When I reviewed the RTX 4070 last year, there were a few things that held it back. The original card came with 12GB of VRAM, its 4K performance didn't match the RTX 3080, and overall it didn't feel like much of a generational leap. The RTX 4070 Super fixes most of those issues at the same $599 price point.
While Nvidia has stuck to the same 192-bit memory bus and 12GB of G6X memory with the RTX 4070 Super, the big increase in CUDA cores brings its performance much closer to that of the RTX 4070 Ti. The RTX 4070 Super feels like a generational leap, offering even better 1440p and 4K performance than before.
I wasn't expecting a huge performance boost from the RTX 4070 Super (around 17 percent on average at 1440p and 15 percent at 4K), which could make it an ideal match for the new 1440p OLED monitors that are starting to arrive. on the market this year.
Hardware
Little has changed from the RTX 4070 to the RTX 4070 Super when looking at these Founders Edition cards from the outside. The biggest change is that Nvidia has gone with a darker alloy for the entire card, but they are identical in terms of the overall size of the two-slot card. And yes, there's a new Super label too. Nvidia's RTX 4070 Super also has similar design elements to its upcoming RTX 4080 Super.
In the RTX 4070 Super, Nvidia uses a die-cast aluminum body, two axial fans, and an eight-layer PCB. As always, third-party cards will have a variety of cooling system designs.
There are three DisplayPort 1.4 ports (up to 240Hz at 4K with DSC) and a single HDMI 2.1 port (up to 60Hz at 8K with DSC) on the rear. Nvidia hasn't migrated to DisplayPort 2.1 yet, but I think it's less of an issue on a card like this that targets 1440p rather than the high frame rates required for 4K gaming.
Nvidia continues to use the single 12-pin PCIe 5 connector on the RTX 4070 Super, and there's a 12VHPWR adapter cable included in the box so you can connect two regular eight-pin PCIe power cables. I always skip this adapter in my personal builds because I'm not really a fan of it. I prefer single cable solutions that are available from third parties or that ship with the latest power supplies.
In terms of power, Nvidia has increased the power consumption of the RTX 4070 Super by 20 watts. Up to 220 watts are needed at peak, compared to 200 watts for the RTX 4070. However, you'll only need a 650-watt power supply, the same requirement for the previous-generation RTX 3070. Power usage helps Nvidia squeeze in that extra performance at both 1440p and 4K.
Unfortunately, the RTX 4070 Super still comes with 12GB of memory, just 2GB more than the original RTX 3080. I was disappointed with this choice on the original RTX 4070, and once again I'm surprised Nvidia didn't bump this up to 16GB. , even if the price has remained at $599. This may not be an immediate problem, but modern games constantly demand more VRAM, and 16GB simply gives you more space for years to come. It's especially disappointing considering AMD ships its $499 Radeon RX 7800 XT with 16GB of VRAM.
1440p benchmarks
For 1440p tests, I paired the RTX 4070 Super with AMD's latest Ryzen 7 7800X3D processor and Samsung's 32-inch G7 monitor. This monitor supports refresh rates of up to 240Hz as well as Nvidia's G-Sync technology.
I put the RTX 4070 Super head to head with the RTX 4070, RTX 3070, AMD's RX 7800 XT, and everything else to see how well this $599 GPU performs. I tested a variety of AAA games at high settings or ultra, and the RTX 4070 Super was able to break 100fps for the most part at 1440p or certainly came close to hitting that target.
The RTX 4070 Super is around 50 percent faster than the previous RTX 3070 in most games at 1440p and around 17 percent faster than the original RTX 4070. If you're looking to move up to the RTX 4070 Ti, the gap has closed to less than 10 percent. But we'll have to see how the RTX 4070 Ti Super performs and widens that gap later this month.
I'm impressed with the RTX 4070 Super's improvements over the original card and previous generations. While AMD's Radeon RX 7800 In gears 5 and Metro Exodus The RTX 4070 Super is particularly ahead of AMD's closest rival card.
The RTX 4070 Super also leaves behind AMD's previous-generation RX 6800 XT, a $649 GPU that has really held its own against the latest generation of cards. You also get DLSS 3 with Nvidia's RTX 4070 Super, which delivers 186 fps on average for Forza Horizon 5 in extreme environments. That's a 26 percent performance increase over the same benchmark without DLSS enabled.
4K benchmarks
The original RTX 4070 wasn't all that impressive in 4K, especially compared to the RTX 3080. This time around, I paired the RTX 4070 Super with Acer's 31.5-inch Nitro XV2 monitor that's capable of hitting refresh rates of up to 144 Hz. The RTX 4070 Super still didn't come close to hitting 144 fps in most tests, but it offers around 15 percent better performance than the RTX 4070 at 4K.
The RTX 4070 Super comfortably outperforms the RTX 3080 in 4K and even approaches the RTX 4070 Ti's performance levels in some titles. In Forza Horizon 5 with DLSS 3 enabled, you get the same level of performance as an RTX 4070 Ti, and it's not far off in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Watch Dogs: Legionand gears 5.
This level of performance makes the $599 RTX 4070 Super a more tempting card for 4K, especially if you're willing to lower the settings and not run everything at ultra or high. DLSS 3 will help here too, especially as more games start to appear with Nvidia's frame-generating technology.
However, I still think the RTX 4070 Super is an ideal 1440p card. The RTX 3070 was always the sweet spot for 1440p gaming, and the RTX 4070 Super gives you even more room for the latest games if you're looking to upgrade from 1080p.
The RTX 4070 was a $600 RTX 3080, give or take. Now, the RTX 4070 Super surpasses that to comfortably offer more performance than an RTX 3080 at the same $599 price as the previous RTX 4070. If I were still using a GTX 10 or RTX 20 series card, then I would be seriously tempted to upgrade to the RTX 4070 Super. The only thing that would make it even more attractive would be 16 GB of VRAM.
As it stands, Nvidia's first 40-series Super RTX card is an impressive performance jump over the original RTX 4070 and one I'd seriously consider for a 1440p PC version. Now I'm waiting to see if Nvidia can replicate the same performance improvements with its RTX 4070 Ti Super.
Photography by Tom Warren/The Verge
