We can finally reveal performance numbers for Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4070 - it's cheapest RTX 40-series card to date - which will retail from $599, putting it in direct competition with Nvidia's own RTX 3080 and AMD's Radeon RX 6800 XT.
The card has a heavily trimmed specification compared to the RTX 4070 Ti, with a lower peak boost frequency, 5,888 versus 7,680 Cuda cores, 184 versus 240 Tensor cores and 46 versus 60 RT cores.
Both cards have a 192-bit memory bus and 12GB of GDDR6X memory, but the 49MB of L2 cache in the RTX 4070 Ti dwarfs the 36MB in the RTX 4070. The benefits, though, mean a much cheaper, smaller and less power-hungry graphics card - the RTX 4070 will retail from $599, has a cooler just 243mm/9.5in long and a board power of 200W versus 285W.
While it shares some specifications with the RTX 3070, the latter was $100 cheaper, so we are dealing with a small price hike here. Still, this is by far the cheapest RTX 40-series graphics card so far and one that looks set to be pitched against most resolutions out there, especially as it supports DLSS 3.0 and frame generation and should offer better performance in DLSS and ray tracing in games than the RTX 3080 too.
Test system
I used an Intel Core i9-12900K, 32GB of Kingston Fury 6400MHz DDR5 memory strapped to an NZXT N7 Z790 motherboard along with the latest drivers and Windows 11 updates. As the RTX 4070 is likely to face 1080p, 1440p and 4K resolutions, despite its relatively hefty price, I've also included 1080p benchmarks below, but only with specific graphics cards, namely the RTX 3080 and RX 6800 XT, with these being the closest models in price, and also the RTX 3070, which is its direct predecessor to see how much things have moved on in one generation.
Benchmarks
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Halo Infinite
Halo Infinite's campaign mode saw the RTX 4070 dominate the RX 6800 XT and RTX 3070 at 1080p, but closely match the RTX 3080, living up to Nvidia's claims that the two cards perform similarly. Stepping up to 1440p and the gap surprisingly widens with a great result for the RTX 4070, which even beat the RX 6950 XT and traded blows with the RX 7900 XTX too. At 4K, it fell back passed both those cards, trading blows with the RTX 3080, but still bettering AMD's RX 6900 XT and 6800 XT.
Microsoft Flight Simulator
In Flight Simulator, the RTX 3080 had a small lead at 1080p, was a touch slower overall at 1440p and about level at 4K, with the RX 6800 XT sitting below the RTX 4070 in all three resolutions. With DLSS enabled, the RTX 4070 edged out in front of the RTX 3080 and RTX 3080 Ti, with a big lead over the RX 6800 XT.
Watch Dogs: Legion
At 1080p, the RTX 4070 was a little slower than the RTX 3080, but noticeably quicker than the RX 6800 XT. A similar picture was a revealed at 1440p, except here it managed to better AMD's RX 6950 XT too, although the RTX 3080 edged out a bigger lead. At 4K the card struggled, only bettering the RX 6800 XT, with the RX 6900 XT, 6950 XT and RTX 3080 all managing higher frame rates.
Forza Horizon 5
Forza is definitely an AMD-favoring game so it's no surprise to see the RX 6800 XT come top here, but the RTX 4070 still managed to beat the RTX 3080. At 1440p, the RTX 4070 fared better, edging out a bigger lead over the RTX 3080, but still failing to topple the RX 6800 XT. Finally, at 4K, it closed the gap on the RX 6800 XT and again outperformed the RTX 3080, so represents decent value if you plan on gaming at high resolutions in this game.
Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition
At 1080p the RTX 4070 was generally faster than the RX 6800 XT overall with a much higher average frame rate and also bettered the RTX 3080. At 1440p, the RTX 4070 again beat the RTX 3080 and RX 6800 XT, but the extra performance offered by the pricier RTX 4070 Ti was clear. Stepping up to 4K and the RTX 4070 offered a decent lead over the RTX 3080 and was far faster than the RX 6800 XT - a lead that was enhanced by switching on DLSS where it was again quicker than the 3080, also with DLSS enabled.
Far Cry 6
The RTX 4070 and RX 6800 XT traded blows in Far Cry 6 with the AMD card eventually winning overall thanks to a better result at 4K. The RTX 4070 had the measure of the RTX 3080 at 1080p and 1440p but again at 4K it struggled and the RTX 3080 was quicker. With DXR reflections enabled at 4K, the situation improved with the RTX 4070 matching the RX 6800 XT and a with a slightly better result overall than the RTX 3080.
DLSS 3.0 testing
I only had time to test one game with DLSS 3.0 but it's clear that if you're prepared to use it, it can offer huge increases in performance, leapfrogging even the RTX 4090’s stock result and essentially doubling its own stock results. However, the RTX 4070 Ti was even faster here.
Perhaps the best result here is power efficiency. With a system power draw of 322W, it was a good 30W lower than the RTX 3070 and over 100W more power frugal than the RTX 4070 Ti with an even bigger gap to the RTX 3080. This means it offers excellent performance per watt and combined with its small size, is a great choice for a small form factor mini-ITX PC.
Conclusions
Overall the RTX 4070 is slightly quicker than the RTX 3080 and often has a decent lead over the AMD RX 6800 XT too. The key benefit, though, is its supremely lower power consumption and low operating temperatures, which will delight those with meagre power supplies or mini-ITX PCs and indeed those looking to save on their utility bills. It looks certain that even smaller models than the Founders Edition card I reviewed here today will be released in future.
The only thing that can upset sales will be Nvidia lowering the price of the RTX 3080 or indeed AMD with the RX 6800 XT. Assuming we do actually see cards available around the proposed $599 mark, this makes it a better buy than the RTX 3080, although the latter did occasionally offer better performance, usually at higher resolutions. where o
It's more expensive than the RTX 3070 was at launch and $600 is still a lot for what is essentially a mid-range graphics card, but with the benefits of DLSS 3.0 and its excellent power efficiency thrown in too, this is undoubtedly the most attractive RTX 40-series card so far, especially to your typical gamer looking to upgrade from RTX 20-series or earlier models or the RTX 3070 and below.
