Nvidia’s RTX 4070 is one of the best graphics cards you can buy, and it’s quickly dropping in price at the start of 2024. You might be tempted to pick one up, but with Nvidia’s RTX 4070 Super now here, the choice isn’t as simple as it once was.
We’ve had a chance to fully test the RTX 4070 Super now, as you can read about in our RTX 4070 Super review. Coming in at the same price as the original model, this Super refresh manages to exceed expectations in just about every way. And it’s definitely the card you’ll want to pick up in this price bracket.
Pricing and availability
Let’s get the RTX 4070 out of the way. The card launched early last year for a list price of $600, and it’s still widely available at retailers for that price. Later in the year, Nvidia dropped the price to $550 in response to AMD’s RX 7800 XT. You can still find models in stock at $550, and sometimes even for less.
Those sales are what make the RTX 4070 so attractive right now. At the time of writing, for example, there’s this MSI Ventus model available for $530 , and over the holiday shopping season, I found models as low as $515.
Nvidia officially announced the RTX 4070 Super during its keynote at CES on January 8, following months of rumors about the RTX 40-series refresh. The RTX 4070 Super officially launched on January 17, and it will retain the same $600 list price that previously belonged to the RTX 4070. We’ve seen about half a dozen models available at that price, too.
Following the announcement about the new GPUs, Nvidia’s officially cutting the price of the RTX 4070 down to $550, so some savings are guaranteed.
Specs
Although the RTX 4070 and RTX 4070 Super share a name, the Super model has a big spec boost. Starting with what’s the same, the RTX 4070 Super delivers the same 12GB of GDDR6X memory we see on the base model and the same bus width.
| RTX 4070 Super | RTX 4070 | |
| GPU | AD104 | AD104 |
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 | PCIe 4.0 |
| CUDA cores | 7,168 | 5,888 |
| Boost clock | 2,475MHz | 2,475MHz |
| Memory | 12GB GDDR6X | 12GB GDDR6X |
| Memory speed | 21 Gbps | 21 Gbps |
| Memory bus | 192-bit | 192-bit |
| TDP | 220W | 200W |
The big change comes in the number of CUDA cores. The RTX 4070 has 5,888 CUDA cores, while the RTX 4070 Super bumps up to 7,168 CUDA cores. That’s almost as many as the RTX 4070 Ti and nearly a 22% increase over the base RTX 4070. The power consumption has been tweaked to reach 220 watts — a minor increase over the card’s predecessor.
The card’s boost clock remains unchanged, maxing out at 2,475MHz, as does the 21Gbps bandwidth. While not everything has changed, the changes we’re getting are enough to push the RTX 4070 into a whole new league of graphics cards. In fact, with the updated specs, the RTX 4070 Super is not far off from being a replacement for the non-super RTX 4070 Ti.
Performance
Both the RTX 4070 and RTX 4070 Super target a 1440p resolution, but the RTX 4070 Super is much faster at that resolution. As you can see above, across our test suite of games, the RTX 4070 Super is somewhere around 11% faster. Keep in mind that these numbers are without Nvidia’s DLSS 3.5, which is available on both cards.
The more impressive comparison is to the RTX 4070 Ti, an $800 graphics card Nvidia will soon be retiring. The RTX 4070 Super is a stone’s throw away from that GPU, just for $200 less.
Although these are both 1440p graphics cards, they have aspirations for 4K. While the RTX 4070 fell just short of the 4K mark, the RTX 4070 Super now provides playable performance at that high resolution. It’s close to a 10% jump over the RTX 4070, edging closer to that fated mark of 60 frames per second (fps) in the most demanding games.
The RTX 4070 Super is clearly faster, and it’s not much more expensive. What about ray tracing, though? As you can see above, we see a massive jump in Returnal at 1440p. The RTX 4070 Super is around 18% faster than the base RTX 4070 in this demanding title. It’s not far off AMD’s RX 7900 XT, which is a much more expensive GPU.
This is a good showcase of what DLSS Frame Generation can do, as well. With it turned on, we measured 178 fps in Returnal with the same graphics settings. Both the RTX 4070 Super and RTX 4070 have access to DLSS 3.5 with Frame Generation, but the RTX 4070 Super provides a higher base frame rate. That means it will also have a higher frame rate after Frame Generation is applied.
RTX 4070 Super or RTX 4070?
Nvidia’s RTX 4070 Super brings an increase in performance at the same recommended list price as the RTX 4070. The older model’s price is expected to drop, though, with some cards already falling into the $515 range. Does that mean the RTX 4070 Super isn’t worth it?
If you’re sold on the RTX 4070 and spot a good deal on one — particularly a card around $500 — you should pick it up. However, if you haven’t found a deal, you’re better off with the Super model. It’s much faster and at the same list price as the original model. With both cards at their list price, the RTX 4070 Super wins every time.
Nvidia’s RTX 4070 Super isn’t replacing the base model. While the RTX 4080 Super and the RTX 4070 Ti Super are set to replace their counterparts, the RTX 4070 will coexist alongside its Super counterpart.
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