No, NVIDIA's mid-range RTX 40 series GPUs aren't getting cheaper, but at least the new RTX 4070 Super offers a lot more performance for $599. We call the original RTX 4070 the "Leader in 1,440p gaming," and that is still valid for the Super. It's much faster, especially when it comes to ray tracing, which is close to (due to it also being replaced by its own Super variant). And coupled with the power of DLSS3 upscaling, the 4070 Super is a much more capable 4K gaming card.
So what makes the RTX 4070 Super so special? Basically, raw power. It has 7,168 CUDA cores, compared to 5,888 in the 4070 and 7,680 in the 4070 Ti. Its base clock speed is a little higher than before (1.98 GHz compared to the 4070's 1.92 GHz), but it has the same 2.48 GHz boost clock and 12 GB of GDDR6X VRAM as the original .
The difference between the RTX 4070 Super and the simple model was immediately obvious. On my desktop, with a Ryzen 9 7900X with 32 GB of RAM, I was able to run Cyberpunk 2077 in 4K with Ultra graphics and DLSS at an average of 78fps. The RTX 4070 sometimes struggled to stay above 60fps at those settings. NVIDIA's new GPU showed its limits in cyberpunk RT Overdrive mode (which allows for intensive real-time path tracking), where I only saw 51 fps on average while using DLSS and frame generation. (CD Projekt says that mode is designed for RTX 4070 Ti and above, or 3090 at 1080p/30fps.)
While the original RTX 4070 was a card that could occasionally let you game in 4K, the 4070 Super makes that possibility much more common (as long as you can use DLSS). Of course, you'll need to have reasonable expectations (you won't get 4K/120fps) and ideally a G-Sync monitor to smooth out performance.
|
None |
3DMark TimeSpy Extreme |
Port Royal (ray tracing) |
cyberpunk |
Blender |
|
NVIDIA RTX 4070 Super |
9,830 |
12,938/60fps |
1440p RT Overdrive DLSS: 157 |
GPU 6,177 |
|
NVIDIA RTX 4070 |
8,610 |
11,195/52fps |
1440p RT DLSS: 120fps |
6,020 |
|
NVIDIA RTX 4070Ti |
10,624 |
14,163/66fps |
1440p RT DLSS: 135fps |
7,247 |
|
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT |
11,688 |
13,247/61fps |
1440p FSRT: 114fps |
3,516 |
When it comes to 1440p gaming, the RTX 4070 Super is truly a superstar. In cyberpunk In Overdrive ray tracing mode with Ultra graphics settings, I saw an average of 157 fps, almost enough to meet the demands of a 165hz, 1440p monitor. In my opinion, the entire experience seemed much smoother than the 4K Overdrive results, and as usual, I found it difficult to tell the difference between the 4K and 1440p textures during actual gameplay.
Likewise, I prefer to keep the 160fps/1440p average I saw on infinite halo with maximum graphics, than the 83 fps I reached in 4K. That game also doesn't receive DLSS support, so there's no improvement magic in those numbers.
In most of our benchmarks, the RTX 4070 Super landed right between the 4070 and 4070 Ti. In 3DMark Timespy Extreme, for example, the new GPU scored 9,830 points, compared to 8,610 for the 4070 and 10,624 for the 4070 Ti. In some cases, like the Port Royal ray tracing benchmark, it came much closer to the 4070 Ti (which also bodes well for the 4070 Super's overclocking potential). NVIDIA's advanced cooling setup on your "Founders Edition" The cards continue to work wonders, too: the 4070 Super idled at around 40 degrees Celsius and typically maxed out at 66°C under heavy load.
The RTX 4070 Super is clearly a big step up from the original card and is a much better value at $599. It's a solid upgrade if you're running an NVIDIA 20-series GPU and even some of the lower-end options from the series 30. Expect the value to drop as well: the original 4070 now sells for $550 on NVIDIA's website and used models are on eBay for much less than that.
While we'll continue to long for the days when “mid-range” described a $300 GPU, NVIDIA is giving gamers more reasons to shell out for the $599 RTX 4070 Super. It'll meet all your 1440p gaming needs and is ready too to deliver decent 4K performance.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nvidia-rtx-4070-super-review-a-1440p-powerhouse-for-599-160025855.html?src=rss
