Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 review: Highly efficient 1440p gaming

Value When Reviewed

$599

Lastly, Nvidia’s 70-class GeForce graphics playing cards get greater than 8GB of reminiscence. And at last, there’s a member of the RTX 40-series presumably price shopping for apart from the $1,600 flagship. Meet the 12GB GeForce RTX 4070. It’s hitting the streets for $599 on April 13.

The GeForce RTX 4070 delivers exceptionally quick 1440p gaming efficiency whereas sipping energy, a mix that allow Nvidia create an adorably tiny Founders Version model of the GPU. These body charges climb even increased in video games that assist Nvidia’s DLSS upscaling expertise, and astronomically increased in video games embracing DLSS 3 Body Era—even with ray tracing flipped on. Distinctive software program options like Nvidia Broadcast, Reflex, and RTX Video Tremendous Decision assist sweeten the pot.

The RTX 4070 could also be price contemplating but it surely’s not a slam-dunk suggestion. Paying $599 for a 70-class graphics card explicitly marketed for 1440p gaming deeply aches, particularly when Nvidia made technical choices that actively harm the GPU’s 4K gaming prowess. We’d additionally wish to see 16GB of reminiscence in a $600 graphics card in 2023. Nonetheless, whereas the RTX 4070 prices $100 greater than its predecessor, it’s nowhere close to as insultingly overpriced because the $800 RTX 4070 Ti and $1,200 RTX 4080 are.

With these broad-strokes impressions out of the way in which, let’s dig into the small print.

Additional studying: The very best graphics playing cards for PC gaming

What are the GeForce RTX 4070’s specs?

Nvidia’s $599 GeForce RTX 4070 makes use of a cut-down model of the 4N “Ada Lovelace” AD104 GPU discovered within the RTX 4070 Ti. Right here’s a take a look at its core specs:

• Graphics Processing Clusters: 4
• Texture Processing Clusters: 23
• Streaming Multiprocessors: 46
• CUDA Cores: 5888
• Tensor Cores: 184 (4th Era)
• RT Cores: 46 (third Era)
• Texture Models: 184
• ROP Models: 64
• Base Clock: 1920MHz
• Enhance Clock: 2475MHz
• Reminiscence Clock: 10500MHz
• Reminiscence Knowledge Charge: 21Gb/s
• Whole Video Reminiscence: 12GB GDDR6X
• Reminiscence Interface: 192-bit
• Whole Reminiscence Bandwidth: 504GB/s
• Transistor Depend: 35.8 billion
• Connectors: 3x DisplayPort, 1x HDMI
• Energy Connectors: 2x PCIe 8-pin cables (adapter in field) OR 300W or better PCIe Gen 5 cable
• Energy Provide Required:650W

This all represents strong advances over the expertise inside final technology’s $499 RTX 3070 and $599 RTX 3070 Ti, although it’s a big step again from the 4070 Ti’s would possibly—that card runs roughly 15 to 25 p.c sooner, relying on the sport and backbone. The efficiency hole widens barely at 4K decision.

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You don’t really need the GeForce RTX 4070 for 4K gaming anyway—a conclusion that’s supported by Nvidia’s determination to market this GPU round taking part in video games at 100 frames per second at 1440p decision. As we mentioned extensively within the RTX 4070 Ti’s overview, Nvidia outfitted the AD104 GPU utilized by each 4070 playing cards with a surprisingly slender 192-bit reminiscence bus, which constrains general reminiscence bandwidth. The RTX 4070 comes with GDDR6X, sooner reminiscence than its predecessor, in addition to a a lot bigger L2 cache (36.8K) for protecting extra duties on the GPU itself. Each of these assist enhance reminiscence efficiency however I wouldn’t purchase this card for 4K gaming—solely 1440p.

Against this, the RTX 3080—which, once more, was a higher-tier card that value $100 lower than the 4070 Ti—wielded a 320-bit bus, which is typical for a high-end GPU. Even the already-pandemic-overpriced $600 RTX 3070 Ti had a 256-bit bus. You needed to go all the way in which right down to the $330 RTX 3060 to search out an Nvidia GPU with a 192-bit bus final technology.

From PCWorld’s RTX 4070 Ti overview

That goes doubly so given its 12GB reminiscence capability—a very welcome improve over the 8GB that Nvidia’s 70-class remained caught on because the GTX 1070’s launch in 2016. That stated, with video games gobbling ever-increasing quantities of VRAM now that the most recent console technology (and 16GB of shared reminiscence) are the usual, I’d be nervous about shopping for a graphics card for 4K gaming with lower than 16GB of reminiscence. The RTX 4070’s 12GB needs to be superb for many video games at 1440p, although notice that flipping on ray-tracing results eats closely into VRAM as effectively.

Brad Chacos/IDG

Brad Chacos/IDG

It is a tremendously energy-efficient graphics card, which let Nvidia craft a smaller, completely cute dual-slot model of its Founders Version board. Nvidia’s fantastic-looking FE designs deal with virtually each a part of the cardboard as a heatsink and make the most of unorthodox flow-through fan cooling. That every one holds true with the RTX 4070 FE—it’s simply a lot smaller than its triple-slot siblings. This beast will probably be fashionable in high-end small form-factor gaming builds.

Nvidia outfitted the RTX 4070 Founders Version with a single HDMI 2.1 port in addition to three DisplayPort 1.4a connections. It additionally makes use of the brand new 16-pin 12VHPWR connector regardless of its comparatively modest energy calls for—you solely want a 650W provide—so be ready to take a look at the unpleasant too-short adapter plugs in your case for those who don’t wish to spend money on a brand new ATX 3.0 energy provide (or not less than customized 12VHPWR cords). FE playing cards don’t embody additional options like dual-BIOS switches or customizable RGB lighting.

Brad Chacos/IDG

As an RTX 40-series “Ada Lovelace” graphics card, the GeForce RTX 4070 additionally helps Nvidia’s staggering arsenal of options, together with DLSS, DLSS 3 Body Era, Nvidia Broadcast, RTX Video Tremendous Decision, very good ray-tracing prowess, Nvidia Reflex, and extra. Nvidia’s software program stack is a main feather in its cap. It’s price noting that whereas the RTX 4070 helps AV1 encoding, new to GeForce this technology, product supervisor Justin Walker informed me the 4070 solely features a single AV1 encoder somewhat than the pair present in higher-priced RTX 40-series choices.

Bought it? Good. Let’s get to the benchmarks.

Our check system

We check graphics playing cards on an AMD Ryzen 5900X PC used solely for benchmarking GPUs. We now check with PCIe Resizable BAR (also referred to as Good Entry Reminiscence on Ryzen methods) energetic, as most fashionable gaming PCs launched within the final 4 years assist the performance-boosting characteristic, both natively or by way of a motherboard firmware replace. Nvidia additionally recommends turning on the non-compulsory “{Hardware}-accelerated GPU scheduling” possibility in Home windows to let the RTX 40-series stretch its legs to the fullest, so we’ve made that tweak as effectively. Many of the {hardware} was offered by the producers, however we bought the storage ourselves.

We check a wide range of video games spanning varied engines, genres, vendor sponsorships (Nvidia, AMD, and Intel), and graphics APIs (DirectX 9, 11, DX12, and Vulkan), to attempt to signify a full vary of efficiency potential. Every recreation is examined utilizing its in-game benchmark, sanity checked by Nvidia’s FrameView device, on the highest potential graphics presets except in any other case famous, with VSync, body charge caps, real-time ray tracing or DLSS results, and FreeSync/G-Sync disabled, together with another vendor-specific applied sciences like FidelityFX instruments or Nvidia Reflex. We’ve additionally enabled temporal anti-aliasing (TAA) to push these playing cards to their limits.

We run every benchmark not less than thrice and checklist the typical outcome for every check. Exterior of esports, we’ve restricted our benchmarks to 4K and 1440p resolutions, as these are the pure suits for these juggernaut GPUs (regardless of the 4070 Ti’s paltry bus width). We check options like ray tracing and DLSS in a separate part, as upscaling options like DLSS and AMD’s rival FSR tweak the look of video games to assist them run sooner.  

We’re going to indicate these benchmarks with out particular person recreation commentary. Along with taking note of how the RTX 4070 performs in relation to the 4070 Ti, 3080, and 3070, additionally notice the way it compares in opposition to AMD’s Radeon RX 6800 XT and 6900 XT—two last-generation fashions which might be sooner and extra memory-packed than Nvidia’s new providing, and might usually be discovered for much less on the road. Nvidia’s GPUs womp in ray tracing and additional options, although they lag behind Radeon in uncooked esports body charges.

How briskly is the GeForce RTX 4070?

Brad Chacos/IDG

Brad Chacos/IDG

Brad Chacos/IDG

Brad Chacos/IDG

Brad Chacos/IDG

Brad Chacos/IDG

Brad Chacos/IDG

Brad Chacos/IDG

Brad Chacos/IDG

Brad Chacos/IDG

How is the RTX 4070’s ray tracing and DLSS efficiency?

Along with conventional gaming assessments, we individually benchmark how graphics playing cards carry out with ray tracing enabled on the highest potential settings (although we follow Extremely, not Psycho, in Cyberpunk 2077).

Since ray tracing tanks body charges, we additionally check how Nvidia and AMD’s DLSS and FSR upscaling applied sciences, respectively, handle to claw again efficiency utilizing their Balanced high quality presets, which straddle the road between optimizing for higher picture high quality and sooner body charges. We’ve additionally chosen benchmarks that present how Nvidia’s new DLSS 3 Body Era can supercharge body charges and visible smoothness even additional by inserting AI-generated frames between each GPU-rendered body. Nvidia says DLSS 3 is being adopted 7x sooner than DLSS 2 was and it could possibly ship really transformative visible smoothness in video games that assist it, but it surely’s solely accessible for brand spanking new RTX 40-series choices.

Be aware that DLSS and FSR each work by rendering a body at a decrease decision, then scaling it to suit your display utilizing software program smarts. In addition they have a number of totally different high quality presets accessible. Evaluating DLSS vs. FSR in uncooked body charge isn’t as apples-to-apples as evaluating native gaming efficiency, in different phrases, however nonetheless price inspecting as they’re options most avid gamers will use in the actual world. That warning goes doubly so for DLSS 3’s radical AI body technology, which may generally generate artifacts and different slight inconsistencies, as {Hardware} Unboxed’s glorious video above reveals.

The charts beneath present native 1440p efficiency; native 1440p with ray tracing extremely energetic; upscaled DLSS/FSR Balanced mode efficiency with ray tracing extremely energetic; and, for RTX 40-series GPUs solely, DLSS 3 Body Gen efficiency with ray tracing extremely energetic. You can even activate DLSS/FSR or DLSS 3 with out ray tracing energetic for even sooner body charges however we solely examined that state of affairs in Purple Useless Redemption 2 as a result of there are solely so many hours within the day, y’all.

Brad Chacos/IDG

Brad Chacos/IDG

Brad Chacos/IDG

Brad Chacos/IDG

Brad Chacos/IDG

Is the GeForce RTX 4070 energy environment friendly?

We check energy draw by looping the F1 22 benchmark at 4K for about 20 minutes after we’ve benchmarked every part else (to heat up the GPU) and noting the very best studying on our Watts Up Professional meter, which measures the ability consumption of our whole check system. The preliminary a part of the race, the place all competing vehicles are onscreen concurrently, tends to be probably the most demanding portion. 

This isn’t a worst-case check; it is a GPU-bound recreation working at a GPU-bound decision to gauge efficiency when the graphics card is sweating onerous. When you’re taking part in a recreation that additionally hammers the CPU, you would see increased general system energy attracts. Think about your self warned.

Brad Chacos/IDG

Regardless of flinging out implausible body charges, the GeForce RTX 4070 completely sips energy. No complaints, simply admiration.

We check thermals by leaving GPU-Z open throughout the F1 22 energy draw check, noting the very best most temperature on the finish.

That supreme energy effectivity let Nvidia craft an adorably tiny Founders Version mannequin. It isn’t the best or the quietest GPU round, and customized fashions will little doubt attain loftier numbers (albeit in a lot bigger packages), but it surely’s nonetheless loads cool and many quiet. Once more, no complaints.

Must you purchase the GeForce RTX 4070?

It is dependent upon what you need in a graphics card, and what you’re prepared to spend on it.

Brad Chacos/IDG

The GeForce RTX 4070 delivers distinctive 1440p gaming efficiency in even probably the most strenuous video games, with best-in-class ray tracing efficiency if you wish to flip these cutting-edge lighting options on. Nvidia’s killer software program stack enhances each facet of the GPU, from creation to streaming to gaming, with options like Nvidia Reflex, Broadcast, RTX Video Tremendous Decision, and DLSS 3 Body Era really bettering your day-to-day expertise. When you discovered your self nodding alongside to our protection of the 4070 Ti by a 1440p gamer, you’re the prime viewers for the $200-cheaper RTX 4070.

The RTX 4070 additionally helps AV1 encoding, in contrast to previous-gen GPUs, whereas its unimaginable energy effectivity let Nvidia make its Founders Version mannequin good and tiny. It’ll match into most any system.  

It’s not a slam dunk although. Nvidia’s determination to equip the RTX 4070 with a 192-bit bus and 12GB of reminiscence stop us from with the ability to suggest it for long-term 4K gaming, particularly with reminiscence necessities solely rising in fashionable video games. (We applaud the bump in reminiscence from 8GB to 12GB, however $600 graphics playing cards actually ought to have 16GB or extra in 2023.)

In order for you a 4K graphics card round this worth vary, full with extra reminiscence, contemplate AMD’s last-generation Radeon RX 6800 XT or 6900 XT as an alternative (or the 6850 XT and 6950 XT variants). Each include 16GB of VRAM, extensive reminiscence buses, and run as quick or sooner than the RTX 4070, particularly at 4K decision. Radeon GPUs additionally excel at esports body charges. The 6950 XT might be discovered for as little as $650 today, whereas the 6800 XT might be discovered round $570. Alternatively, the brand new Radeon RX 7900 XT is a possible consideration at $850. You quit AV1 encoding, DLSS, and Nvidia’s glorious ray tracing chops and additional options, nevertheless. Keep away from the $800 4070 Ti for 4K gaming.

You’re giving up one thing with both aspect today. It stays a reasonably bleak time for $500-plus graphics playing cards.

Brad Chacos/IDG

As I stated proper up high, the $599 GeForce RTX 4070 is the one present Nvidia 40-series graphics card doubtlessly price your cash apart from the flagship RTX 4090. That’s as a result of Nvidia didn’t jack its worth as painfully because the $800 RTX 4070 Ti and $1,200 RTX 4080, not as a result of it’s worth. The $599 RTX 4070 is $100 greater than its predecessor, and $100 lower than the RTX 3080. In most video games, the RTX 3080 trades blow or is a handful of frames sooner than the RTX 4070. Positive, the RTX 4070’s energy effectivity and DLSS 3 Body Gen options are deeply spectacular certainly, however in uncooked gaming efficiency, Nvidia’s 40-series continues to supply stagnant gen-on-gen worth, 2.5 years after the 30-series launched. Not each recreation will assist options like DLSS or FSR.

Purchase the GeForce RTX 4070 if you’d like a fairly sized, extremely environment friendly 1440p gaming beast, full with entry to all the most recent and best Nvidia software program options—and for those who’re prepared to spend $600 on a graphics card like that. Keep away from it for long-term 4K utilization, and comparability store before you purchase as last-gen graphics playing cards could supply higher worth.