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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super Review: A Cheaper, Slightly Slower 4070 Ti

The GeForce RTX 4070 Super is a 4070 Ti in disguise. How it holds up in real world gaming workloads, including ray tracing remains to be seen

NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4070 Super hits the retail market on the 17th of January. Leveraging a denser AD103 die, it features 7168 FP32 cores (+22%), up from 5,888 on the RTX 4070. These numbers place it slightly below the RTX 4070 Ti, which packs 7680 shaders across 60 SMs. On the memory side, the RTX 4070 Super and the 4070 Ti are identical, with 12GB of GDDR6X memory clocked at 21Gbps. Both are backed by 48MB of L2 cache and a 192-bit wide bus. While the RTX 4070 Ti retailed at $799, the 4070 Super will cost “only” $599.

Specifications: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super

RTX 4070 TiRTX 4070 Ti SuperRTX 4070RTX 4070 Super
GPUAD104AD103AD104AD104
SMs60664656
Shaders7,6808,4485,8887,168
VRAM12GB16GB12GB12GB
L2 Cache48MB64MB36MB48MB
Memory bus192-bit256-bit192-bit192-bit
Memory Clock21Gbps22.4Gbps21Gbps21Gbps
GPU Boost Clock2,610MHz2,610MHz2,475MHz2,475MHz
TBP285W285W200W220W
MSRP$799$799$599$599
LaunchJan 5 (23)Jan 24 (24)April 12 (23)Jan 17 (24)

Test Bench

  • CPU: Intel Core i9-13900K.
  • Motherboard: ASUS ROG Maximus Hero Z790/X670.
  • Memory: 16GB x2 DDR5 6,000MT/s CL38.
  • Power Supply: Corsair RM1000E.

1080p Benchmarks

The GeForce RTX 4070 Super should be popular among 1080p gamers like its predecessor. Rendering over 100 FPS in modern titles, it’s an efficient 120Hz/144Hz GPU. We tested the card at 1080p and 1440p (with and without ray tracing) to establish how it performs compared to the RTX 4070 and the 4070 Ti.

In “A Plague Tale: Requiem,” the GeForce RTX 4070 Super is 13% faster than the 4070, while the 4070 Ti holds a lead of 6% over it. The Super averages 100 FPS, up from 88 FPS on the 4070 and 106 FPS on the Ti.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is more CPU and memory-bound. The RTX 4070 Ti is nearly 10% faster than the 4070, while the 4070 Super is a smidge better than the latter. Medieval England averages 154 FPS on the RTX 4070, 164 FPS on the 4070 Super, and 180 FPS on the 4070 Ti.

Cyberpunk 2077 performs rather well on the RTX 4070 Super, averaging 143 FPS, up from 129 FPS on the 4070 and 152.6 FPS on the 4070 Ti.

Dying Light 2 posts an average of 184 FPS on the RTX 4070 Super, up from 141 FPS on the 4070 and 210 FPS on the 4070 Ti. That’s a massive 30% lead for the Super.

Ghostwire Tokyo nets 206 FPS on the 4070 Super, up from 201 FPS and 185.4 FPS on the RTX 4070 Ti and 4070, respectively. This is the first title where it manages to beat both its siblings.

Hitman 3 is another title where the RTX 4070 Super ups the 4070 Ti, averaging 211 FPS versus 205 FPS and 189 FPS on the Ti and 4070, respectively.

Hogwarts Legacy is a VRAM-hungry title that starts to lag on 12GB cards at higher resolutions. The RTX 4070 Super averages 121 FPS in the Hogsmeade area, up from 107 FPS on the RTX 4070 and 128 FPS on the 4070 Ti.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is one of the oldest titles in our suite, but it scales well, still pushing modern hardware to its limits. The RTX 4070 Super is 11% faster than the 4070, averaging 253 FPS (up from 228 FPS), while the 4070 Ti nets 262.5 FPS.

The Callisto Protocol tends to run like crap. Regardless, the RTX 4070 Super manages an average of 139 FPS, slightly higher than the 132.5 FPS of the 4070. On the other hand, the RTX 4070 Ti nets 148.4 FPS, with similar lows as the Super.

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is one of the better-optimized titles. It averages 187 FPS on the 4070 Super, up from 163 FPS on the 4070, and 208 FPS on the 4070 Ti.

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1440p Benchmarks

At higher resolutions like 1440p, the pressure on the memory and cache buses increases. As a result, the RTX 4070 Super should be even faster than the 4070 in these benchmarks.

A Plague Tale nets 72.7 FPS on the RTX 4070 Super, up from 62.8 FPS on the 4070 and 77 FPS on the 4070 Ti.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla averages 124.7 FPS on the RTX 4070 Super at 1440p, up from 117 FPS on the 4070 and 139.6 FPS on the 4070 Ti.

Cyberpunk 2077 averages 88.6 FPS on the 4070 Super, 98 FPS on the 4070 Ti, and 77 FPS on the 4070 at 1440p.

Dying Light 2 favors the RTX 4070 Super, with an average of 136 FPS, up from “just” 97.5 FPS on the RTX 4070 and 142 FPS on the 4070 Ti. That’s a 40% uplift for the Super.

Ghostwire Tokyo maintains healthy margins between the three cards. The RTX 4070 Super averages 160 FPS, up from 144.4 FPS on the 4070 and 189 FPS on the 4070 Ti.

Hitman 3 averages 173 FPS on the 4070 Super, up from 161.6 FPS on the 4070 and 177.5 FPS on the 4070 Ti. These two titles ran faster on the Super at 1080p due to a CPU limitation or a memory-related bottleneck. At 1440p, as the strain on the GPUs increases, the 4070 Ti is back at the top spot.

Hogwarts Legacy yields an average of 106 FPS on the RTX 4070 Super, up from 94 FPS on the 4070 and 114 FPS on the 4070 Ti.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider posts a healthy 193.7 FPS on the RTX 4070 Super, beating the 4070 (163 FPS) by a solid 19% and trailing the 4070 Ti by a marginal 9.9% (213 FPS).

The Callisto Protocol shows poor scaling at 1440p. The RTX 4070 Super maintains an average of 102 FPS versus 100.7 FPS on the 4070 and 108 FPS on the 4070 Ti. All three GPUs have lows of approximately 40 FPS.

The GeForce RTX 4070 Super manages an average of 130 FPS in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, 111.5 FPS for the 4070, and 152 FPS for the 4070 Ti.

NVIDIA RTX 4070 vs 4070 Ti: 30 Benchmarks at 1080p and 1440p [Updated Jan 2024]

Ray Tracing Benchmarks

Ray tracing and its multi-bounce cousin (path tracing) tend to bring even the fastest GPUs down on their knees. Nevertheless, the RTX 4070 Super holds a healthy lead over the 4070 and inches from the 4070 Ti. The extra L2 cache should help store the BVH structures used to accelerate ray tracing.

A Plague Tale posts an average of 49.5 FPS on the RTX 4070 Super, a healthy upgrade over the RTX 4070’s 43 FPS. Meanwhile, the 4070 Ti maintains its supremacy with 52.4 FPS.

Crysis Remastered holds a steady 14% lead over the 4070 with an average of 128 FPS. The RTX 4070 Ti posts 144.7 FPS, while the 4070 averages 112 FPS.

Cyberpunk 2077 also favors the 4070 Super, netting an average of 42.9 FPS, up from 36.7 FPS on the 4070 and 46.5 FPS on the 4070 Ti.

Dying Light 2 performs similarly on the RTX 4070 Super and 4070 Ti, averaging 70.3 FPS and 72.7 FPS, respectively. Meanwhile, the RTX 4070 finishes last with 73 FPS on average.

F1 2022 is fairly GPU-intensive with ray-tracing enabled. The RTX 4070 Super averages 82 FPS versus 73 FPS and 96 FPS on the 4070 and 4070 Ti, respectively.

Ghostwire Tokyo maintains an average of 94 FPS on the RTX 4070 Super, comfortably beating the 4070 (80 FPS) while coming close to the 4070 Ti (105 FPS).

Metro Exodus is one of our favorites. It features RTGI, which consists of multi-bounce global illumination with temporal feedback. The RTX 4070 Super averages 63 FPS in the Taiga, a smidge less than the 68.5 FPS posted by the 4070 Ti but higher than the 4070 (54 FPS).

Shadow of the Tomb Raider features ray-traced shadows that are moderately performance-intensive. The RTX 4070 Super manages an average of 133 FPS, up from 110 FPS on the 4070 but slightly lower than the 140 FPS observed on the 4070 Ti.

The Callisto Protocol continues to be the abomination of our suite. The GeForce RTX 4070 Super nets 80 FPS, the same as the 4070 Ti minus the lower 1%. The RTX 4070 drops to 73 FPS with lows of 32 FPS.

Conclusion: A Slightly Cheaper (and Slightly Slower) 4070 Ti

The GeForce RTX 4070 Super sits between the RTX 4070 and the 4070 Ti in perfect equilibrium. In most games (especially ray-traced), the Super performs quite close to the latter. We’re talking about deltas of under 10% or single-digit FPS differences. With the RTX 4070 Super, NVIDIA has reduced the price of the 4070 Ti by $200 without officially admitting it.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super

Raster Gaming Performance - 8
Ray Tracing Performance - 9
Power Efficiency - 9
Value for Money - 7
Thermals and Acoustics - 9

8.4

Highly Recommended

The GeForce RTX 4070 Super sits between the 4070 and the 4070 Ti in perfect equilibrium. In most games (especially ray-traced), the Super performs similar to the latter. With the 4070 Super, NVIDIA has reduced the price of the 4070 Ti by $200 without admitting it.

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Areej Syed

Processors, PC gaming, and the past. I have written about computer hardware for over seven years with over 5000 published articles. I started during engineering college and haven't stopped since. On the side, I play RPGs like Baldur's Gate, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Divinity, and Fallout. Contact: areejs12@hardwaretimes.com.
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