Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Super review: more frames for less money

RT/DLSS/FSR2/XeSS benchmarks: Cyberpunk 2077, Dying Light 2, Forza Horizon 5.

Review by Richard Leadbetter Technology Editor, Digital Foundry

Published on 16 Jan 2024

Raw ray tracing performance is one thing, but the truth is that RT is usually used in combination with image reconstruction technology for a better balance of visual features and performance. This page seeks to show how these GPUs compare with both technologies in play, with the same (or very close) base resolutions engaged. It's not factoring in image quality - where Nvidia enjoys a noticeable advantage against AMD - and neither are we considering overall support, where DLSS enjoys wider uptake amongst game developers. Here, we're just looking at raw performance - without factoring in DLSS 3 frame generation on 40-class cards, given AMD's FSR 3 alternative isn't quite the finished article and isn't supported on these titles.

Once again, if you're jumping straight to this page without looking at prior results, we should stress that our benchmarking system offers a number of ways to get to the data you want, the presentation varying according to the device you're using. You'll get a basic overview of our findings on mobile, with metadata from the video capture of each GPU being translated into simple bar charts with average frame-rate and lowest one per cent measurements for easy comparisons.

On a desktop-class browser, you'll get the full-fat DF experience with embedded YouTube videos of each test scene and live performance metrics. Play the video, and you'll see exactly how each card handled the scene as it progresses. Below the real-time metrics is an interactive bar chart, which you can mouse over to see different measurements and click to switch between actual frame-rates and percentage differences. All the data here is derived from video captured directly from each GPU, ensuring an accurate replay of real performance.

Cyberpunk 2077

Like all the games on this page, Cyberpunk 2077 doesn't just support DLSS; it also features XeSS and FSR2, which is the way we like it. However, with no clear RT competition from AMD at the $599 mark, we'll be sticking with Nvidia comparisons based on DLSS.

In this scenario, the RTX 4070 Super offers a 17 point lead over the vanilla model and in turn, a nigh-on 20 percentage point boost over the RTX 3080. Meanwhile, the Super is offering around 96 percent of the RTX 4070 Ti's performance.

Cyberpunk 2077, Ultra RT, DLSS/FSR2/XeSS Quality

Dying Light 2

Similar to Cyberpunk 2077, there's a strong commitment from Techland to all upscaling technologies - and we'd expect to see (official) FSR 3 frame generation added to the existing DLSS 3 implementation at some point. Still, for now, our numbers use DLSS on Nvidia, XeSS on Intel and FSR2 on AMD.

Upscaling from lower resolutions tends to diminish the differences between cards in a similar class, so the RTX 4070 Super now offers around 91 to 92 percent of the 4070 Ti's performance, while delivering a decent enough 16 point lead over the standard RTX 4070.

Dying Light 2, Ultra RT, DLSS/FSR2 Quality

Forza Horizon 5

Here in Forza Horizon 5, we're set up at extreme settings with RT disabled, delivering a visual feature set in excess of Series X running in its 30fps quality mode - though image reconstruction technologies aren't really a match for native rendering with 4x MSAA, particularly on elements like power lines.

Similar to what we saw with Dying Light 2, upscaling from a lower resolution brings RTX 4070 Super and the Ti model close to parity, while the gap up against the last-gen RTX 3080 is very significant at this point - a 26 point lead!