I had excessive hopes for the RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous after the RTX 4070 Tremendous impressed me earlier this month. Nvidia’s first RTX 40-series Tremendous card supplied some stable efficiency boosts at each 4K and 1440p — round 15 % and 17 %, respectively. Sadly, the identical can’t be stated in regards to the RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous.
Whereas the pricing stays the identical $799 as the unique RTX 4070 Ti it’s changing, so does the efficiency. At 1440p on the RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous, I discovered almost 3 % higher efficiency over the unique RTX 4070 Ti and round 5 % at 4K. Nvidia had promised 10 %, so one thing has clearly gone incorrect right here.
Lower than two days earlier than this overview was on account of go dwell, Nvidia discovered an issue with the playing cards that reviewers had been testing. “We have discovered an issue with the MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER 16G Ventus 3X GPUs where performance was approximately 5 percent below expected figures on other RTX 4070 Ti SUPER SKUs,” stated Nvidia spokesperson Lars Weinand.
Nvidia provided a VBIOS replace, noting that efficiency nonetheless wasn’t as much as the promised 10 % determine. “MSI are continuing to work on updates,” based on Nvidia. The VBIOS replace hasn’t made a giant distinction, and with out speedy entry to different RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous playing cards, we have now to overview based mostly on the present expertise with this card.
{Hardware}
I’m upset Nvidia hasn’t returned with a Founders Version card for this refreshed GPU. Very like the unique RTX 4070 Ti, I’ve been testing a third-party card from MSI. Nvidia is leaving it as much as its board companions to produce the playing cards for the RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous, with the design various per producer. Whereas I admire the variety of alternative out there with third-party boards, the Founders Version playing cards are well-made and sleekly designed.
MSI’s RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous 16G Ventus 3X makes use of a triple-fan format with a copper baseplate and warmth pipes to chill the warmth from the GPU and reminiscence modules. Like different RTX playing cards, there’s a zero-RPM mode to cease the followers when temperatures are low, so it retains your PC quiet in the event you’re not enjoying video games or stressing the GPU.
It is a pretty typical format for the RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous, and most third-party playing cards appear to be going with the triple-fan design. On the rear, there are additionally the standard three 1.4 DisplayPorts and a single HDMI 2.1 port.
Total, it’s nonetheless a giant card, very similar to RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 variants, however I’m glad to see 16GB of VRAM as an alternative of the 12GB that shipped on the unique RTX 4070 Ti. That’s excellent news for futureproofing and enjoying at 4K.
Nvidia additionally hasn’t bumped the facility necessities right here, so the RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous pulls the identical as much as 285 watts as the unique, 35 lower than an RTX 4080. Nvidia nonetheless recommends a 750-watt energy provide; the newest ATX 3.0 PSUs include native help for the brand new PCIe 5.0 12VHPWR connector that Nvidia makes use of. I’d suggest this or a third-party cable so you may keep away from the chunky energy adapter that ships within the field and converts two common eight-pin PCIe energy connections into this new 12-pin connector.
1440p benchmarks
For 1440p testing, I paired the RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous with AMD’s newest Ryzen 7 7800X3D processor and Samsung’s 32-inch G7 monitor. This monitor helps refresh charges as much as 240Hz in addition to Nvidia’s G-Sync know-how, so it’s a great take a look at to see if any video games can max out this refresh price.
I put the RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous head-to-head with the earlier mannequin, another RTX 40-series playing cards, AMD’s Radeon RX 7900 XT and XTX, and a few previous-generation playing cards. Checks are carried out in quite a lot of AAA video games with max or extremely settings to emphasize GPUs as a lot as doable.
Each sport managed to hit 100fps or above common, aside from Metro Exodus Enhanced on excessive settings — which is a stress take a look at for many GPUs except the RTX 4090.
The RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous is lower than 3 % quicker than the RTX 4070 Ti earlier than it. As I discussed earlier, that is tremendous disappointing. It’s barely an enchancment over the cardboard it’s changing, and actually, all you’re getting right here at 1440p is 16GB of VRAM. Clearly, RTX 4070 Ti homeowners gained’t be upgrading to this anyway, however I hoped to see nearer to the ten % that Nvidia promised.
VBIOS updates would possibly assist sooner or later, however proper now, that’s the scenario with the MSI mannequin we’ve been testing. Third-party playing cards from different OEMs would possibly properly hit that 10 % mark, although.
In Returnal and Gears 5, the body price averages had been similar, so there was no enchancment in anyway. Earlier than MSI’s VBIOS replace was utilized, I truly had the Gigabyte RTX 4070 Ti beating the RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous by a slight margin in each of those video games.
Very like different RTX 40-series playing cards, the RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous contains DLSS 3 help. It boosts frames by greater than 25 % in Forza Horizon 5, bringing efficiency as much as the identical degree as AMD’s $999 Radeon RX 7900 XTX on this explicit sport.
Elsewhere, the RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous trades blows with the $899 Radeon RX 7900 XT, offering higher body charges in video games the place RT is enabled and particularly the place video games benefit from DLSS extra usually than AMD’s FSR equal. However total, these numbers are nonetheless disappointing in comparison with the RTX 4070 Ti.
4K benchmarks
For 4K gaming, I examined the RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous with Acer’s 31.5-inch Nitro XV2 monitor. This monitor helps refresh charges as much as 144Hz, however the RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous nonetheless doesn’t come anyplace near maxing this monitor out.
Each sport managed to succeed in 60fps or above with settings on extremely or excessive, besides Metro Exodus Enhanced operating on excessive settings. That makes this an attention-grabbing possibility for 4K, notably with the improved 16GB of VRAM onboard. For those who’re prepared to drop the settings down additional, then you can max out a 4K 144Hz monitor in various video games.
Total, I discovered little or no distinction over the unique RTX 4070 Ti, although. It’s round 5 % at 4K, so barely higher than the 1440p scores I recorded. It as soon as once more trades blows with AMD’s $899 RX 7900 XT, which AMD has discounted to a promotional value of $749 at some retailers lately in a transfer that’s clearly a response to Nvidia’s Tremendous playing cards.
DLSS 3 as soon as once more helps at 4K, though it’s a virtually 15 % bump in Forza Horizon 5 as an alternative of the higher good points I discovered at 1440p. For those who play video games that help DLSS 3, then it’s properly value enabling, even when there’s a slight tradeoff of elevated latency for the body technology tech.
Conclusion
The RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous has been a troublesome card to overview because of the VBIOS points. We determined to publish at embargo time to supply an opinion on this MSI mannequin, however we’ll definitely be again with updates (and a rating) as soon as we get to check one other card to see what the efficiency ought to be.
Nvidia promised a ten % efficiency bump over the RTX 4070 Ti, however that hasn’t materialized but within the testing we’re capable of carry out proper now. It’s doable it would with different playing cards and with future VBIOS updates for this MSI mannequin. Nvidia despatched us an Asus card to check, however most playing cards go on sale right this moment, and I can’t suggest buying the MSI variant till the VBIOS points are totally addressed.
If the ten % efficiency enchancment is clear on different playing cards, the pricing of the RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous continues to be awkward. The unique RTX 4070 Ti’s $799 pricing was all the time controversial, and it looks like there’s no competitors on this a part of the market. $699 used to get you an RTX 3080 in the event you had been very fortunate, however the GPU market has modified so much since then and has pushed costs up. The principle AMD competitors at this value level is the RX 7900 XT — however solely due to “promotional pricing” meaning it has dropped from $899 to $749 at some retailers lately. On the time of overview, you may decide one up at Finest Purchase for $759.99 and even at $739.99 at Newegg.
The efficiency distinction between an RTX 4070 Tremendous and RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous is round 10 % — however at greater than 30 % in value. For those who’re weighing an RTX 4070 Tremendous in opposition to an RTX 4080 Tremendous, then the efficiency soar will probably be not less than 30 % (based mostly on RTX 4080 benchmarks) however at round 66 % extra in value, if the $999 holds. On the RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous value level, there’s much less apparent worth, particularly when it straddles the road between excessive refresh price 1440p gaming and 4K gaming at decrease refresh charges.
This all places loads of stress on this RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous launch, notably as a result of we nonetheless don’t know precisely what the RTX 4080 Tremendous will ship for that further $200 above. Provided that it’s not all the time been straightforward to search out an RTX 4070 Ti for $799 proper now, I believe some will probably be holding out hope for the RTX 4080 Tremendous’s $999 pricing, if they will even discover playing cards at that degree.
We’ll be again with a overview of the RTX 4080 Tremendous subsequent week, however proper now, I can’t give an knowledgeable opinion on the worth of the RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous till the efficiency scenario is obvious.
Pictures by Tom Warren / The Verge