4070 has 5,888 cores, which is a pretty hefty 30% difference to the 7,680 cores on RTX 4070 Ti. Clock speeds are lower, too, the RTX 4070 Ti had a rated boost of up to 2610 MHz, whereas the non-Ti is rated for 2475 MHz.
The Gainward RTX 4070 Ghost is a reference-clocked, cost-optimized card that's designed to sell at NVIDIA's MSRP. For this launch, NVIDIA has changed the rules, only reviews for cards priced at $600 can be published today, tomorrow all reviews for the more expensive cards can go live. This creates an incentive for their board partners to not only sample expensive high-end custom designs, but also the bread and butter models that the vast majority of people are buying. For me this of course increases the workload, because many vendors have submitted two samples, but I have to admit I've enjoyed reviewing these affordable models and I'm actually impressed that they are offering good performance, thermals and noise.
Averaged over the 25 games in our test suite, at 1440p resolution, the Gainward Ghost ends up a tiny 2% slower than the NVIDIA RTX 4070 Founders Edition. This is the case for all cards tested today, they are all running slightly lower clocks than the FE, despite all having the same base and boost clock rating, with the same power limit. Binning does play a role in the clocks the NVIDIA Boost algorithm selects, so maybe NVIDIA is putting the best GPUs on the FE, while other AICs reserve those for their factory-overclocked models. Either way, these differences are negligible in daily use, there's no way you'll be able to notice such a tiny difference.
Compared to last generation's RTX 3070, the performance uplift is 25%—a relatively small gen-over-gen gain (RTX 4090: +64%, RTX 4080: +49%, RTX 4070 Ti: +44%). It is still a substantial improvement, especially when you consider other factors like DLSS 3 and efficiency. Compared to AMD's offerings, the RTX 4070 matches the Radeon RX 6800 XT almost exactly, and is 8% behind the RX 6900 XT. AMD hasn't released any Radeon RX 7000 graphics card competitive to the RTX 4070 yet, actually they haven't released any graphics card this year.
These performance numbers make GeForce RTX 4070 an excellent choice for gaming at 1440p. Even smooth 4K is in reach in most titles, especially if you're willing to enable upscaling technologies like FSR or DLSS 2, or DLSS 3 Frame Generation. Just like the RTX 4070 Ti, I've noticed that RTX 4070 does a little bit worse at 4K than at 1440p relative to our other comparison cards. It seems the smaller L2 cache and 192-bit memory bus hold those cards back a little bit.
Just like on other NVIDIA cards, ray tracing performance is better than on AMD's offerings, because NVIDIA is executing more operations in dedicated hardware, and they have had a one GPU generation head start. While the performance differences are not night-and-day, they are still noteworthy. For example, the Radeon RX 6800 XT matches the RTX 4070 in pure rasterization workloads, but falls behind over 20% with ray tracing enabled. While RX 7900 XT offered 30% higher FPS with RT off, turning RT on makes that gap shrink to just 8%. Everybody agrees that ray tracing is the future, they just disagree on how fast it will become an essential part of gaming. If you're in the "RTX on" camp, then NVIDIA's GeForce graphics cards will give you higher framerates than AMD's offerings.
Another important selling point is that NVIDIA's GeForce 40 Series graphics cards support DLSS 3 Frame Generation. The algorithm takes two frames, measures how things have moved in those two frames and calculates an intermediate frame in which these things moved only half the distance. While this approach is definitely not problem-free, especially when pixel-peeping at stills or slowed down video, in real-time it's nearly impossible to notice any difference. As you run at higher FPS and resolution it becomes even more difficult, because the deltas between each frame are getting smaller and smaller. Implementing DLSS 3 is very easy for developers if they already have DLSS 2 support in their game, and NVIDIA is offering a lot of support to developers for integrating these technologies. Another interesting NVIDIA tech is Reflex, which reduces the total gaming latency (which NVIDIA likes to call whole system latency), so you see things earlier on your screen and can react faster, to get more kills or survive for longer.
Leading up to this launch, I've noticed a lot of discussion around the 12 GB VRAM size of RTX 4070. While I agree that 16 GB would be better, I disagree with people who say that 12 GB is already too small, or obsolete. There are a few (badly coded) games out there that use a ton of VRAM, especially at 4K, but the vast majority of titles won't even get close to such VRAM usage numbers. In our whole test suite not a single game saw a meaningful performance hit with 12 GB, not even at 4K—and RTX 4070 is fundamentally a 1440p card. You'll also have to consider that making a 16 GB card isn't just "let's add another 4 GB memory chip," but you also need to put additional signal traces on the PCB, and widen the memory controller inside the GPU, so that it can talk to all these chips in parallel. I don't think anyone would be willing to pay $700 for a 16 GB RTX 4070, would you? On the other hand, AMD does offer 16 GB VRAM on the Radeon RX 6800 XT and 6900 XT, which could make them an option for those who want to focus on VRAM future-proofing.
The Gainward Ghost is sold at MSRP and comes with a fairly basic design. For example, you're getting a plastic backplate, instead of one made from metal—a great compromise in my opinion. Our apples-to-apples cooler comparison test clearly shows that the Ghost has the weakest thermal solution of all the cards tested today, even weaker than the Founders Edition. This means that the fans have to run faster (=louder) to achieve the same temperatures as on other cards. While temperatures are low enough with 72°C, they are still a bit higher than on other cards tested today. Also, the noise levels are higher, to achieve these temps. With 36 dBA, the card isn't "loud" in any way, but it's not nearly as quiet as competing models, and the Founders Edition is quieter, too. Given the cooler's capabilities I still think that Gainward picked the optimum balance between temperatures and noise, and didn't go overboard with the fan speed to reach some thermal targets. Just like on all other cards tested today, idle-fan-stop is included with the card, for the perfect noise-free experience during idle, desktop work and Internet browsing.
Being able to run at these speeds with such a small cooling solution is an amazing feat, thanks to the stunning energy efficiency of NVIDIA's Ada architecture. With just 200 W, the power supply requirements are minimal, any beige OEM PSU will be able to drive the RTX 4070 just fine, so upgraders can just plop in a new graphics card and they're good to go. Performance per Watt is among the best we've ever seen, slightly better than RTX 4070 Ti and Radeon RX 7900 XTX; only the RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 are even more energy-efficient. Surprisingly, the Gainward Ghost consumes 5 W more than the FE in idle, maybe due to the RGB lighting element. In gaming on the other hand, the power draw is slightly lower than the FE.
Gainward has chosen to not allow any manual power limit increases on their card, no idea why. They are not alone though, PNY and MSI have locked their cards down, too. Manual overclocking is still possible of course, but having a bit of additional headroom for OC could come in handy for advanced users. NVIDIA's Founders Edition allows increasing the power limit up to 220 W, ASUS allows up to 216 W. Unlike the FE, Gainward is using an 8-pin power input, just one, which is a good alternative to the 16-pin, especially for people wanting to avoid the adapter. The 8-pin cable can also be bent more tightly, people are less scared of plugging it in the wrong way, and I suspect it's also a few cents cheaper to integrate, so no complaints from me. In theory, the 16-pin could deliver up to 600 W, but all RTX 4070 cards are capped at around 200 W, unable to use more power, even if it was available, so there's no performance, boost or power difference.
The Gainward GeForce RTX 4070 Ghost comes at the NVIDIA base price of $600, same as the GeForce RTX 4070 Founders Edition, and the other cards tested today. Compared to these, the Gainward card does have the weakest cooler, which means buyers will have to compromise a little bit on heat and noise. While it's not a big difference, I still feel that people will opt for other models, especially if availability is good and pricing really stays at MSRP. We'll know more in two days. On the other hand, Gainward's card is clearly less expensive to build, which means they could be the first to go below the MSRP if sales are slow. I totally would consider a $589 Gainward Ghost—performance matches the other models and everything else is "close enough." Also, I've been hearing rumors that NVIDIA is incentivizing these MSRP cards, so once such a program ends, prices might go up and the Ghost might be the only card left at MSRP.
$600 is an alright price given the current GPU pricing landscape, but is still $100 more expensive than the launch-price of RTX 3070 and RTX 2070. At that price point the RTX 4070 is clearly the best option, even though it's not standing out spectacularly, like it would had it been $500 instead. There's no way I'd buy RTX 3080 10 GB for $550 if I can get the RTX 4070 for $600. The selling points here are DLSS 3 and energy efficiency. Strong competition comes from the RX 6800 XT at $510. It offers a larger framebuffer of 16 GB and similar rasterization performance, but slower ray tracing and worse efficiency. Spending $200 more for an $800 RTX 4070 Ti is out of reach for people shopping with a $600 budget, just like Radeon RX 7900 XT.
NVIDIA knows these numbers, too, and that's exactly why the RTX 4070 is positioned like that. It's the best choice in its segment no doubt, with good performance and impressive efficiency. Still, graphics cards have become extremely expensive in the last years, and people are frustrated, and looking elsewhere. Consider $500 will buy you a PlayStation 5, a complete gaming system that's ready to go, which will run 4K and has every single game hand-optimized for the platform, without any compatibility issues, shader compilation, stutter, or other hoops to jump through.
FAQs
Is 4070 enough for 4K? ›
The RTX 4070 delivers solid performance at 1440p that's comparable to the RTX 3080, but at 4K, it misses out in nearly every game. If you're wanting to upgrade from a 1080p experience to a 1440p monitor, the RTX 4070 is worth considering, but I was expecting a little more from a generational leap.
Is 4070 worth it reddit? ›The RTX 4070 is compact and amazingly efficient compared to the RTX 30 series and its 40 series brothers. The idle fan stop is huge for us, and support for AV1 encoding is stellar for a lot of streamers at this price. The RTX 4070 performed above the RTX 3080 in most cases and well above the RTX RTX 3070.
Is the Gainward GeForce RTX 2060 Ghost good? ›10 Aug 2021 - Graphics card reviewed
This computer hardware provides top end graphics. The GeForce RTX 2060 Gainward Ghost OC 6GB will easily meet recommended system requirements of games released today. This is a strong benchmarker on modern games and can often return excellent frame rates at high and ultra 1080p.
In fact, the RTX 4070 performs better than the RTX 3080 in games like Forza Horizon 5 and Cyberpunk 2077 at 1440p resolution. Beyond that, the RTX 3080 consistently delivers higher margins than the RTX 4070 at 4K. The biggest advantage the RTX 4070 has over the RTX 3080 is DLSS 3 and better ray-tracing technology.
How powerful will RTX 4070 be? ›The RTX 4070 targets 100fps and more at 1440p with ray tracing, DLSS 3, and Frame Generation capabilities – together, these features set this GPU apart from its competitors. In our testing, we found that it offers excellent performance, at an accessible price, when compared to other RTX 40-series GPUs.
Is it worth getting a 4070? ›The RTX 4070 is the most affordable RTX 40-Series GPU yet, finally making Nvidia's much-talked-about Ada Lovelace architecture accessible to the masses. The card performs well for what it's meant for (that is, 1440p gaming), is more power efficient, and will fit in more cases thanks to its smaller size.
What is equivalent to RTX 4070? ›Nvidia's RTX 4070 and AMD's RX 6950 XT are similar GPUs in a lot of ways. They trade blows in gaming scenarios and they're both decently priced — the RX 6950 XT is normally only around $50 more expensive, and this isn't even true for all of the models of RTX 4070.
What will the 4070 be equivalent to? ›NVIDIA has unveiled a new Ada Lovelace generation graphics card. The new card is called the GeForce RTX 4070 and is the performance equivalent of the RTX 3080.
Is RTX 4070 more powerful than 3090? ›From this, you can see that the performance of the RTX 3090 and 4070 are similar, but the RTX 3090 performs slightly better overall. The superior architecture of the RTX 4070 is counteracted by the far higher VRAM and core count of the 3090.
Who makes Gainward graphics cards? ›...
Gainward.
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Parent | Palit Microsystems |
| Website | www.gainward.com |
Is Gainward a NVIDIA? ›
Introduction. Gainward GeForce RTX 4080 Phoenix GS is the company's affordable custom-design graphics card based on the enthusiast segment "Ada" GPU by NVIDIA. Its name is a callback to the "Golden Sample" (GS) days of Gainward GeForce products from some 20 years ago, and stands for "overclocked" today.
What GPU is better than RTX 2060? ›The Nvidia RTX 3060 outshines the RTX 2060 in gaming performance.
Is a 4070 a good graphics card? ›To review the 4070 is to simultaneously be impressed by it as a product while also being frustrated with the conditions that led us to an "impressive" $600 midrange graphics card. It's pretty fast, very efficient, and much more reasonably sized than other recent Nvidia GPUs.
Is 750W enough for RTX 4070? ›Because of this, we would suggest RTX 4070 users to pick up either a 750W or 850W power supply. This will provide more than enough power to all of the components within their gaming PC, whilst leaving enough of a margin to account for peaks and additional components that are added over time.
Will 4070 be faster than 3080ti? ›Is the RTX 4070 Ti better than the 3080 Ti? Though the RTX 3080 Ti is a highly capable GPU, the RTX 4070 Ti will likely outperform the 3080 Ti in a number of areas, largely thanks to its new Ada Lovelace architecture.
What is the difference between RTX 4060 and 4070? ›What is the difference between RTX 4060 Ti and RTX 4070? The RTX 4070 has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory compared to the 8 GB and 16 GB GDDR6 on the 4060 Ti. It also has more cores and texture units, which contribute to its superior performance.
How much RAM does RTX 4070 have? ›NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4070 comes with 12GB of RAM for $599 | Engadget.
Which brand 4070 should I buy? ›ASUS TUF GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC
The ASUS TUF RTX 4070 Ti OC is a great choice for those looking for a combination of quality and performance, while the MSI SUPRIM X GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is the best air-cooling model. For those on a budget, the MSI GAMING X TRIO GeForce RTX 4070 Ti offers a solid option.
| 3DMark TimeSpy Extreme | Port Royal (Ray Tracing) | |
|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA RTX 4070 | 8,610 | 11,195/52 fps |
| NVIDIA RTX 4070 Ti | 10,624 | 14,163/66 fps |
| NVIDIA RTX 3070 | 6,226 | 8,032/37 fps |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT | 11,688 | 13,247/61 fps |
Word from Nvidia is that the RTX 4070 will launch with UK RRP of £589 and a US MSRP of $599. As with the £799 / $799 RTX 4070 Ti, you can expect this to be the base price for lower-end (relatively speaking) models, with overclocked and otherwise souped-up partner cards costing more.
Is 4070 Ti better than 4070? ›
GeForce RTX 4070 Ti vs 4070 – RT and DLSS Game Benchmarks
Above are a few game titles that feature ray tracing and/or DLSS. Generally speaking, the RTX 4070 Ti is more than 20% faster than the RTX 4070, depending on the resolution. For instance, in some game titles, the difference is minimal.
The GeForce RTX 4070 bears a number of similarities to its direct predecessor, the RTX 3070. Both feature 5,888 CUDA cores, 184 texture mapping units (TMUs), 184 Tensor cores, and 46 ray-tracing (RT) cores.
Is 4080 better than 4070ti? ›But generally speaking, the RTX 4080 is around 20% to 30% faster than the RTX 4070 Ti. In a lower resolution, like 1080p, the performance difference between the two GPUs is smaller. Meanwhile, the RTX 4080 performs better at higher resolution and is best suited for 2160p or 4K UHD.
How much will RTX 4070 cost reddit? ›NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 to retail at $599 : r/nvidia.
What is the history of Gainward GPU? ›It was founded in Taiwan in 1984 and since then have been producing PC video cards. In 2005 the company as well, as the trademark “Gainward”, was acquired by Palit Group, one of the major suppliers of graphics cards and solid-state drives for personal computers in the world market.
Is Gainward owned by Palit? ›Palit Microsystems runs two major brands, Palit, and Gainward, which target different global markets, and other brands like Daytona, Galaxy (GALAX), Vivkoo, Yuan, KFA2 and XpertVision. It also contract-manufactures graphics cards for other companies.
Where is Gainward based? ›Gainward :: About US. Our Offices: Taipei (Taiwan) Headquarter. European HQ in Germany.
What does Gainward mean? ›(obsolete) Toward; facing; over against.
Does brand matter for Nvidia GPU? ›Regardless of the brand, you buy it from, the actual GPU chip that does all the work is not going to change. An RX 6600 XT is a 6600 XT whether you buy it from Sapphire or Gigabyte. Buying the more expensive version won't magically make it perform better, since it's still the same underlying chip.
Which is better GTX or RTX --? ›In terms of performance, the RTX series generally offers better performance than the GTX series, especially in games that support ray tracing and DLSS.
Is RTX 2060 still good in 2022? ›
All hyperbole aside, the RTX 2060 remains a surprisingly good option in 2022, with DLSS offering a handy frame-rate boost in titles where you might want to enable visual effects like RT, and RT performance in general being better than AMD's offerings on equivalently priced cards.
Is RTX 2060 worth it in 2023? ›Conclusion. The RTX 2060 Super is still a solid GPU for gaming in 2023. However, before purchasing the Turing offering, users should ensure they are getting a fresh and clean card, preferably one that has not been mined.
How many frames should I be getting? ›Target frame rate
PC action games are played best at 60 fps, but otherwise, a frame rate of 30 fps or higher should be fine.
This beast will be popular in high-end small form-factor gaming builds. The GeForce RTX 4070 delivers exceptional 1440p gaming performance in even the most strenuous games, with best-in-class ray tracing performance if you want to turn those cutting-edge lighting features on.
Where does the 4070 rank? ›Average Bench: 190% (12 th of 699)
The Nvidia RTX 4070 averaged 89.9% higher than the peak scores attained by the group leaders. This is an excellent result which ranks the Nvidia RTX 4070 near the top of the comparison list.
The NVIDIA RTX 4070 performs about 20% better than the RTX 3070 Ti. Due to the latest 3rd generation ray tracing cores, its ray tracing performance is also more stable. Gamers can expect a 30 to 15 FPS difference between the two GPUs.
What PSU should I get for RTX 4070 TI? ›For the RTX 4070 Ti to get the right amount of power, you should look for a PSU that has at least 750 W output, but for the best performance, aim for a higher, like an 850 W supply unit. Corsair RM750x is probably a great choice for you.
How many watts recommended for RTX? ›| Card: | Minimum: | Recommended (minimum): |
|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti | 600W | 750W |
| NVIDIA RTX 3060 | 550W | 700W |
| NVIDIA RTX 2080 Ti, NVIDIA RTX 2080 Super, NVIDIA RTX 2080, NVIDIA RTX 2070 Super | 650W | 800W |
| NVIDIA RTX 2060 Super | 550W | 700W |
Maximum power use is officially rated for 285W on the reference 4070 Ti, but the Asus card may have a slightly higher limit.
How does 4070 compare to 3090? ›Starting with Cyberpunk 2077, the RTX 4070 Ti gets up to 102fps at 1440p, which beats the regular RTX 3090's 90fps. The RTX 3090 Ti being 8 to 10 percent better than the RTX 3090 would land it right around the 100fps mark—so within the margin of error for the RTX 4070 Ti, an impressive showing.
What does the 4070ti compare to? ›
Moving onto performance, the RTX 4070 Ti actually offers strong metrics all around. This card compares to an RTX 3090 or 3090 Ti in certain titles, making it ideal for gaming at 4K or 1440p. Much like the 4070, it's downfall is Ray-Tracing, but performance is still mostly acceptable when Ray-Tracing is turned on.
Is 4070 overkill for 1440p? ›With the 4070 Ti's specs, you'll get high and steady FPS in every game at a competitive resolution of 1440p. Thus, you don't have to worry about the RTX 4070 Ti being overkill as it performs best in 1440p gaming.
Is 4070ti enough for 1440p? ›But based on my testing, the 4070 is still a solid choice for practical gamers who may wan to splurge a bit. It's fast enough to deliver excellent 1440p performance with ray tracing enabled, and it can even deliver solid 4K gaming in a pinch too.
Is RTX 4070 better than 3090? ›The RTX 3090 has far more CUDA cores than the RTX 4070, almost double in fact, as well as exactly double the GDDR6X VRAM, with 24GB of the stuff. However, the 4070 boasts more advanced Ray Tracing and Tensor Cores as well as a higher Base Clock.
Is RTX 4070 overkill for 1080p? ›If you only have a 1080p monitor, the RTX 4070 might be borderline overkill in rasterization games, while for complex ray tracing games it's basically the minimum you'd want for a consistent 60 fps without upscaling.
Is 4070ti good for gaming? ›With a wider selection of games at 4K, the RTX 4070 Ti proves that it's able to offer great frame rates at this resolution. With the help of DLSS 3.0 and frame generation, Cyberpunk 2077 was silky smooth at 83 FPS, pulling far ahead of any of its RTX 30 counterparts.
How much will 4070 cost? ›Nvidia is making its new RTX 4070 graphics card official today after weeks of leaks. The RTX 4070 will be available on April 13th priced starting at $599 for Nvidia's own Founders Edition model.
Which is better RTX 4070 Ti or RTX 3090 Ti? ›The 3090 Ti, being 8 to 10 percent faster than the RTX 3090 almost precisely matches the RTX 4070 Ti performance here—and in some cases, the RTX 4070 Ti even comes out slightly ahead. The 12GB limitation does not yet show to be much of an issue, especially with ray tracing off and 1440p.
Is RTX 4070 overkill? ›With a potential 12GB of VRAM, the 4070 will perform with high frame rates at 1440p, with much higher clock speeds than its predecessor. Especially considering that AMD offers 16GB RAM on their RX 7900 XT and XTX graphics cards, it's fair to say that the RTX 4070 probably won't be overkill for gaming.
Can 4070ti handle 4K? ›The utility can also control the lighting, but there isn't a lot, just RGB for the badge. The card has a physical switch for performance or quiet modes. While the 4070 Ti is intended for 1440p gaming, it generally performs well on 4K, too.
Is the RTX 4070 TI high end? ›
The RTX 4070 Ti is the third graphics card of this GPU generation that NVIDIA has released. Having launched in January 2023, it's a high-end graphics card based on the company's 'Ada Lovelace' GPU architecture. It isn't cheap—no current-gen GPUs are—but it is for now the cheapest of the current-gen bunch.
How many FPS is RTX 4070? ›The GeForce RTX 4070 is good for 126 fps in our 13 game average at 1440p, which is the same result we received from the Radeon 6800 XT. This means the RTX 4070 is on average 4% faster than the RTX 3080 and 24% faster than the 3070 Ti.