Nvidia has finally officially announced the RTX 4070, the most affordable card in the RTX 40-Series, bringing Team Green's Ada Lovelace architecture and third-generation ray tracing capabilities to the masses. But how well does the new RTX 4070 GPU fare in the current market?

How Much Does the RTX 4070 Cost?

The Nvidia RTX 4070 Founders Edition starts at $599, launching on April 13, 2023. The price is $100 less than the RTX 3080, which the card rivals in terms of performance and specs, and $100 more than its last-gen predecessor, the RTX 3070.

This puts pressure on Nvidia's partners to stick to the retail $599 pricing, although we may see overclocked versions of the GPU offering somewhat better performance for a higher price tag. Regardless, for 1440p gaming, the card is pretty aggressively priced.

How Does the RTX 4070 Compare to RTX 3070 and RTX 3080?

The RTX 4070 Founders Edition is very similar in design to its more powerful and expensive siblings, the RTX 4080 and RTX 4090. However, it's quite a bit shorter, even when compared to the RTX 3080. Nvidia is using a die-cast aluminum body, dual axial fans, and an eight-layer PCB. The cooling system has also been upgraded from the RTX 3070.

The RTX 4070 comes with three DisplayPort 1.4 ports capable of up to 240Hz at 4K with Display Stream Compression (DSC) and one HDMI 2.1 port that can push up to 60Hz at 8K with DSC. Nvidia's decision not to jump to DisplayPort 2.1 might confuse some buyers, but the card is firmly aimed at 1440p gaming, which means DisplayPort 1.4 will work just fine and keep the cost down.

You also get the same single 12-pin PCIe 5.0 power connector, and the GPU only requires a 650W PSU, the same as the RTX 3070 and lower than the 750W PSUs required for the RTX 3080 while delivering comparable performance to the latter. The card is rated at a rather economical 200W TGP, even lower when compared to the 320W TGP of the RTX 3080 or even the 220W that the RTX 3070 demanded.

The RTX 4070 sits in between the RTX 3070 and RTX 3080 when it comes to video memory. It has 12GB of GDDR6X VRAM, 4GB more than the RTX 3070, and only 2GB more than the RTX 3080. The boost clock is set at 2.48GHz, and you get a total of 5,888 CUDA cores.

Real-World RTX 4070 Performance and Nvidia Feature Support

According to early reviews of the RTX 4070, it's about 30% faster than its last-gen predecessor, the RTX 3070, while offering comparable performance to the RTX 3080 at 1440p gaming. The RTX 4070 Ti, on the other hand, is about 25% faster.

Despite being the lowest-end GPU officially launched in the RTX 40-Series lineup, the GPU does support DLSS 3, which uses the same AI tech from DLSS 2 but adds a new frame generation technology. That's where the RTX 4070 shines best.

Nvidia performance chart showing game FPS on 1440p for the RTX 4070
Image Credit: Nvidia

The result is a massive performance improvement in almost every game you throw at the GPU. For example, in Cyberpunk 2077, enabling DLSS 3 can nearly double the FPS you would otherwise get with ray tracing ultra preset with DLSS 2 quality enabled, a whopping 120 FPS at 1440p as compared to only 68 on the latter.

However, DLSS 3 can't save the RTX 4070 at 4K, especially compared to the RTX 3080. With the exception of Forza Horizon 5 and Assassin's Creed Valhalla, the RTX 4070 can't beat the RTX 3080. That said, it does beat RTX 3070 at 4K.

Nvidia is mainly targeting this card at 1440p gaming, so you may want to lower some display settings to get better performance out of it. At 1440p, DLSS 3, the 67 third-generation dedicated ray tracing cores, and Reflex (Nvidia's low-latency platform) all work together to deliver a great experience.

Is the RTX 4070 a Worthy Upgrade?

If you're looking to step up from 1080p gaming and into the world of high-refresh-rate 1440p games, the RTX 4070 is actually a rather good deal. Depending on what you're looking for, the performance gains over the RTX 3070 can justify the extra $100.

However, for gamers with 4K displays or higher, the RTX 3080 might still be a better option unless, of course, you're willing to upgrade to the more expensive RTX 4070 Ti, RTX 4080, or RTX 4090 coming in at $799, $1,199, and $1,599 respectively.

The RTX Lineup Isn't Breaking Banks Anymore

If you were put off by the ridiculous price tags on the RTX lineup so far and don't mind gaming on 1440p (which is a good resolution to play modern games at, provided you have a good display), the RTX 4070 might finally make Nvidia's latest offerings make sense for you. Just make sure you have the right PSUs to power your new GPU.