Nvidia presents its fourth graphics card from the Ada Lovelace generation: The GeForce RTX 4070 is a slimmed down RTX 4070 Ti. Both models use the 295 mm² AD104 GPU, but the GeForce RTX 4070 has a variant with less active shader cores .
The GeForce RTX 4070 uses 46 shader multiprocessors with 5888 shader cores – 23 percent less than the Ti model. At the same time, the GPU’s boost clock frequency drops by 135 MHz within Nvidia’s reference specifications. The bottom line is that the FP32’s computing power falls by a good 27 percent.
Finally more memory for the 70’s GeForce
However, the real gaming performance does not buckle as much. This is partly due to the high memory transfer rate in relation to the computing power: Nvidia leaves the DRAM untouched compared to the Ti model and thus gives the 70 series a long overdue memory upgrade. The GeForce RTX 4070 uses 12 GB of GDDR6X RAM with a transfer rate of 504 GB/s.
The predecessor GeForce RTX 3070 had to be satisfied with 8 GB of GDDR6, which can already be a bottleneck these days. There are also Ada-typical large buffers: The GeForce RTX 4070 uses a 36 MB Level 2 cache – nine times more than the RTX 3070. The RTX 4070 Ti uses 48 MB.
Just behind the GeForce RTX 3080 10 GB
On average, the GeForce RTX 4070 is said to be around 15 to 20 percent slower than the RTX 4070 Ti. This would put it just below the level of the GeForce RTX 3080 10 GB or slightly above AMD’s Radeon RX 6800 if you only look at the rasterizer performance.
Like all 4000 models, the GeForce RTX 4070 also masters Deep Learning Super Sampling in the DLSS 3 version, i.e. intelligent upscaling and the generation of artificial intermediate frames in supported games. Both techniques can increase the frame rate significantly, which is particularly useful with ray-traced graphics effects and with fast monitors.
Meanwhile, the reduced computing power benefits efficiency: The maximum power consumption drops from 285 watts for the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti to 200 watts. In real terms, the RTX 4070 should be content with almost 190 watts in most games. As always, factory overclocked manufacturer cards with higher energy requirements will appear.
Sales of the GeForce RTX 4070 will start on April 13, 2023, probably around 3:00 p.m. Nvidia recommends a price of 599 US dollars, which should result in 659 euros (including taxes) for the Founders Edition and the cheapest manufacturer cards. The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is currently available from 890 euros.
(mma)
