Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 review: an RTX 3080 challenger for $599
A solid 1440p upgrade - but Cyberpunk 2077 RT Overdrive hints at something more.
The concept of value has come to define the latest generation of graphics cards, with consumers concerned and angry that this new generation of GPUs doesn't offer the same balance of price and performance as the last generation. Perhaps the blame for this can be placed on Nvidia's profit margins - but it's equally the case that we're living through a period of shocking inflation and a far higher cost of production on cutting-edge semiconductors.
The RTX 4070 does compare favourably in terms of price/performance vs the RTX 3070 - you're typically getting in the region of 30 percent of extra performance for 20 percent more money, in addition to 50 percent more memory and access to DLSS 3 frame generation. It's just a shame that the 'more money' part of that sentence is in there - but this is not the first time we've had a price hike on a 70-class GPU. In fact, it happens more often than not. There was a real world price increase between GTX 970 and GTX 1070, and it happened again with the arrival of RTX 2070 which retailed for a baffling $529 back in 2018.
Up against the RTX 3080, the new card is generally on-par or just a touch slower, but does have the odd surprise or two up its sleeve and of course, there's more memory, improved efficiency and DLSS 3. There is an increase in value then, but it's clearly nowhere near as dramatic as the RTX 30-series cards mentioned here were back in the day. I mean, the 3070 delivered nigh-on 2080 Ti performance - the $500 product replaced the last-gen $1200 offering. By contrast, we now have a $599 GPU effectively replacing last-gen's $699 offering, which represents a significant slowing of progress.
Nvidia itself compares the RTX 4070 to the RTX 3070 Ti, which released at the same $599 price-point, and there's no doubt that this is a far superior product in every dimension. The only issue with this comparison is that the 3070 Ti was shockingly over-priced at launch and offered very little in comparison to the existing RTX 3070. It was a product screaming out for something special - like extra VRAM, for example.
Of course, the discussion here does overlook how consumers are likely to consider the latest graphics card generations. An owner of an RTX 30-series graphics card will likely hold onto it for a year or two more. It's the users of 10-series and 20-series GPUs that will be taking a look at this new offering. There, at least, there are big improvements to gaming performance. Even without factoring in DLSS 3, there's a circa 2x increase in performance (though gains vary more significantly when RT is factored out of the equation) - and unless AMD can come up with something more compelling, it's the defacto upgrade for owners of GTX 1070/Ti, RTX 2070 and 2070 Super and perhaps even the RTX 2080 - which launched at $699. We'll add that card to the benchmark tables in due course, but it's only a touch faster than the 2070 Super.
It's perhaps difficult to rave about the RTX 4070 in the same way we did about so many of the Ampere cards of the last generation, but we are at least starting to see proportionately more value returned to the user as we move down the RTX 40-series stack. And to be clear, RTX 3080-level performance is still pretty incredible. A $600 GPU is basically giving you rasterisation performance around 70 to 80 percent better than a PS5 or Xbox Series X, and that's before you include DLSS, improved RT performance and frame generation. While we've benched this card primarily with 1440p high frame-rate gaming in mind, take a look at the 4K results, especially with DLSS 2 and DLSS 3 factored in - this is still capable of some exceptional performance on an Ultra HD panel.
The RTX 4070 won't set the world on fire and it's hardly a love letter from Nvidia to the gamer - but it's certainly a capable piece of kit. In a world where RTX 3080 continues to hold its original 2020 pricing, the cost of the RTX 4070 is fine - if not exceptional - and its no-fuss form factor and frugal power consumption are positives too. And with the arrival of Cyberpunk 2077's RT Overdrive upgrade, there is the sense that PC gaming is once again reaching for the stars, and with decent settings management, RTX 4070 can still deliver a worthwhile experience.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 analysis
- Introduction, hardware and power analysis
- RT benchmarks: Dying Light 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Control, F1 22
- RT benchmarks: Hitman 3, Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- RT/DLSS/FSR2/DLSS3 benchmarks: Cyberpunk 2077, Dying Light 2, Forza Horizon 5, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- Game benchmarks: Control, Cyberpunk 2077, F1 22, Forza Horizon 5
- Game benchmarks: Hitman 3, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, A Plague Tale: Requiem, Returnal
- Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070: the Digital Foundry verdict [This Page]