NVIDIA’s RTX 4070 Hits a Good Price, but Also a Bad Price

Launching today, the GeForce RTX 4070 is supposed to fill the mid-range gap in NVIDIA’s 40-series GPU lineup. But at $600, the RTX 4070 is a bit of an odd duck—sure, it’s the most reasonably priced 40-series GPU, but its specs are comparable to the old RTX 3080.

Let’s start with the good stuff; NVIDIA’s RTX 4070 is the most affordable GPU on the Ada Lovelace architecture, and it supports both DLSS 3 (which artificially improves the frame rate of games) and AV1 encoding (a great feature for livestreaming). It’s also a lot more power efficient than NVIDIA’s 30-series GPUs, and unlike the elephantine RTX 4080, it can actually fit in a normal computer case.

Outside of these improvements, the RTX 4070 doesn’t seem like a next-gen GPU (at least, not on paper). Like the RTX 3070, the new RTX 4070 uses 5,888 CUDA cores. It also has a downgraded 192-bit memory interface, though it sports an upgraded 12GB of VRAM, plus improved clock speeds (1,313 MHz memory, 2,475 MHz boost).

This is significantly less performance than you’ll get with an RTX 4070 Ti, which costs $800. And, more notably, it isn’t a huge upgrade from previous-gen specs. The aftermarket for 30-series cards is bananas right now, and although the RTX 4070 should be about 20% faster than the RTX 3080 (that’s according to NVIDIA, not me), you can easily buy an RTX 3080 for less than $500. (And we aren’t even adding AMD’s excellent GPUs to the equation.)

So, what’s the selling point here? We believe that there are some very good reasons to buy this graphics card, depending on your priorities. First, we need to highlight DLSS 3—this feature uses AI to insert extra frames in some popular (and unpopular) games, so you can jump from 60 FPS to 120 FPS without bogging down all of your system’s resources. (Some gamers say that DLSS 3 is distracting and imperfect, while others are perfectly happy with it.)

There’s also the 12GB of VRAM. Some of the latest AAA PC games are outrageously resource intensive and eat away at memory (probably due to poor optimization). If you’re laser-focused on playing new games, the RTX 4070 might be a safe investment simply for its VRAM.

And, of course, I need to mention the warranty. Shopping on the aftermarket can save you a ton of money, but if something goes wrong, you’ll wish you had a warranty from the manufacturer. Buying a new GPU can give you peace of mind.

Several brands, including NVIDIA, PNY, and Colorful, will begin selling RTX 4070 GPUs this month. I suggest waiting for reviews and benchmarks to hit the scene before you buy any graphics card. Note that the RTX 4070 is intended for 1440p gaming and isn’t a realistic option for 4K.

Source: NVIDIA