Standstill: RTX 4070 offers 23 per cent more FPS for 20 per cent more money than its predecessor
The latest Nvidia graphics card is available from today. According to initial reviews, the fourth model in the RTX 40 series has good all-round qualities and shows no weaknesses. However, the price is a talking point.
The RTX 4070 promises the same performance as an RTX 3080, but the card is more efficient than the previous generation. Here are the most important findings from two Founders Edition reviews. A test of a custom card from me will follow soon, unfortunately I did not receive one in advance.
Computerbase
In the review by Computerbase, the RTX 4070 doesn't quite come close to the RTX 3080: In games, it is five per cent behind on average. The gap varies depending on the resolution. Nevertheless, the predecessor card RTX 3070 is beaten by 23 per cent. The RX 6800 XT from AMD is sometimes faster and sometimes slower, depending on the resolution.
In ray tracing games, the differences to the predecessor and the competition from AMD are greater. Nevertheless, the RTX 4070 is narrowly beaten by the RTX 3080. The new Nvidia card is very suitable for gaming in 1440p resolution. In 2160p resolution, however, it can be too much for the card. The upscaling technologies DLSS2 and DLSS 3 can significantly improve performance there.
According to Computerbase, the energy efficiency is very good. Depending on the resolution, the RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 are even better, but the previous generation doesn't stand a chance. The same applies to the competing products from AMD.
However, the price is high. Compared to the predecessor cards RTX 3070 and RTX 2070, Nvidia has raised the recommended retail price by 110 euros. This corresponds to 20 per cent, for 23 per cent more performance. Reviewer Wolfgang Andermahr therefore speaks of performance stagnation instead of progress.
Techpowerup
In the 25 games tested by Techpowerup, the RTX 4070 narrowly beats the RTX 3080 in 1440p resolution. Compared to the predecessor card, the difference is 26 per cent. This is a relatively small improvement. With the RTX 4090, it was 64 per cent compared to its predecessor. According to Techpowerup, the RTX 4070 and RTX 4070 Ti feel most comfortable in 1440p resolution. The L2 cache and memory bus are probably too small for 2160p resolution.
Reviewer W1zzard also discusses the 12 GB VRAM. He is of the opinion that the memory size is currently still sufficient. No game in the test suite benefits from more than 12 GB of memory - not even in 2160p resolution. As the 4070 is designed for the smaller 1440p resolution, this is not a problem anyway.
For anyone who wants to upgrade their system, the maximum 200 watts of power is good. Even older systems with weaker power supplies should have no problems with the RTX 4070.
In terms of price, the RTX 4070 is currently the best choice in its segment. But it doesn't really stand out. This is due to the 100 dollars more that Nvidia charges compared to its predecessor.
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