Why the RTX 4070 is probably the best GPU for anyone looking to upgrade

The GPU market has been rife with disappointments lately, and the RTX 4070 isn't one of them.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

It’s no secret that the GPU market is pretty whack lately, ever since the GPU shortage brought on by the pandemic GPU prices have skyrocketed, and the gains over the previous generation only seem to get smaller. There’s a lot wrong with the GPU market at present, that’s why the RTX 4070 is probably the best GPU for anyone looking to upgrade.

Not to say all GPUs are bad, that’s not what we’re going for, all GPUs are great in their own way (except the RTX 4060 TI 8GB). But for the average gamer, go team RTX 4070.

With the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB released into the world, we thought it’d be a good idea to look at Nvidia GPUs as a whole.

---

Why is the RTX 4070 so good?

The RTX 4070 is actually pretty unassuming, it’s the fact that everything around it misses the mark so massively that it makes the GPU seem like an even better choice. It is definitely the best we have in terms of price to performance and it doesn’t totally break the bank.

That seems like a good place to start. Price.

The RTX 4070 costs just $600, which may very well be as much as my car is worth, but that is on the reasonable end of GPUs lately, especially ones of the Nvidia variety.

if you want to go one step further, the RTX 4080 will cost you an extra $500 – $600 totaling about $1,200. The 4080 can be twice as good in some situations, but it ALWAYS costs twice as much.

Don’t get me started on the 4090. Ever rob a bank? Then you can’t afford it.

So we’ve established that it’s the cheapest option, big woop, the cheapest does not mean it’s the best. Why not just go for an RTX 4060?

RTX 4070 Performance

The RTX 4070, believe it or not, performs similarly on average in lower resolutions than an RTX 3090, you know, the card that blew everyone away with its unparalleled performance last generation. With the added benefit of higher 1% lows. But how does it compare to the RTX 4060?

The RTX 4070’s memory amount and speed are a massive improvement on the RTX 4060, meaning you can squeeze more out of your GPU in terms of higher resolution textures, and more of them!

Drawing from this Table in PCGuide’s article, we can see that the RTX 4070 is a vast improvement overall over the 4060, especially where memory is concerned.

The RTX 4070 is certainly a 1440p GPU and from what we can draw from the specifications, the RTX 4060 is marketed towards 1080p. Resolutions matter in this day and age, 1440p Is the new 1080p, if you ask me.

RTX 4070 technical specifications

The RTX 4070 is quite similar to the 4070 Ti, which was initially called “RTX 4080 12GB” but got re-introduced later. They both use the same AD104 GPU chip, which is smaller than the AD102 used in the RTX 4090 or AD103 in the 4080 series. Both also have 12GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit interface.

The 4070 has fewer CUDA cores (5,888 instead of 7,680), but overall, it’s more like with the 4070 Ti than the 16GB and 12GB RTX 4080 cards would have been.

The 192-bit memory interface in the 4070 is narrower compared to the 256-bit used in the 3070 and 3070 Ti. To compensate for this, Nvidia added 32MB of extra L2 cache to the 4070, making a total of 36 MB. The presence of this cache and higher base and boost clock speeds are the main improvements over the previous-generation cards.

DLSS 3 makes life worth living

When your RTX 4070 begins to struggle, it has a trick up its sleeve, DLSS 3.0.

Because the RTX 4070 belongs to the same Ada Lovelace architecture as other RTX 4000 GPUs, which means it supports Nvidia’s new DLSS 3 and DLSS Frame Generation (DLSS FG) features. DLSS is a smart way of improving frame rates at higher resolutions by using AI to upscale lower-resolution images without sacrificing much detail. And it’s the best iteration yet.

Thanks to DLSS 3, the RTX 4070 is 2.7x faster on average than the 2070 Super, and a massive 1.6x faster than the RTX 3080 when DLSS 3.0 is enabled.

---

If you skipped the RTX 30 series, you should buy the RTX 4070

The RTX 4070 impresses with its price-to-performance ratio, costing $600, which is relatively reasonable considering the recent GPU price trends. While the higher-end RTX 4080 may offer better performance in some situations, it comes with a much higher price tag, and the even more expensive RTX 4090 is simply out of reach for most.

When it comes to performance, the RTX 4070 performs admirably, holding its own against the powerful RTX 3090 in lower resolutions, with the added benefit of higher 1% lows. Compared to the RTX 4060, the 4070 shows significant improvements in memory capacity and speed, allowing for better utilization of higher-resolution textures.

One standout feature of the RTX 4070 is DLSS 3.0, which enhances frame rates at higher resolutions using AI-assisted upscaling without compromising on detail. With DLSS 3.0, the RTX 4070 outperforms the 2070 Super by 2.7 times on average and even surpasses the RTX 3080 by 1.6 times when enabled.

Overall, the RTX 4070 is an impressive 1440p GPU that offers a compelling blend of performance and affordability, making it an ideal choice for gamers looking to elevate their gaming experience.

Or, you know, grow up and buy an AMD card.