Nvidia’s graphics cards haven’t received a lot of positive feedback in this generation. There’s no doubt that Nvidia’s RTX 40-series GPUs are one of the best graphics cards you can buy, but with disappointing generational improvements, high pricing, and a reliance on features like DLSS3, it’s difficult when Nvidia releases a new graphics card. If the card is issued then it is easy to write on it. ,
But Nvidia’s current generation is a Goldilocks graphics card that is the perfect choice for many PC gamers. It offers all the best parts of Nvidia’s cutting-edge generation and ignores the wild pricing and disappointing generational upswings. And now, a few months after launch, the price has dropped, making it an even better value. That GPU is Nvidia’s RTX 4070.
no warm welcome
The RTX 4070 didn’t receive bad reviews when it launched. It’s the only card of Nvidia’s current generation to earn an Editor’s Choice badge from , as you can read in my RTX 4070 review, and reviewer sentiment was generally positive. There were some exceptions, such as the verge Saying that it was “expecting a little more than a generational leap”, but none of the reviewers thought it was a bad card – unlike GPUs like the RTX 4060 Ti.
The reaction of gamers at the time was very different. I searched “RTX 4070 reddit” and took a look at some of the top comments when the card was first released. Here is a sample:
- “It will sell well for two reasons: Nvidia’s mindshare and the fact that other RTX 40 cards are priced so poorly that this card seems acceptable.”
- “Nvidia is set to make graphics cards more expensive over time, and for that reason, you too [should] “Avoid buying Nvidia for now.”
- “I hate it.”
Not such a warm welcome. However, compare this to the thread that was posted last week, where you’ll find basically every commenter recommending the card, claiming that “it’s fantastic,” and that “it’s a no-brainer- Got it, it’s going to work.” What happened? Well, simply put, the RTX 4070 just got cheaper.
The card originally launched for $600. Keep in mind that this is the base price, so you can expect to spend anywhere from $620 to $700 depending on what was available from retailers. Now, you’ll typically find the RTX 4070 for $550, and if you buy open box and used cards, you’ll get them for under $450. This price adjustment came primarily in response to AMD’s RX 7800 XT, which managed to match and sometimes beat the RTX 4070 at $500.
I don’t believe the $50 difference actually makes the RTX 4070 a good graphics card. This is a pricing adjustment equal to the difference between the stock and overclocked models of any GPU. But it’s a shocking example of how a minor price adjustment can completely turn the narrative around a product upside down. The RTX 4070 went from a solid card with bad pricing to a straight-up bargain basically overnight, with its price cut by $50.
The RTX 4070 was always a great GPU, balancing performance with price in a way that no other modern Nvidia GPU does while also delivering next-generation features. It seems the broader PC gaming community is now getting the memo. For a section of PC gamers who are willing to spend some money for an extreme gaming experience, the RTX 4070 is the graphics card to buy.
Extreme PC Gaming Experience
A friend of mine recently upgraded his PC. After the RX 7800 XT was released, they were convinced that this was the graphics card we were going to buy. We talked about it several times, but one day, he saw an RTX 4070 at a reasonable price and decided to go with it. He then called me, excited that he now had what he called a “peak PC” for gaming. There are no doubt more powerful PCs out there, but this is an impressive response.
You can look at a benchmark chart and immediately see that there are plenty of GPUs that are more powerful than the RTX 4070, from both Nvidia and AMD – the RTX 4070 looks absolutely puny compared to the RTX 4090. But it doesn’t matter that much when you look at the actual numbers. The RTX 4070 delivers closer to its target resolution of 1440p, and typically 100 frames per second (fps).
On top of that, the card can still deliver playable frame rates at 4K. It won’t reach 60 FPS in every game with all settings maxed out, but it will meet and exceed that figure in most games. In my test suite, it dropped to just under 60 fps in a game at 4K: cyberpunk 2077, Which remains one of the most sought after PC games.
Competition from AMD is fierce. The RX 7800 XT can beat the RTX 4070 in some titles, and on average, AMD’s card is 9% faster at 1440p and 6% faster at 4K. However, this changes when you bring ray tracing into the mix. As expected, the RTX 4070 is about 13% better with ray tracing at 1440p. Once you take into account Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling 3.5, the comparison isn’t even fair. In situations that should be impossible for the RTX 4070, e.g. cyberpunk 2077 At 4K with maximum ray tracing settings, DLSS 3 can help you achieve frame rates above 60 fps.
Nvidia has some earned criticism that it’s overselling the feature set of its GPUs over raw performance, but (perhaps less than the $1,600 RTX 4090), the RTX 4070 is the only GPU in Nvidia’s current lineup that offers a balance of solid baseline performance. Enhances what is enhanced by a world-class feature set. AMD’s competing GPUs may get a slight edge in overall performance, but not enough to justify giving up the features offered by Nvidia’s current GPUs.
For some people, AMD’s RX 7800 XT makes more sense. There’s also a group that should splurge for something like the RX 7900 XTX, and another group that doesn’t need more than an RTX 4060.
But there’s no card that will peak the PC gaming experience in 2023 like the RTX 4070. Its raw performance is ideal for 1440p and capable of over 4K, and it has a set of features that make impossible gaming scenarios like path tracing cyberpunk 2077 A reality. If you want the best PC gaming has to offer in 2023 without an unlimited budget then this is the card you should buy.