In this RTX 3050 review, we go through all the necessary details you need to know about this card, including price, specs, design, and performance benchmarks to help you make the most informed decision. So, can this old-gen GPU hold up in today's market? Let's find out.

RTX 3050 price

The RTX 3050 is no longer a flagship GPU for Team Green, having taken a backseat behind the RTX 40-series giants like the RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 Super. By taking a backseat, you would think the RTX 3050 would come quite cheap nowadays - and you would be right. Depending on the brand, most RTX 3050 GPU packages can be found for around or just under $200.

Originally launched in January 2022, the RTX 3050 started with an MSRP of $249 but has since been discounted due to Nvidia's shift in focus to more updated models. For this review, we have looked at the ASUS Dual RTX 3050 which currently retails for $179 on Amazon - certainly one of the lower-priced GPUs you will find pretty much anywhere on the market these days.

So, how does the RTX 3050 compare to its 30-series counterparts? The RTX 3060 comes in roughly $100-150 more expensive than the RTX 3060, the next card up in the series. Similarly, the RTX 3070 jumps another $100 from that card. As you can see, the RTX 3050 is sitting primarily at the lower end of the Nvidia GPU lineup in terms of price. This makes it prime real estate for anyone looking to get into the GPU space for the first time (entry-level users) and those who are a little tighter on budgets. However, with lower prices often comes lower performance. Let's see if that is reflected here.

RTX 3050 key specs

Regardless of the brand of RTX 3050 you decide to purchase, the basics remain the same throughout. At this point, it is also important to make a distinction between the RTX 3050 8GB and the newer RTX 3050 6GB option. For the sake of this review, we are focused primarily on the 8GB variant, meaning more VRAM and more room to play with. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 features 8GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit-memory bus with a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s. It features a pretty standard 1552 MHz base clock and a baseline boost clock speed of 1777 MHz. This boost clock speed can vary based on the specific model you purchase and if the model has overclocking functionality. For example, the ASUS Dual OC has a clock speed of 1820 MHz, a 2.4% increase.

Furthermore, the RTX 3050 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate. This means most modern games and titles will be able to run on this system and additionally guarantee the support of ray-tracing. While its competitor, the RTX 3060, boasts a fully active set of 3840 shader units, the RTX 3050 trims down on this power. Nvidia disables some shaders to achieve a specific target for the 3050. This card comes equipped with 2560 shading units, 80 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. Despite the adjustment, it still packs a punch for machine learning tasks thanks to its 80 tensor cores. Additionally, the 3050 features 20 ray tracing cores for enhanced visuals in-game. Ray tracing is also important for creatives, making it well-suited for other graphics-intensive tasks, such as video editing, 3D modeling, and streaming.

You may be wondering what you will miss out on by purchasing a 30-series card over a newer 40-series one. Well, as quoted by Nvidia, the 40-series "takes everything RTX GPUs deliver and turns it up to 11". Here is what they mean. With the RTX 3050, you will not have the new Ada Lovelace architecture, a significant upgrade from the standard Ampere. Alongside this architecture upgrade, the 3050 also does not feature DLSS 3.0, a crucial feature in defining the new-gen Nvidia GPUs. To translate, RTX 3050 users won't have the use of AI to create additional high-quality frames. It is difficult not to overstress the importance of these features in modern GPUs and how much of a difference they make to gaming and creative endeavors. Bare this in mind when purchasing an RTX 3050 as while everyone starts at an entry-level, an upgrade to this level of GPU is nearly inevitable in today's gaming world.

RTX 3050 design and aesthetic

The RTX 3050 measures up as a compact graphics card designed to fit comfortably into most modern PCs. Coming in at 242 mm x 112 mm x 40 mm, it shouldn't hog up too much space within your case. This is a major advantage for those building smaller form factor machines or cases with limited space. However, it's important to remember that the RTX 3050 occupies two PCI-Express slots due to its dual-slot cooler design. Make sure you have the necessary space in your case to accommodate this before pulling the trigger on this GPU.

While the exact aesthetics may vary slightly depending on the manufacturer, you can expect a fairly standard design for the RTX 3050. The reference design from Nvidia utilizes a dual-fan cooler shrouded in a simple black casing. Some manufacturers may add their flair with RGB lighting or unique heat sink designs, but overall, the RTX 3050 prioritizes function over form. For example, the ASUS Dual RTX 3060 has a stainless steel bracket, which is harder and more resistant to corrosion. Additionally, the model is featured with subtle lighting changes like an illuminated strip that creates a stylish accent. While they aren't major impacts, they may sway you on the individual variant you buy.

RTX 3050 performance

When looking at benchmark results, two things become apparent about the RTX 3050's performance. Firstly, it is still able to deliver solid 1080p performance on most modern titles, for example, Doom Eternal, Evil Genius 2, and Resident Evil Village. However, this is about it regarding the impressive nature of the RTX 3050, as it falls significantly in 4K and 1440p. To demonstrate, the RTX 3050 scored 32 in Dirt 5, 30 in Call of Duty: Warzone and just 25 in Fortnite for 4K. Ultimately slamming the door shut on any potential for an achievable 4K performance.

Gaming benchmarks

Additionally, the RTX 3050 just about scrapes by in some titles for 1440p. In CS:GO and Rainbow Six Siege, the RTX 3050 achieves scores over 100, though these titles are less demanding graphically and this score is still behind the performance of most other graphics cards available. As a comparison with our RTX 3080, the CS:GO score for the RTX 3050 was 239, though the RTX 3080 scored 344 - a score even larger than the RTX 3050's 1080p performance on the same game. In addition, in more graphically demanding games like Fortnite, the RTX 3080 scored 128 at 1440p - over double the performance benchmark for the 3050. This is certainly not an ideal card for anyone wanting to hit the 1440p or 4K gaming level anytime soon.

Synthetic benchmarks

Conclusion

The RTX 3050 signifies the last major low-end GPU from Nvidia, but it doesn't do much more than that. For its low price, it certainly can deliver a reasonable standard of performance, particularly at 1080p. It can also handle most modern titles. However, if this is the standard by which we judge GPUs then all GPUs would receive pass marks. Unfortunately, we understand that most gamers and creatives will demand slightly more from their cards nowadays and the RTX 3050 barely makes the cut. It doesn't have amazing 4K or 1440p benchmark scores for popular titles like Warzone or Fortnite, nor does it have any major performance features that distinguish it from its competitors.

The Nvidia 3050 is only saved by its price point which may make it appropriate for GPU entry-level users who are simply testing the waters and getting themselves familiar with cards. However, without modern DLSS 3.0 and Ada Lovelace architecture, the longevity and future of this card is not bright. It will need replacing eventually, adding an extra $200 to the cost of a better card that could've been bought sooner and lasted longer.

Is the RTX 3050 worth it?

In short, although it’s better and cheaper than almost any older Nvidia GPU, it’s not worth buying at this point. While only released a few years ago, the card has not aged particularly well, especially given the competition within Nvidia's ranks. It certainly won't leave a gaping hole in your wallet, that much is true, but it also does not have much longevity and you will likely have to end up upgrading sooner and spending more.

Its performance at 1440p and 1080p is sufficient at best, but nothing to shout about. For example, at 1440p, you may have to lower the graphics settings to maintain a smooth frame rate, which isn't great. If you have a slightly higher budget and are looking for the best performance possible, you may want to consider higher-end graphics cards from the 30-series such as the RTX 3060 or 3070, or you could even make a leap to the 40-series though this requires a little more money.

AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT price

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT currently carries a starting MSRP of $499 and above depending on your version of choice, making it comparable to the company's other 1440p champion the RX 7700 XT. That positions the 7800 XT firmly in the mid-range of the GPU market, cheaper than the similarly powerful Nvidia RTX 4070 and RTX 4070 Super by $100, which is something that can be commended. We'll be touching on the performance further down the page.

AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT key specs

In terms of hardware, the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT is built on the Navi 32 die with a total of 3,840 Stream Processors and 16GB GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit memory bus. For context, that's 386 more GPU cores and 4GB extra VRAM than the 7700 XT for an extra $50. Its base clock speed isn't the fastest at 1,295 MHz, however, things drastically improve with the game clock and the boost clock at 2,124 MHz and 2,430 MHz respectively.

That allows for a bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s meaning 19.5 Gbps effective memory which is fairly fast considering the more humble price tag. Speaking to AMD's reference model, it's a dual-slot GPU measuring 10.5 x 4.4 x 2 inches (LxWxH) is a smaller alternative than the likes of its competition by Nvidia, however, this is going to depend on whether you've got an AMD-made version or a partner card which we'll touch upon down below about the design.

AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT key design

Speaking to the design, the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT Reference model looks exceptional, sporting a slick black and red color scheme. As touched upon above, it's remarkably powerful considering its small size and dual-slot design. This is particularly evidenced by the heatsink and backplate which are jet black and understated, perfect for those after a more minimalistic rig without the need for RGB or garish colors.

Every single game we tested achieved at least 60fps, with some titles pushing far beyond the 100fps mark when maxed out in this target resolution

AMD's Reference card features two powerful fans to aid airflow but you can find some partner models offering overclocking potential with a triple fan setup if that's more your speed. As it stands, it's essentially a smaller and sleeker version of the 7900 XTX and should fit comfortably instead of smaller form factor machines just as well as mid-towers. With that out of the way, let's get into the GPU's respective performance.

AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT gaming performance

With all said, how does the RX 7800 XT perform performance-wise as the "ultimate upgrade for 1440p gaming" according to AMD? Well, in the testing conducted by BGFG's Sebastian Kozlowski, it's clear that this GPU leads in terms of QHD holding its own against the more expensive RTX 4070 family. Every single game we tested achieved at least 60fps, with some titles pushing far beyond the 100fps mark when maxed out in this target resolution.

No matter how you slice it, maxed-out 1440p for under $500 is impressive, even if the RTX 4070 Super pulls ahead as a whole, not entirely unexpected from a GPU costing at least $100 more. Team Red was smart to not market this GPU on its 4K abilities as it's not consistent or impressive. Games such as F1 23 and Cyberpunk 2077 hovered around the 30fps mark, however, some titles hover around the 60fps mark natively in this resolution like Assassin's Creed Mirage. 1440p is where this card works best.

AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT synthetic performance

In terms of synthetic performance, the RX 7800 XT does well in our suite of industry-standard tests such as 3DMark with near neck-and-neck performance against the RTX 4070 Super and older RTX 3090 which is impressive. The lead is broadened out in Blender 4.0 as the Nvidia graphics cards race far ahead in the Monster, Junkshop, and Classroom benchmarks. Simply put, if you're purely in the market for a productivity-first GPU, the 7800 XT won't be the one for you.

AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT encoding performance

It's a similar story with the encoding performance through HandBrake's Tears of Steel 4K benchmark, too. The RX 7800 XT falls short in comparison to its competitors by a considerable margin with about half the scores of its competition. That's not the case with the HandBrake Tears of Steel demo, however, as the 7800 XT achieved nearly double that of the RTX 4070 Super and RTX 3090. Content creators are going to benefit from fast encoding times whether live streaming or rendering complicated video projects.

Alternatives to the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT

If you're thinking of viable alternatives to the RX 7800 XT then you have the choice of going for the slightly cheaper RX 7700 XT ($449) for 1440p gaming if you're a little more cash-strapped. Alternatively, from Nvidia, you can opt for the RTX 4070 Super which is available for $100 at $599 and offers a little more performance for the extra money.

Conclusion

Since its launch, the RX 7800 XT has been an incredibly aggressively priced and powerful video card with strong ray tracing prowess compared to the previous generation RX 6800 XT. It goes to show the advancements made by RDNA 3 architecture for higher FPS on your PC. What's more, considering it's priced similarly to the RTX 4060 Ti, you can expect superior value and performance here which is not to be understated, even if DLSS 3 does lead ahead of FSR and Fluid Motion Frames right now.

Is the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT worth it?

The RX 7800 XT leads in terms of 1440p gaming for its price point with 60fps or above natively. For the best performance, you're going to want to rely on AMD's Fluid Motion Frames (frame generation) and FSR (AI upscaling). Considering the sub-$500 price point, this mid-range GPU excels.

Nvidia RTX 3080 price

The Nvidia RTX 3080 originally debuted at $699 back in 2020, however, the pandemic made it near-impossible to find for MSRP throughout its lifespan until Ada architecture graphics cards were ushered in two years later. With that said, in 2024, it's easy to find an RTX 3080 through retailers such as Amazon and Newegg available as low as $500 either brand new or secondhand. Should you find this GPU for that price tag, complete in either 10GB or 12GB VRAM, it's well worth considering.

For context, the prices of its successor, the RTX 4080 doubled in MSRP to $1,199 making 80-class hardware a much higher bar to clear, which makes revisiting the price tag of the RTX 3080 seem like a true bargain. In terms of its nearest direct comparison, you've got the RTX 4070 Super at $599 or the RTX 4070 Ti Super at $799 (which is essentially a cheaper version of the RTX 4080). Should you want DLSS 3 Frame Generation, this could be the play.

Nvidia RTX 3080 key specs

We'll keep this short and sweet. The RTX 3080 is built upon the GA102 die with a total of 8,704 CUDA cores and either 10GB or 12GB of GDDR6X VRAM on a 320-bit memory bus. It features 68 second-generation ray tracing cores as well as 272 Tensor cores, the latter of which aids the AI-powered Nvidia DLSS 2 upscaling. This GPU was originally marketed based on its 4K prowess and that's possible through its 760.3 GB/s bandwidth for 19 Gbps effective memory.

Then we get into the Nvidia RTX 3080's speeds. The high-end Ampere GPU has a base clock speed of 1,440 MHz and a boost clock speed of 1,710 MHz taking the Nvidia Founders Edition model into account, however, some partner cards can go further than this. This includes our review unit, the ASUS ROG Strix RTX 3080 can be pushed up to 1935 MHz through overclocking. Some partner cards are more expensive than others so keep that in mind when weighing up your options.

Nvidia RTX 3080 design

Speaking to the Founders Edition model, the Nvidia-made RTX 3080 is a dual-slot GPU measuring 11.2 x 4.4 x 1.6 inches (LxWxH) with a 320W TDP meaning you'll need at least a 700W PSU to ensure adequate power to the video card. This will depend on your partner card, as the aforementioned ASUS ROG Strix model is a triple-slot GPU with a larger heatsink, and triple fan design to cope with the overclocking potential.

It's clear that the RTX 3080 hasn't missed a step even nearly four years after its initial introduction

Nvidia's Ampere graphics card lineup was the first to use a bespoke adapter, in this case, it's the 12-pin power adapter instead of standard PCIe power connectors, but some partner cards may use 2x or 3x regular power connectors, so that's something to keep in mind. You have the choice of MSI, EVGA, Gigabyte, and many other manufacturers in terms of design and size, so whether you're buying brand new or refurbished, there are many options whether you opt for 10GB or 12GB variants.

Nvidia RTX 3080 gaming performance

In our testing conducted by BGFG's Sebastian Kozlowski, it's clear that the RTX 3080 hasn't missed a step even nearly four years after its initial introduction. This is most evident in its 4K prowess in today's top games such as CS:GO, Dirt 5, Doom Eternal, and Fortnite, all of which are well above the 60fps mark with ray tracing enabled when playing natively in 2160p. Simply put, that's impressive and means even without the bolstering of DLSS 3 Frame Generation, you'll have a smooth gaming experience.

Nvidia RTX 3080 synthetic performance

The synthetic benchmarks are equally strong as the RTX 3080 excels with high figures in the likes of 3DMark and Blender. While this GPU can't quite keep up with its successors from the Ada architecture lineup, there's no doubting the level of prowess here. That means that creatives and content creators alike are sure to be able to squeeze some juice out of this GPU yet, not bad given its discounted rates this year.

Conclusion

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 impresses with its second-generation RT cores leading to far stronger real-time ray tracing than the likes of the older RTX 2080 Ti and it should be a great upgrade from GTX models. The frame rates are far higher both natively and through DLSS, too, whether you're playing on one of the best gaming monitors with HDMI and DisplayPort. While the Founders Edition card may be all but extinct nowadays, some partner cards are still around and discounted.

PC games still benefit from the memory bandwidth of Ampere architecture with even top titles still being made with the older models in mind, especially when factoring in Deep Learning Super Sampling, albeit without Frame Generation. Just remember to pair with a top-end Intel Core or AMD Ryzen CPU to avoid any potential bottlenecking, and you shouldn't need to worry about upgrading for a couple of years at least. That goes double when considering the likes of Nvidia Reflex and applications for streamers and content creation, too.

Alternatives to the RTX 3080

As touched upon above, the best alternatives to the RTX 3080 are either the RTX 4070 Super or the RTX 4070 Ti Super which occupy the mid-range pricing gap left in Ada's wake with a similar (or superior) level of performance. On the AMD front, there's the RX 7700 XT for around $450 in terms of 1440p performance. Alternatively, for 80-class performance, there's the RTX 4080 Super but you'll be paying $999 and up for significantly stronger gaming and creativity performance.

Is the RTX 3080 still worth it?

If you can find the RTX 3080 available discounted in a new or refurbished condition down from its MSRP then it's worth it. However, we don't recommend spending an MSRP of $699 on this card when the newer RTX 4070 Super can do more for less.

AMD Radeon RX 6800 price

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 is still available now for around the $410 mark through retailers such as Amazon and Best Buy. It launched back in 2020. For reference, that's around the same price as the RTX 3070 and that's fitting considering it's another 1440p targeting GPU for the mid-range market. In comparison to the most recent GPU generation, the RX 6800's equivalent is the RX 7700 XT which is available around the $420 mark and is a little more powerful.

AMD Radeon RX 6800 key specs

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 is built upon the Navi 21 die with a total of 3,840 Stream Processors and 16GB GDDR6 VRAM on a 256-bit memory bus. That's around double the amount of VRAM of its competition, the RTX 3070 with 8GB VRAM. There are also 240 texture mapping units and 96 ROPs. However, more excitedly, there are 60 RT cores because this video card is capable of doing real-time ray tracing as Team Red finally caught up with Nvidia which had implemented the tech two years prior.

AMD Radeon RX 6800 design

In terms of design, the AMD Radeon RX 6800 is built on the RDNA 2 architecture forged with TSMC's 7nm process. It's a dual-slot GPU with a 250W TDP and is powered by 2x PCIe power connectors. AMD's Reference model measures in conservatively at 10.5 x 4.7 x 1.6 inches (LxWxH) You'll need at least a 600W PSU to have enough overhead in your machine which is fairly conservative given the power potential here.

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 still performs well as a 1440p graphics card for gaming and creatives

In terms of how the card looks, our review unit is the XFX Radeon RX 6800 which looks near-identical to an AMD-made Reference model, particularly with the three angular fans sporting 'R' for Radeon with a sleek black and gray color scheme. Simply put, it's a stunning GPU, particularly with its red accents, too.

AMD Radeon RX 6800 performance

Despite its age, the AMD Radeon RX 6800 still performs well as a 1440p graphics card for gaming and creatives, just that 4K is out of this GPU's range as the testing by BGFG's Sebastian Kozlowski. This is most evident in Cyberpunk 2077 which excels in 1080p, beating the RTX 3070, and above 60fps in 1440p also leading over its older Nvidia rival. Unfortunately, native 4K isn't possible to a playable standard as the game clocks in less than 30fps.

Speaking to the synthetic performance, the RX 6800 is comparable to the RTX 4070 and beats the older RTX 3070 thanks to its 16GB VRAM. While no longer leading, it's excellent value for money factoring in the $400 price tag. Ray tracing isn't going to be its biggest strength, as evidenced by Port Royal, but the performance should be solid enough.

Conclusion

Factoring in the price point of the hardware, this Big Navi GPU gets a lot right even when compared to more adept offerings like the RX 6800 XT and RDNA 3 alternatives. It should be a sweeping upgrade for your PC over the likes of the RX 5700 XT even if it can't quite compete with the Ampere architecture's DLSS and ray tracing performance capabilities. For high-end frame rates you shouldn't have any problems in 1080p or 1440p.

When paired with a fast Intel Core or AMD Ryzen CPU there shouldn't be much in the way of a bottleneck thanks to a large memory bandwidth further bolstered by FidelityFX Super Resolution. As for how it compares to Nvidia's RTX line, things aren't quite as strong but for most people after rasterization, it works out well enough.

Alternatives to the RX 6800

Your closest possible alternative to the RX 6800 from AMD is the RX 7700 XT which is available for around $450 which is slightly more expensive. In contrast, the RTX 4070 Super is available for $599. If that's a little out of your price range then the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB for $499 which is around $80 more than what you can pick the 6800 for.

Is the AMD Radeon RX 6800 worth it?

While AMD's new RDNA 3 architecture has replaced what the RX 6800 can do, the once-leading RDNA 2 model still has a lot to offer even in 2024. You will just need to keep the resolutions lower than 4K to ensure maximum playability.

Nvidia RTX 3090 price

The Nvidia RTX 3090 debuted at $1,499 being the most expensive consumer-level gaming graphics card at the time of its release back in 2020. It was since superseded by the Nvidia RTX 4090 for $1,599 (a $100 increase) two years later. That means the original BFGPU is coming up to four years old, and we'll touch on how it performs further down the page. By and large, you can find this video card for around $1,200 to $1,400 from retailers such as Amazon or Newegg, but we recommend shopping around.

For a comparably powerful GPU at a similar price point, you can expect a comparable level of gaming performance from the RTX 4080 Super which is available brand-new from $999. The latter features 16GB GDDR6X memory (8GB less than the RTX 3090) but a comparable amount of CUDA cores which we'll touch upon later. For a GPU with the same amount of VRAM, your best bet is going to be the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX which is rocking 24GB GDDR6 for $999 - cheaper than you'll find an RTX 3090 nowadays.

Nvidia RTX 3090 specs

As eluded to above, the Nvidia RTX 3090 features 24GB GDDR6X VRAM with 10,496 CUDA cores and a 384-bit memory on the GA102 GPU. It's forged on a Samsung 8nm process with a base clock speed of 1395 MHz and a boost clock speed of up to 1695 MHz. While no longer the fastest video card on the market, its bandwidth is a still impressive 936.2 GB/s meaning 19.5 Gbps effective. Few graphics cards are as fast, and despite its age, the RTX 3090 still impresses in this respect.

As mentioned earlier, the RTX 4080 Super is the most comparable to the RTX 3090 in terms of current-generation hardware. It's built on the AD103 die with a total of 10,240 CUDA cores for a similarly powerful video card you'll be able to find cheaper new. Couple this with the fact that the RTX 3090 is unable to utilize DLSS 3 Frame Generation as well, so weigh your options accordingly.

Nvidia RTX 3090 key design

In terms of design, the RTX 3090 is one of the largest graphics cards ever made as a triple slot model with the Founders Edition measuring 13.2 x 5.5 x 2.4 inches (LxWxH) with a 350W TDP meaning you'll need a minimum of a 750W PSU to ensure things run smoothly. However, this will depend on your particular variant as some partner cards are even larger, but that's not always the case. For example, our review unit is the MSI RTX 3090 Gaming X Trio at 12.7 x 5.5 x 2.2 inches, so it's worth measuring your chassis. You may need to consider one of the best PC cases.

It's evident that despite its age the RTX 3090 hasn't missed a step when going through demanding games or running intensive synthetic software

Speaking to the MSI RTX 3090 Gaming X Trio specifically, it's an incredibly fashionable GPU despite its size and heft, coming in a little slighter than Nvidia's own model. Its three fans should ensure enhanced airflow and you'll need it for the extra overclocking potential going up to 1785 MHz to squeeze an extra few frames out of demanding software. Depending on the games played, this could make all the difference. Regardless of which option you opt for, it uses a 12-pin power adapter which can break out into 3x or 4x PCIe power connectors.

Nvidia RTX 3090 gaming performance

In the testing conducted by BGFG's Sebastian Kozlowski, it's evident that despite its age the RTX 3090 hasn't missed a step when going through demanding games or running intensive synthetic software. Starting with gaming, the original BFGPU still offers strong figures in native 4K but doesn't quite excel as some newer high-end Ada cards do, being outperformed by the RTX 4080 Super in the vast majority of cases in games like Cyberpunk 2077, Assassin's Creed Mirage, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.

Nvidia RTX 3090 synthetic performance

Where the RTX 3090 may no longer lead in the gaming space, its 24GB GDDR6X VRAM and large memory bus still make it a strong choice for productivity and creator-led tasks. This can be evidenced by the card's performance in Blender 4.0 and 3DMark with strong figures in both benchmarking software even if it doesn't quite close the gap up to the RTX 4080 wholesale.

Nvidia RTX 3090 encoding performance

Finally, we get to the RTX 3090's encoding times and while solid, they again still lag behind the RTX 4080 Super which is able to render faster and at higher average framerates in the likes of HandBrake and through Cinebench R24 when paired with one of the best CPUs for gaming. Below you'll see the full figures.

Conclusion

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 is a great graphics card in 2024 despite running on the older Ampere architecture. When paired with the right CPU, you can expect largely solid 4K gaming natively, but gamers will benefit most from the onboard tensor cores' ability to do DLSS. You won't be getting frame generation here, but it will add a few extra frames tipping over the 60fps mark. While you're unlikely to find the RTX 3090 Founders Edition nowadays, some cheaper partner cards could be worth it.

Alternatives to the RTX 3090

Ray tracing remains a factor where the RTX 3090 shines especially brightly over its predecessors like the RTX 2080 Ti, so if you're upgrading some older hardware. However, as our benchmarks show, we recommend going for the RTX 4080 Super instead as you can find it brand new and cheaper, as it's more powerful thanks to advancements with Ada architecture.

Is the RTX 3090 worth it?

While the Nvidia RTX 3090 was originally a powerhouse in the GPU space, time hasn't been entirely kind to it as high-end, and cheaper Ada graphics cards have since replaced it. If you want the best graphics card on the market you'll want to go for the RTX 4090 instead, and something of a similar power level would either be the cheaper RTX 4080 or RX 7900 XTX.

Nvidia RTX 3070 price

The Nvidia RTX 3070 debuted back in 2020 for $499 planting it firmly in the mid-range of the previous-generation Ampere lineup. For comparison sake, that's the same price tag as the current-generation RTX 4060 Ti (16GB variant), the latter of which boasts some generational improvements as well as DLSS 3 support. In terms of its main competition in this price bracket, you could go for the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT ($450) which offers 4GB more GDDR6 VRAM and a similar level of performance.

Nvidia RTX 3070 key specs

As touched upon above, the RTX 3070 is built on Ampere architecture, more specifically the GA104 die with a total of 5,888 CUDA cores and 8GB GDDR6 VRAM on a 256-bit memory bus. It's forged on Samsung's 8nm process with a base clock speed of 1,500 MHz and a boost clock of up to 1,750 Mhz for 14 Gbps effective memory. At the time these were leading specs in terms of its price-to-performance ratio, but we've seen since similarly priced GPUs from Nvidia with faster VRAM and clock speeds.

Speaking of its speed, the RTX 3070 has a peak bandwidth of 448 GB/sec which is respectable if unimpressive in 2024. There are a total of 46 second-generation ray tracing cores and 184 third-generation Tensor cores. Taken in isolation, that's a massive improvement over the Turing GPU generation with the likes of the RTX 2070, of which this video card could still be considered a serious upgrade if you're still running an older model, but more on that further down the page.

Nvidia RTX 3070 key design

In terms of design, the RTX 3070 is a dual-slot GPU with the Founders Edition model measuring 9.5 x 4.4 (LxW) which is considerably smaller than some other mid-range models. This will depend on your choice of partner card, however, as it's unlikely you'll find an Nvidia-made GPU this many years after release. What stays consistent, however, is the power usage and you won't need much; the RTX 3070 has a 220W TDP meaning you'll need at least a 550W PSU which is pretty humble all told.

It's clear that the RTX 3070 still provides a solid gaming experience in demanding software

Our review unit is the MSI 3070 GAMING X TRIO which is a triple fan graphics card that can be overclocked up to 1830 MHz (an increase of 4.5% over stock). If you're looking to squeeze a little more gaming performance out then this could be the difference between achieving 60fps and falling short. Let's get into the performance potential of the card to see how it holds up in 2024.

Nvidia RTX 3070 performance

In the testing conducted by BGFG's Sebastian Kozlowski, it's clear that the RTX 3070 still provides a solid gaming experience in demanding software such as Cyberpunk 2077, especially in 1080p and 1440p, however, 4K isn't quite possible for a playable native standard. These tests were done without DLSS, and you can see just how the latter cards compare. Synthetic performance through 3DMark is pretty close, showing that the Ampere GPU isn't too far behind its Ada counterparts.

Is the Nvidia RTX 3070 worth it?

Whether the RTX 3070 is worth it in 2024 is going to come down to how much you spend on it. Realistically you're going to be better off with the RTX 4060 Ti or RTX 4070 for a similar price point, however, regular discounts and the secondhand market could net you a bargain if you're savvy with your shopping. Just know that you won't be able to utilize Frame Generation and you'll be limited to just 8GB GDDR6 VRAM which could struggle in the coming years of upcoming games.

Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti price

The RTX 4070 Ti is available starting at $799.99 making it one of the more expensive graphics cards of the mid-range market. For context, that's more expensive than the previous market leader, the RTX 3080 which debuted at $699 which really pushes what we typically think about 70-class pricing. However, now that the RTX 4070 Ti Super is here, we've started to see regular discounts on this GPU which means it can be found cheaper, but the pricing is likely to alienate some people.

We then have to factor in that the RTX 4070 Ti was originally supposed to be the RTX 4080 12GB before being "unlaunched" by Nvidia. That somewhat justifies the high price tag to some extent, being considerably cheaper than the RTX 4080 with its $1,199 MSRP, a genuinely ludicrous feat. Below we're getting into the details about whether the GPU justifies the price, and the truth is that it's a little more complicated than it seems.

Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti key specs

Specs wise, the Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti is built on the AD104 die with a total of 7,680 CUDA cores and 12GB GDDR6X VRAM on a 192-bit memory bus. It features a bandwidth of 504.GB/sec meaning 21 Gbps effective memory clocked at 1,313 MHz. It runs fairly fast out of the box with a base clock speed of 2,310 MHz and a boost clock speed of 2,610 Mhz depending on which version you opt for.

For comparison's sake, our review unit is the ASUS TUF Gaming RTX 4070 Ti OC which can be overclocked to 2,730 Mhz with its boost clock or up to 2,760 Mhz with the OC mode. That's a total clock speed difference of 5.7% which could be the difference between a couple of frames depending on the software optimization. Taken on the whole, the GPU is solid, but when compared to the newer RTX 4070 Ti Super, the original variant can seem lacking by comparison.

While our full RTX 4070 Ti vs RTX 4070 Ti Super feature goes over all the details, the cliff notes are as follows. The latter features a bump up to 16GB GDDR6 VRAM (a 4GB increase) and is forged on the larger AD103 die, effectively putting it in a similar category to the RTX 4080 without the high price tag. If you want the highest amount of performance and the memory pool overhead without splashing out extra, you may be better with the newer of the two.

Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti key design

As there's no Founders Edition model for the RTX 4070 Ti we can only go off the design of Team Green's various partners. With this in mind, the ASUS TUF Gaming RTX 4070 Ti certainly looks the part as one of the better AIBs we've used. The manufacturer has essentially thrown an RTX 4080 cooler on top, resulting in a typically larger, thicker, and heavier model than some other alternatives, likely the result of the overclocking potential.

The design of ASUS' RTX 4070 Ti impresses with its vented exoskeleton, larger fans, and huge heatsinks. The fans spin in alternative directions which is said to aid airflow, and the fans themselves won't spin up unless the card reaches a toasty temperature of 50 degrees for added longevity when idle or in low power use. It does result in a wider card than some other versions as touched above. This one's a 3.25 slot measuring 12 x 5.4 x 2.5 inches (LxWxH) being quite the long GPU.

Regardless of which partner variant you aim for, all RTX 4070 Ti GPUs utilize a 16-pin power adapter and require somewhere in the realm of 600W to 750W power supplies given the respective TDP of the card. By default, it's 285W but different manufacturers may have varying wattages when considering the coolers and external factors such as RGB lighting, etc.

Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti gaming performance

The RTX 4070 Ti is primarily marketed as a 1440p GPU and that's what the testing conducted by BGFG's Sebastian Kozlowski indicates. This is most apparent in demanding software such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Fortnite, as while the GPU provides well above 60fps in this target resolution, it falls below this threshold in 4K. Not to say that 4K isn't possible, in older or well-optimized titles, like Doom Eternal and Assassin's Creed Valhalla it is certainly possible, but far from where this card excels.

Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti synthetic performance

Speaking to the synthetic performance, the RTX 4070 Ti strongly delivers in the likes of 3DMark's various suites of benchmarking tools including Fire Strike, Time Spy, and Port Royal. These are leading figures for a mid-range GPU, but aren't exactly competing with what the RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 can do. Considering its specs and price point, however, that's not entirely surprising. More than good enough to showcase the productivity capabilities here, though.

Conclusion

The RTX 4070 Ti is a powerful GPU further bolstered by the likes of DLSS and ray tracing and while priced higher than many AMD mid-range offerings, largely holds its own. For better value for money, you may be better served by the newer RTX 4070 Super which is cheaper, or the RTX 4070 Ti Super with the same memory pool and die size as the RTX 4080. There's no debating that the Ada Lovelace architecture excels with these cards, especially when factoring in DLSS 3's Frame Generation tech, too.

The memory bandwidth of the RTX 4070 Ti isn't exactly leading, but considering its 128-bit memory bus, it pushes the AD104 die to its limits. You can expect frame rates of around 60fps and above in 1440p and even 4K depending on the titles. However, utilizing the GPU's Tensor cores for the AI-powered boost is going to yield far better results, which is ultimately a major strength of this line of Nvidia GeForce RTX GPUs since their launch. If you're considering a mid-range card for your PC, this one could be it.

The benchmarks show solid performance across the board but the simple fact of the matter is that this GPU was replaced earlier in the year. If you can find the RTX 4070 Ti at a discount then it could be one of the better purchases, as its price point was always quite a high bar to cross. We think it does just about enough to justify the sticker price, but some partner cards are going to make that a bitter pill to swallow, so it's worth weighing up your options carefully or opting for the RX 7900 XT instead.

Alternatives to the RTX 4070 Ti

As touched upon above, the biggest alternative to the RTX 4070 Ti is the RTX 4070 Ti Super as it's priced the same with far more to offer thanks to an increased memory pool and being built upon a larger die. However, from the Red Team, you could also consider the RX 7900 XT at a similar price point instead. If 4K gaming is something you want to do then we recommend upping your budget and going for an RTX 4080 Super which starts at $999 - $200 more than this one.

Is the RTX 4070 Ti worth it?

The RTX 4070 Ti could be worth it if you can find it a discount or want a smaller mid-range GPU for your rig. However, factoring in the release of the RTX 4070 Ti Super with its larger VRAM pool and higher bandwidth, this one could be a tough sell for the MSRP. We think it does enough to be recommended but isn't quite striving for greatness.

Copy by Aleksha McLoughlin ; Testing by Sebastian Kozlowski

Nvidia RTX 4080 price

This is the biggest factor when considering the high-end Ada GPU because the RTX 4080 carries a high price tag. It's available from $1,199 for the Founders Edition model and as a starting point for Team Green's partners. In isolation, it may not sound like too big a jump but that's before factoring in the price hike from its Ampere counterpart, the RTX 3080 which debuted at $699 for a markup of 70%.

No matter how you slice it, that's a hugely inflated rate for an 80-class card and a bitter pill to swallow for those considering an upgrade in architecture. That's especially true when considering that an RTX 4090, the Ada flagship, is available for just $300 more which nets you considerably more power on top of 8GB extra GDDR6X VRAM. Then there's the fact the RTX 4080 Super is available for $999, a full $200 cheaper, which is also slightly faster, too. That's to say nothing of the gaming performance of the cheaper RX 7900 XTX from AMD, too.

While we're on the subject, our review unit is the ASUS TUF Gaming RTX 4080 which is available for $1,459 pushing ever closer to the MSRP of the RTX 4090. It's effectively outdone by its own replacement as the ASUS TUF Gaming RTX 4080 Super is available for just $1,139.99 - undercutting the MSRP of the RTX 4080 despite its premium pricing. Simply put, unless you can find this card on sale, you're better off with an alternative. For more on how the two cards compete, we recommend reading our RTX 4080 vs RTX 4080 Super feature.

Nvidia RTX 4080 key specs

With that caveat out of the way we can get into what's genuinely impressive about the RTX 4080 and that's its specs. It's built on the AD103 die, originally the only to be until the unveiling of the RTX 4070 Ti Super in January, and features a total of 9,728 CUDA cores. Couple this with 16GB GDDR6X memory and a 256-bit memory bus and you have all the makings of an incredibly powerful GPU for 4K gaming.

This extends to the memory as well. With a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/sec which works out to be 22.4 Gbps effective, the RTX 4080 is a night-and-day improvement on its predecessor and the current 70-class Ada cards, but that comes at the cost of power. That's because the GPU has a 320W TDP meaning you'll need at least a 700W PSU to run it, but we recommend a minimum of 800W to give yourself some overhead. As with other Ada cards, this one also connects with a 16-pin adapter, too.

Nvidia RTX 4080 key design

Using the Founders Edition model as a reference, Nvidia's GPU measures 12.2 x 5.5 x 2.4 inches (LxWxH) and is a triple-slot video card, however, your mileage may vary depending on which partner card you opt for. For instance, our review unit is the ASUS TUF Gaming RTX 4080 which is longer, thicker, and taller at 13.7 x 5.9 x 2.8 (LxWxH). If the Founders Edition model looks like it could be a cramped fit in your rig then we recommend considering one of the best PC cases before investing in a new GPU.

Speaking to our review unit specifically, ASUS' TUF variant features tank-like construction with its huge thick metal heatsink and triple fan setup. While the design is far from new or exciting, it gets the job done, a larger heatsink considering you're able to push the GPU a little harder than some other variants. This one features a boost clock of 2640 MHz (a 5.3% increase over the boost clock of the original variant). If you're into overclocking, the added heatsink should add good peace of mind, just know that it's technically a quad-slot graphics card.

Nvidia RTX 4080 gaming performance

In the benchmarks conducted by BGFG's Sebastian Kozlowski, we can see that the RTX 4080 generally performs favorably in 4K in top-tier gaming titles with few issues to speak of. This includes leading framerates in the likes of CS2, Doom Eternal, Assassin's Creed Mirage, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and The Finals. Barring one or two exceptions, the GPU natively delivers 4K60+ across the board with impressive ray tracing figures, too. You can check out the full benchmark graphs below for the full story.

Nvidia RTX 4090 synthetic performance

The RTX 4080 does well in our suite of industry-standard synthetic benchmarks as can be evidenced by 3DMark and Blender 4.0 with confident figures in both programs, only outdone by the likes of the pricier RTX 4090 GPU. This includes leading rendering figures in the likes of Blender's Monster, Junkshop, and Classroom scenarios. That means that creatives are sure to get a lot out of its capabilities owing to its near-10,000 CUDA cores and 16GB GDDR6X memory pool.

Nvidia RTX 4080 encoding performance

As our benchmarks in the likes of Cinebench R24 and HandBrake show, the RTX 4080 is incredibly well adept with leading encoding performance, particularly evidenced in the rendering times of the Tears of Steel 4K files in various different resolutions and file sizes. If you're a content creator then you should have no worries streaming or editing video with this GPU inside your rig.

Alternatives to the RTX 4080

As touched upon earlier in the review, your two biggest alternatives to the RTX 4080 are the RTX 4080 Super and the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX. Both are substantially cheaper, retailing from $999 and offer equal or slightly greater performance than what the original Ada class model could provide.

Conclusion

The RTX 4080 has been controversial since its launch in late 2022 and it's not hard to see why. While the GPU is an undeniable powerhouse for 4K gaming, especially when utilizing DLSS for more frames, its price point continuously alienates people, further driving a wedge in the 80 class. Yes, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 features leading Tensor cores and RT cores for AI-accelerated action eclipsing the likes of the RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX, but it also pushed the graphics card scene into a state of intangibility.

It's something that even Nvidia itself has attempted to course-correct through the likes of the RTX 4080 Super Founders Edition by bringing the price tag down, offering the same level of performance (or more) for less thanks to the same total graphics power (TGP). This GPU still uses a bespoke power connector unless you opt for a partner card with a similar size cooler and I/O. We recommend checking your motherboard and CPU's compatibility to avoid any potential bottlenecking, too.

With Frame Generation, the RTX 4080 series cards set themselves up well for the future of demanding games in 4K as native rendering takes a backseat. However, there's simply no reason to run out and get yourself this version when the Super exists for less unless you can get it at a heavy discount; that's our best advice.

Buy the GPU if / don't buy if...

Is the RTX 4080 worth it?

While the RTX 4080 is undeniably powerful for both gamers and creatives, it's simply too expensive to wholeheartedly recommend in 2024, especially with the arrival of the cheaper and slightly better RTX 4080 Super now on the scene.

Nvidia RTX 4090 price

Here's the biggest hurdle between you and unparalleled 4K gaming, because the Nvidia RTX 4090 comes in at a mammoth $1,599 for the Founders Edition model and beyond. Some partner cards can even retail as much as $2,000 depending on their design, overclocking potential, water block, dedicated cooling, etc. For example, our review unit is the ASUS ROG Strix RTX 4090 OC which comes in at $1,999.99 which is a markup of 25% for an already expensive video card.

For context, at a base price, the RTX 4090 is $100 more expensive than the RTX 3090 was when it debuted for $1,499 almost four years ago. That's an increase of 6% which seems like a drop in the ocean considering the sticker price but that's only one side of the story. That's because the RTX 4090 is a full $400 cheaper than the RTX 3090 Ti, which was released the same year, so it's a game of give and take. We'll be going through the performance capabilities further down the page so you can decide the worth.

Nvidia RTX 4090 key specs

As expected given its high price tag, the RTX 4090 is a complete market leader being the only Ada Lovelace architecture graphics card to be forged on the AD102 silicon, the largest die. It features a total of 16,384 CUDA cores with 512 TMUs, 176 ROPS, and a massive 24GB GDDR6X VRAM with a 384-bit memory bus. Its immediate rival is the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX which features the same size memory pool, albeit with the slower GDDR6 memory and with around a third of the GPU cores, albeit, CUDA cores and Stream Processors aren't completely comparable.

Arguably what's most exciting about the RTX 4090 outside of its huge amount of VRAM and CUDA core count is the 1,008 GB/sec bandwidth, just over 1TB/sec, which no other consumer-level graphics card can boost. That translates to 21 Gbps effective memory clocked at 1,313 MHz which is seriously impressive from a technical level. As is the base clock of 2,235 MHz and the boost clock of 2,520 MHz being the fastest GPU on the planet by a considerable margin.

However, all that power potential comes with a staggering power draw. The RTX 4090 has a 450W TDP meaning you'll need at least an 850W TDP at the bare minimum, and we strongly recommend considering one of the best high-end PSUs so your system will be stable. As with other Ada GPUs, this one features a 16-pin power adapter which translates to 3x PCIe 8-pin power connectors so you'll want to ensure you have the overhead. We recommend a 1000W brick which gives you overclocking headroom.

Nvidia RTX 4090 key design

At first glance, the RTX 4090 looks nearly identical to the RTX 3090 when comparing the two Founders Edition models, except for the fact that the newer of the two is thicker but shorter. As with its Ampere counterpart, it's a truly gorgeous video card as a case of if it isn't broken, don't fix it. Team Green stood by its core design with a triple slot GPU measuring 12 x 5.4 x 2.4 inches; it's thick and long, yes, but nowhere near as big as some of the partner card versions which utilize far larger heatsinks, requiring more room on your motherboard.

In terms of our review unit, however, that's where things get bigger. The ASUS ROG Strix RTX 4090 is a 3.5-slot GPU measuring in at 14 x 5.8 x 2.7 inches (LxWxH) being a full 16% or two inches longer which means the card will take up more space in your rig. If that's a little too big for your current machine we recommend considering one of the best PC cases or opting for a smaller AIB model.

Speaking of the ROG Strix version, ASUS recommends a minimum of a 1000W PSU. In this case, we would suggest getting a 1200W power brick just to give yourself that headroom. The adapter this time uses 4x PCIe power connectors for the 16-pin which is about as big as it comes, as is the GPU itself. Simply put, the Strix variant is incredibly well built and gorgeous with its color scheme but it's heavy at 5.5lbs, meaning you'll need to use the support bracket that comes with it for maximum stability.

Nvidia RTX 4090 gaming performance

Now we get to the most exciting part, how the RTX 4090 holds up with high-end 4K gaming. We're pleased to say that the second-generation BFGPU tears through anything you put in front of it natively. Our full suite of benchmarks below with the testing by BGFG's Sebastian Kozlowski confirms just how capable this GPU is in 2024, with no signs of slowing down any time soon. You'll see below how it compares to the previous Ampere flagship for comparison's sake; for more, we recommend checking out our dedicated RTX 4090 vs RTX 3090 feature.

Nvidia RTX 4090 synthetic performance

Similar can be said of the RTX 4090 in the likes of 3DMark and Blender with leading figures across the board. Not only is there a massive difference between it and the RTX 3090, but it pulls ahead in front of the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX to be the best graphics card that money can buy, too. Below you'll see the full figures and how they stack up.

Alternatives to the RTX 4090

By the strictest definition, the closest GPU when compared to the RTX 4090 is the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX. It features the same 24GB memory pool as Nvidia's GPU while knocking a full $600 off the sticker price, too. While the XTX isn't quite as good with ray tracing or 4K gaming numbers, it's comparable enough for those wanting to game in 2160p without spending over $1,000.

Conclusion

Whether you want the highest amount of frames possible or want to push ray tracing to the limits, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 impresses without compromise. While we love both the RTX 4090 Founders Edition model and partners such as the ASUS ROG Strix model, you should be happy with the upgrade for many years to come. Keep in mind that you'll need one of the best CPUs for gaming to make the most out of it, such as the Ryzen 9 7950X or Intel Core i9-14900K to avoid any potential bottlenecking.

Then we get onto the subject of power supplies as the RTX 4090 is the most power-hungry gaming GPU you can buy with its 450W TDP. You should consider at least a 1000W power brick to maintain strong average FPS performance when PC gaming, doubling so when utilizing the onboard Tensor cores for DLSS 3 Frame Generation for even higher frame rates. It's owing to TSMC's 4nm process over the previous Samsung 8nm with Ampere just how much power efficient the latest video card is.

What will define the future of the RTX 4090 will be its utilization of Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) with Frame Generation and Ray Reconstruction becoming more commonplace in today's demanding titles. It should ensure not only a longer natural life for the enthusiast-class card, owing to its large memory bandwidth, but also through how the 24GB VRAM will supported in the coming years. AI and hardware will work hand in hand, as the RT cores and Tensor cores work in tandem. It culminates in a leading experience you just won't get anywhere else.

Buy the GPU if / don't buy if...

Is the RTX 4090 worth it?

If you're someone who wants bleeding edge 4K gaming performance with enough power under the hood to get demanding creativity and productivity workloads handled then the RTX 4090 is for you. However, if you're purely interested in getting it for gaming first and foremost then you may be better served by the RTX 4080 Super or RX 7900 XTX where you can save yourself the extra $500 you simply won't need.

AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT price

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT launched with a base MSRP of $449 and up depending on your card of choice, however, it's now entirely possible to find this GPU around the $420 mark at retailers such as Newegg, Amazon, and Best Buy. Our review unit is the Sapphire Pulse RX 7700 XT which is available for the lower price of $419.99 making it an excellent value buy. That positions this graphics card in the same pricing bracket as the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti at $399 for 8GB and $499 for 16GB variants.

Taken as a whole, AMD's pricing structure of slowly but surely reducing the prices of its current Radeon RX 7000 generation is a smart move, and one you should try to take advantage of. For how Team Red and Team Green compare, we highly recommend checking out our dedicated RX 7700 XT vs RTX 4060 Ti piece which goes through all the details including performance. Considering what your money gets you, this video card offers a ton of value for money, which we'll touch upon later.

AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT key specs

In terms of tech specs, the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT delivers where it counts. It's built on the Navi 32 GPU with a total of 3,456 Stream Processors and 12GB GDDR6 video memory on a 192-bit memory bus. There are a total of 216 TMUs 96 ROPs, and 54 Ray Accelerators, too. It's clocked a little slower out of the box than some higher-end options with a base clock speed of 1,435 MHz but has a Game Clock of 2,171 MHz and a boost clock of up to 2,250 MHz for 18 Gbps effective memory; a bandwidth of 432GB/sec.

Considering the available memory pool, the RX 7700 XT is fairly conservative on power usage with a 245W TDP, meaning you'll want at least a 550W PSU to avoid any issues. Though, we'd recommend at least a 600W power brick to give yourself a little overhead if overclocking. As with other RDNA 3 cards, this one's also powered by 2x 8-pin without the need for any adapters, which is something that can't be said for Nvidia's GPUs. It's recommended that the Sapphire Pulse variant has at least 700W system power, though, so be sure to double-check your system power before investing.

AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT key design

As there's no AMD Reference card available, the design of the 7700 XT is largely going to vary by manufacturer. Speaking of our review unit, the Sapphire Pulse RX 7700 XT, it happens to be one of the nicest-looking GPUs we've seen. It features a slick black and red color scheme with dual fans, a slender heatsink, and a fully enclosed metal backplate revealing the die with a fitting heart monitor-inspired decal.

It's the more graphically demanding games such as Far Cry 6, Cyberpunk 2077, and Assassin's Creed Valhalla where this GPU gets to flex with impressive results

The Sapphire Pulse RX 7700 XT measures 11 x 5 x 2 inches making it slightly longer than some other variants. If your rig is a little cramped then we recommend considering one of the best PC cases for greater building freedom. This version also features fuse protection which should keep the card safe from any power outages as well, and the composite heatpipe should ensure temperatures are decently regulated, however, investing in some of the best case fans is never a bad idea.

AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT gaming performance

In the benchmarks conducted by BGFG's Sebastian Kozlowski, we can see that the RX 7700 XT largely delivers on AMD's goals of providing frame rates of or above 60fps when maxed out in 1440p. While Esports titles such as CS: GO and more well-optimized games like Doom Eternal are a given, it's the more graphically demanding games such as Far Cry 6, Cyberpunk 2077, and Assassin's Creed Valhalla where this GPU gets to flex with impressive results. The gallery has the full details.

4K performance is certainly possible but far from the main attraction for a GPU like the RX 7700 XT. The benchmarks show more than playable figures but they are far from confident, and this extends to the ray tracing prowess; possible but not leading. If these are desired traits for your next upgrade then our advice is to up your budget a little more and consider the likes of the RX 7800 XT or the RX 7900 XT instead, which retails around the $500 and $750 mark respectively in 2024.

AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT synthetic performance

Similar can be said of the synethic performance of this graphics card, especially evidenced with 3D Mark. While the likes of Fire Strike show the prowess with DirectX 11 in 1080p, things get a little more tepid when doubling and quadrupling the resolution further, as the benchmarks for Extreme (1440p) and Ultra (4K) show. Time Spy for DirectX 12 is also consistent with the figures, too.

Alternatives to the RX 7700 XT

If you're looking for a similarly priced video card instead of the RX 7700 XT then your top choices are either going to be the RTX 4060 Ti ($399) or the slightly pricier RX 7800 XT ($499). The former is a touch cheaper and should offer better ray tracing performance whether you go for the 8GB or 16GB model, but its native performance may not be as good across the board. In a similar vein, the RX 7800 XT costs around $50 more at MSRP and is a card built for high refresh rate 1440p gaming , so it may be worth spending that little bit more if you want a significantly smoother gaming experience.

Conclusion

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT features enough VRAM for today's games with its respectable hardware as a mid-range RDNA 3 architecture card. However, its more limited memory bandwidth than its similarly priced alternatives makes it a little less of a deal, given you can find the RX 7800 XT for just a bit extra. Through smart utilization of FSR and Fluid Motion Frames (frame generation), you should see a solid uptick in raw performance numbers in 1440p and even 4K, though.

For the best experience, you're going to want to make sure that your motherboard and processor are up to the task to avoid any potential bottlenecking, whether that means a new AMD Ryzen or Intel Core CPU; check out the best CPU for gaming for our top recommendations. Then we get to the power efficiency which is good as the total board power is far from demanding thanks to the 192-bit memory interface, the bandwidth may be trailing behind the likes of the 7900 XTX but it still offers a lot in its target resolution.

The AI accelerators on board should mean that AI-powered upscaling should work wonders for many years to come, as that will be the biggest test for the GPU as games continue to get more demanding with native performance waning. Team Red's answer to Nvidia DLSS may not quite be as good yet, but that could change in the near future with updates and optimizations. In terms of which card to get, we really like the Sapphire RX 7700 XT model, but similar such as the XFX model could be good, too.

Ultimately, the average frame rates do as delivered, 60fps or above in 1440p with some possibilities in 4K if you're smart with your settings. Ensure you have one of the best gaming monitors to make the most of its DisplayPort and HDMI 2.1 capabilities for higher frame rates to push the onboard 12 GB VRAM. Will that be enough for the next few years? It's hard to gauge; just four years ago 8 GB seemed fine but now is pushing it, hopefully, the extra 4 GB can be well-utilized going forward.

Buy the GPU if / don't buy the GPU if...

Is the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT worth it?

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT is a solid graphics card overall with its respectable memory pool, strong gaming performance, and a competitive price point, but it's unlikely to blow you away. If you buy one in 2024, you should be covered for a couple of years, but you may find yourself wanting to upgrade sooner rather than later if you're targeting the likes of 4K gaming.

Copy by Aleksha McLoughlin ; Testing by Sebastian Kozlowski

Intel Arc A770 Price

The Intel Arc A770 originally launched with an MSRP of $329 which positions it as one of the cheapest graphics cards on the market today. With that said, you can pick it up cheaper in several different configurations, further adding to its aggressive pricing given its specs, which we'll touch upon further down the page. Our review unit is the Acer Predator BiFrost Intel Arc A770 OC model which is among the most expensive of the lineup at $379 with RGB lighting and some enhancements.

However, you can find the GPU as cheap as $280 for versions such as the ASRock Challenger Arc A770 and mid-range offerings like the Sparkle Intel Arc A770 Titan OC for $310. That effectively puts Intel's flagship video card in league with the likes of the RX 7600 XT and the RTX 4060, firmly in the mainstream camp as far as the power spectrum goes. Far from a powerhouse, but it's great to see a GPU manufacturer catering to the cash-strapped PC gamers who don't want bleeding-edge performance.

Intel Arc A770 key specs

The Intel Arc A770 is built upon the GD2-512 die with a total of 4,096 GPU cores, 256 TMus, 128 ROPs, and 16GB GDDR6 VRAM on a 256-bit memory bus. As a graphics card primarily geared at 1080p and 1440p, these specs should be more than enough to push today's games in these two target resolutions, whether natively or through utilizing the company's Xe cores for XeSS AI upscaling. There are also a total of 32 RT cores, so while it won't be a ray tracing powerhouse, it's certainly possible.

What's impressive out of the box is the base clock speed of 2,100 MHz which is faster than many entry-level GPUs on the market, further bolstered by a leading boost clock of 2,400 MHz. There is 16 Gbps effective memory with a bandwidth of 512 GB/sec, substantially higher than the mainstream options from AMD and Nvidia, owing in part to a larger memory bus. This extends to the power consumption which is fairly minimal at 225W TDP; not bad.

Intel Arc A770 key design

As expected given its fairly humble hardware, the Intel Arc A770 keeps things as compact and concise as it can. It's a dual-slot GPU requiring a 6-pin and 8-pin PCIe power connector with a single HDMI 2.1 port and 3x DisplayPort 2.0 ports. Our review unit, the Acer Predator BiFrost Intel Arc A770 OC features an unconventional dual fan setup, one of which has RGB which is rarely seen on a lower-end partner card, and to do so, this variant requires a total of 2x 8-pin power connectors which is a little odd.

The Intel Arc A770 performs well enough but is outdone by both the RX 7600 XT and the RTX 4060 Ti in Cyberpunk 2077 in 1080p

Whether the extra flashiness is worth the $50 premium or not remains up to you, but for our money, this is a fine-looking video card that stands out above its competitors. It's just a shame that so few of Intel's partners actually developed variants for this GPU, meaning your options are still quite limited in 2024. Then we get to the fact that you'll need to enable ReBar (Resizable BAR) for the best performance out of the video card, which means having a 10th Gen Intel Core CPU or a 3rd Gen Ryzen CPU. If you're running an older chip, you may need to look for an alternative from AMD or Nvidia instead.

Intel Arc A770 performance

With all said, the Intel Arc A770 performs well enough but is outdone by both the RX 7600 XT and the RTX 4060 Ti in Cyberpunk 2077 in 1080p by a considerable margin. The gap is closed somewhat with more than playable figures in 1440p with CD Projekt Red's RPG shooter falling just behind the 60fps mark on all counts. As for 4K, this card just can't do it to a playable standard which shouldn't be all too shocking given the hardware.

Ray tracing is also a little disappointing. The Arc A770 achieves about 30fps with the game maxed out in 1080p which while far from poor, is just about playable. While Intel's GPU outdoes the RX 7600 XT in this respect, it still lags behind Nvidia's mainstream offering, not quite singing either. This could change when enabling XeSS, but we stuck to native rasterization for the testing conducted by BGFG's Sebastian Kozlowski.

Similar can be said for 3DMark where the A770 holds its own against the RX 7600 XT but gets trounced by the RTX 4060 Ti, even though the latter has half the available memory pool. It's not a bad showing at all but goes to show the differences in architecture between the three GPU generations and their effectiveness, as the results below show.

Conclusion

Since its launch, the Intel Arc A770 has been something of an outlier in the GPU market. While it's hard to stomach at its MSRP, factoring the price drop in, it becomes a far more viable video card. It's equipped and ready for DirectX 12 and ray tracing armed with DLSS-style XeSS AI upscaling for higher frames in games. The simple fact of the matter is Intel's Arc GPUs and Intel's XeSS as a whole are less proven than what AMD and Nvidia offer in 2024, making this value play a bit more of a gamble.

There is a lot that's worth praising, such as the low power draw and the frame rates taken as a whole when compared to the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti. There are ray-tracing units and a solid memory bandwidth with the 16GB GDDR6 memory pool. Arc Alchemist feels like a testing ground for Arc cards, and likely we'll only see sweeping improvements should Battlemage deliver across the board. Instead of being a direct rival in the mid-range, it instead goes cheaper but offers less.

Provided your CPU and motherboard are fairly recent, you shouldn't have much in the way to worry about with compatibility, only really through drivers that are hit-and-miss. In 2024, more games are supporting Intel's GPUs and XeSS as developers become more familiar with the Xe-HPG architecture and the Xe Vector engines for performance gains and performance uplift. Arc has come a long way since it was first unveiled, but there's still a fair distance to go before it achieves greatness.

Is the Intel Arc A770 worth it?

Overall, the Intel Arc A770 is a strong performer given its price point but it doesn't quite excel as well as the similarly priced RTX 4060 Ti does, despite largely having a lead over AMD's more recent RX 7600 XT. If you have a CPU that you're able to enable Resizable BAR on and want a good amount of VRAM for an all-star price then it ticks the right boxes, even if it's unlikely to blow you away to the same extent as some slightly pricier offerings.

AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT price

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT originally launched at $899 in the US being a full $100 cheaper than the company's flagship AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX at $999. For reference, that's in line with the pricing of certain RTX 4070 Ti Super partner cards, placed somewhere between Nvidia's 70-class and 80-class; filling a middle ground. That's only one side of the story, however, as the high-end RDNA 3 GPU is now available discounted as low as $700 through retailers such as Amazon, Newegg, and Best Buy.

That all depends on whether you strive for the Reference model or through an AIB unit, though. Factoring the price drop into the equation the RX 7900 XT effectively becomes in line with the RTX 4070 Ti / Super variant in 2024, making it a far stronger value play than it was at launch well over a year ago. It's certainly more palatable and further adds to the strength of Team Red in terms of value play, with its second most powerful video card undercutting the RTX 4080 Super and now in line with its mid-range.

AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT key specs

In terms of specs, the Radeon RX 7900 XT comes out of the gate swinging confidently. It's rocking a total of 5,376 Stream Processors and a 20GB GDDR6 memory pool built on a 320-bit memory bus. It's the second RDNA 3 architecture GPU to be built on the Navi 31 die and benefits from 20 Gbps effective memory, with a base clock speed of 1,378 and a boost clock speed up to 2,394 MHz.

What's more, the RX 7900 XT utilizes 336 TMUs, 192 ROPs, and 84 Compute Units alongside its 84 RT cores, the latter of which make FSR (AI upscaling) and real-time ray tracing a possibility. AMD was smart to ensure you only needed to utilize 2x PCIe 8-pin power connectors without the need for a 16-pin adapter, as Nvidia's RTX 40 series has. That means it's about as plug-and-play as you can get, simply swap your old GPU out with the cables you've got out.

AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT key design

Where I can praise the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT the most is with its physical design; for a dual-slot card, it's incredibly powerful and proves that being bigger isn't always better. Our AMD-made Reference model measures 10.9 x 4.3 x 2 inches (LxWxH) and while not the smallest GPU available, it is dwarfed by the likes of the RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 by comparison.

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT largely excels across the board in 1440p and 4K

Then we get on to how the card actually looks and it's easily one of the most well-built video cards I have ever seen, with its sleek construction, triple-fan cooling setup, and thick black metal heatsink. Team Red has always had a good eye for designing its cards but the RX 7000 series takes things to another level. Keep in mind that if you're eyeing a partner card, the physical size and power requirements may change, so be sure to double-check the specifications.

AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT gaming performance

In the testing conducted by BGFG's Sebastian Kozlowski, the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT largely excels across the board in 1440p and 4K, achieving 60fps or higher natively in the majority of tests run. While it's not quite in 2160p as its larger sibling, the RX 7900 XTX, there's no faulting the performance on offer here. For the full differences between the two top-end cards, check out RX 7900 XT vs RX 7900 XTX. Cliff notes are as follows: the 7900 XT delivers.

AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT synthetic performance

The synthetic benchmarks with the RX 7900 XT are equally promising with leading figures in 3DMark's various programs such as Fire Strike and Time Spy. Where it starts to lag behind the likes of Nvidia's top-end GPUs, however, is with the ray tracing performance, as the second-gen RT cores just aren't as well-versed as Team Green's offerings.

Conclusion

The RX 7900 XT is a high-end GPU now well below its original MSRP that's more than just a viable alternative to the Nvidia GeForce RTX 40 series. It can rival the best graphics cards and will be best paired with a top-end Ryzen or Intel Core CPU and compatible AM5 motherboard. Whether you are planning on hooking up via HDMI port or DisplayPort ensure you've got one of the best gaming monitors for the best visual fidelity.

It showcases exactly what the new graphics die, the Navi 31 GPU, can do as AMD's new RDNA 3 architecture excels across the board versus its predecessor. That's due in part to the 320-bit memory interface allowing for such a large memory bandwidth, meaning more data for high average frame rates. Our verdict is that it stands as not only one of the best XT cards on the market but one of the best AMD graphics cards ever made.

Is the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT worth it?

Simply put - yes. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT was always a powerful graphics card from day one, but now it's made all the more aggressive by far cheaper pricing. If you're in the market for a futureproofed GPU for tomorrow's games then this one delivers with its 20GB GDDR6 VRAM in 1440p and 4K with ease. It's better value than the RX 6950 XT for your PC, too, meaning now's the right time to upgrade to the current generation.

Copy by Aleksha McLoughlin; Testing by Sebastian Kozolowski

Nvidia RTX 4060 price

The Nvidia RTX 4060 is available from $299 depending on the version that you get, making it the cheapest of the Ada lineup by a considerable margin. For context, that's a comparable price to the previous mainstream Ampere offering, the RTX 3050 which debuted at $249 and up. In terms of this new video card, it's a full $100 cheaper than the RTX 4060 Ti which starts at $399 for the 8GB variant and $499 for the 16GB version. Check out our full RTX 4060 vs RTX 4060 Ti feature for how the two compare.

The pricing may vary depending on the partner card. Our review unit is the ASUS ROG Strix RTX 4060 OC Edition which is available for $389.99, an increase of $90 (that's 30%) which positions this partner card within $10 less than the RTX 4060 Ti starting price. Whether it's worth that extra fee or not will ultimately depend on how important overclocking and RGB lighting is to you, but more on that further down the page.

Nvidia RTX 4060 key specs

As its price may indicate, the RTX 4060 is the weakest of the current-generation Ada graphics card lineup. It's the only GPU built on the AD107 die and features 8GB GDDR6 VRAM on a 128-bit memory bus. There's a total of 3,072 CUDA cores with 96 TMUs and 48 ROPs. It has a base clock speed of 1,830 MHz and a boost clock of up to 2,460 MHz with 17 Gbps effective memory for a bandwidth of 272 GB/sec.

Considering the humble hardware here, the Nvidia RTX 4060 is far from power-hungry with a tame 115W TDP and a recommended PSU of just 300W. That positions this video card as an ideal choice for a small form factor build or a budget machine. In terms of how AMD competes, you can read all about it in our dedicated RX 7600 XT review, and then our RTX 4060 vs RX 7600 XT feature next. The cliff notes: a 1080p performer under $300.

Nvidia RTX 4060 key design

Things are relatively no-frills in terms of the RTX 4060's design. It's a dual-slot GPU that measures 9.4 x 4.4 x 1.6 inches (LxWxH) and it uses a 12-pin power connector as standard. However, our review unit, the ASUS ROG Strix RTX 4060 OC Edition features a standard 8-pin connector which is a major plus; as you may expect, it's larger than many of its competitors, though. This variant comes in at a weighty 12.26 x 5.26 x 2.44 inches (LxWxH) being much longer, wider, and taller as a result.

the RTX 4060 largely archives its goal of providing 1080p frame rates of 60fps and above

Simply put, a triple-slot RTX 4060 may not be ideal for everyone, and the power requirements are also heightened up to 550W too. It would be amiss of us to take away from just how good this card looks and its excellent build quality, though. Not only is this a triple-fan setup with RGB lighting, but there's also a much thicker metal heatsink for enhanced cooling capabilities, too. You may need it as well because this card can be overclocked to 2,700 MHz (a jump up of 9.7% from stock).

Nvidia RTX 4060 gaming performance

In the testing conducted by BGFG's Sebastian Kozlowski, the RTX 4060 largely archives its goal of providing 1080p frame rates of 60fps and above. The graphics card had no problem pushing demanding games such as Cyberpunk 2077, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Far Cry 6, Rainbow Six Siege, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider without breaking a sweat in ultra settings. There's even decent performance in 1440p, but your mileage is going to vary. Check out the full results below.

We didn't utilize ray tracing or DLSS due to wanting to give the card its best shot at native performance and the results are ultimately good, especially in the likes of Cyberpunk 2077 and Assassin's Creed Valhalla which are still demanding games even in 2024. Esports titles should have no issue being maxed out in both resolutions, just don't expect huge framerates with ray tracing enabled.

Nvidia RTX 4060 synthetic performance

The synthetic performance of the RTX 4060 is surprisingly strong considering the humble hardware inside. In our industry-standard tests through 3DMark, the mainstream GPU did surprisingly well in the likes of Fire Strike (Direct X11) and Time Spy (Direct X12), but the struggle was real when outputting in 1440p and 4K as can be evidenced in Extreme and Ultra variants.

Conclusion

Gamers wanting upgrades from the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and up should see this video card as a solid option thanks to the utilization of Frame Generation which is locked behind Ada Lovelace architecture. At this price bracket, your only real options are either AMD's Radeon RX 7600 or the Intel Arc A750. The benchmarks show that Team Green has enough under the hood to pull ahead, especially if you're moving on up from older GTX models that lack RT cores and Tensor cores altogether.

Factoring in the sub-$300 MSRP, the memory bandwidth available, and the video RAM taken as a whole there's a lot to like here even if it won't necessarily impress. The lack of a Founders Edition you'll be relying on partners such as ASUS ROG, MSI Ventus, Gigabyte, etc. where rates will vary. As will the size, cooler, and power usage. It's among the best graphics cards under $300 with average frame rates above 60fps in Full HD.

Is the Nvidia RTX 4060 worth it?

While the RTX 4060 is far from a dream graphics card for those wanting the pinnacle of hardware performance, there's absolutely no faulting what it can do in 1080p and even 1440p. While it's most at home in Full HD pushing games to max settings, those wanting QHD aren't going to entirely miss out either. It's clear that Nvidia DLSS 3 Frame Generation would further benefit here, too.

Copy by Aleksha McLoughlin; Testing by Sebastian Kozlowski

AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX price

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the flagship GPU of Team Red's current lineup and it doesn't come too cheap. The RX 7900 XTX is available from $999 depending on whether you buy the AMD-made Reference model or a similarly priced partner variant. Our review unit is the ASUS TUF Gaming RTX 7900 XTX OC which comes in a little pricier at $1,099 - a $100 difference - but that's far from the only way our unit differs from the standard.

This positions the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT in league with the RTX 4080 Super which debuted earlier this year also with a starting rate of $999. Previously, Team Red had undercut both of Nvidia's high-end models, the RTX 4090 ($1,599) and RTX 4080 ($1,199) but the gap has been narrowed now. Considering the capabilities of this card, it's arguably still more of a value play, and we'll get on to the specifics further down the page.

AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX key specs

Regardless of which version you opt for, the fundamentals are the same. That's because the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX features 24GB GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit memory bus with a bandwidth of 960 GB/sec. It features a fairly high base clock of 1,929 MHz with a Game Clock of 2,365 MHz. Depending on your variant, you may have overclocking functionality; at a baseline, AMD's GPU can do up to 2,498 MHz boost clock. In comparison, our ASUS TUF review unit can do up to 2,615 MHz in OC mode (4.8% more).

For reference, that's the same memory pool available as with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090, however, it's the slower GDDR6 memory in Team Red's case here. This is likely a cost-saving measure to keep pricing competitive against Team Green but it does mean a slower card as a result. We recommend checking out the RTX 4090 vs RTX 7900 XTX for the full perspective. Taken as a whole, the XTX features 6,144 Stream Processors with 284 Texture Mapping Units and 192 Render Output Units; still very high-end in 2024.

This shows the advancements made with RDNA 3 architecture over its predecessor thanks to TSMC's 5nm process over its predecessor generation's larger 7nm process, such as with the RX 6900 XT and RX 6950 XT. As far as leading graphics cards go, AMD has ticked all the right boxes in terms of hardware by building on the Navi 31 die, arming a card that's ready for 4K and beyond when utilizing the likes of FSR for higher frames in games, but we'll touch on that further down the page.

AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX key design

Team Red won favor initially with the reveal of the RX 7900 XTX's design and it's not hard to see why. At a time when its rival was getting larger and more hungry, it decided to take a different approach by releasing a high-end GPU that was a dual-slot design measuring in at just 11.3 x 4.3 x 2 inches (LxWxH). Arguably more impressive given the hardware packed in here is the fact that it just needs 2x 8-pin PCIe power connectors with no need for the likes of a 16-pin adapter as with Nvidia's offerings.

If you're buying the Reference model then you'll be very happy with the installation process as it's as plug-and-play as you can get. Further bolstered by a relatively reasonable 355 TDP. You'll need at least a 750W PSU but considering the memory pool here, it could have been far worse. Things, however, get tricker when applying the same logic to our review unit, the ASUS TUF Gaming RX 7900 XTX OC model, as it's a far bit chunkier, devaluing the original promise to some extent.

That's because the ASUS TUF Gaming RX 7900 XTX measures in at a far larger 13.9 x 6.23 x 2.86 inches being significantly longer, thicker, and taller, owing to its considerably larger heatsink. It's not just space you'll have to worry about either. ASUS recommends a minimum 850W PSU here as you'll need a total of 3x 8-pin PCIe power connectors. It's also nearing a quad-slot GPU, double the thickness. If you're after a smaller and less power-hungry version of the card, we recommend the former or a non-OC model.

With that said, there's no taking away from how gorgeous ASUS' partner card is. Yes, it's a larger version by quite a margin, but features a level of cooling that few other partners can attest to with its triple fan setup, massive heatsink, and tank-like construction. If you want a card that will last you for many years then this one is about as bulletproof as they come, just ensure you've got one of the best PC cases available as no one likes building in cramped spaces.

AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX gaming performance

In the testing conducted by BGFG's Sebastian Kozlowski, the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX did soar across the board in 4K, its target resolution. As you can see below, the card had absolutely no problems in providing framerates well above 4K60 native and beyond in some of the industry's most demanding games in the majority of cases. Naturally, the 1440p performance is a given, too, so whether you want high frame rates in QHD or no compromises 2160p, you should be well catered to here.

Barring one exception, the GPU absolutely delivers on maxed-out 4K and this is before factoring in the likes of FSR 3's Fluid Motion Frames (frame generation) technology. As more games support this tech going forward, the video card will be further bolstered by the help of AI to boost the frames in the latest software. Given its bandwidth and available memory pool, this is going to play a pivotal role in ensuring its future for many years to come.

AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX synthetic benchmarks

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is no slouch when it comes to our suite of industry-standard synthetic benchmarks either. This can be best evidenced through 3DMark with the GPU providing confident figures in the likes of Fire Strike Ultra, Time Spy Extreme, and Port Royal, all of which lean on the card's 4K capabilities with native rendering, and the latter for ray tracing. It doesn't quite measure up to what the RTX 4090 can do, but you'll see no complaints given its more aggressive pricing.

Conclusion

For the best overall experience, you're going to want to pair the XTX with a strong-performing Ryzen or Intel CPU and have a motherboard that's ready to take on all it can do. In our testing, we chose to focus on the native performance instead of the FSR-bolstered (AMD's answer to DLSS) numbers and askew the ray-tracing performance on this occasion. That's because we wanted to paint the most accurate portrayal of what this GPU can do outside of the box without relying on its AI accelerators or ray accelerators.

Whether you're planning on plugging in with HDMI or DisplayPort, make sure you've got one of the best gaming monitors to soak in what the 4K targeting video card can do with its enhanced memory bandwidth. A strong SSD will also aid gaming performance, and you'll want to ensure your power supply meets the criteria for the GPU, especially if it features a larger cooler. As for how upscaling will play a part in its future, simply put, as games get more demanding, native rendering may take a backseat.

Is the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX worth it?

The RX 7900 XTX is an excellent high-end graphics card in 2024 and excels across the board in not only 1440p but also 4K with confident performance in the latest games. If you want true 4K gaming with the added VRAM when compared to the likes of the similarly priced RTX 4080 Super then this GPU delivers on all fronts. With that said, its pricing and size will vary depending on the partner card, so be careful when selecting the component for your next rig.

Copy by Aleksha McLoughlin ; Testing by Sebastian Kozlowski

Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti price

The Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti is available in two configurations which have two respective price points. The mainstream Ada GPU starts at $399 for the 8GB variant and $499 for the 16GB version which doubles the VRAM. This is consistent with the MSRP of the previous generation graphics card, the RTX 3060 Ti, so Nvidia can be commended for not hiking the prices up with the bump up in architecture.

However, this is just a starting point for the Founders Edition model, if you're eyeing up a partner card you may be paying more as a result. For example, One of our review units is the ASUS TUF Gaming RTX 4060 Ti OC which is available for $439.99, so $40 more than MSRP with the ability to overclock which we'll touch on later. Similar can be said of the Zotac Gaming RTX 4060 Ti Twin Edge OC Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse version for $437.99. The latter of which we'll focus on in this review.

Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti key specs

In terms of its specs, the RTX 4060 Ti is built on the AD106 graphics processor and features a total of 4,352 CUDA cores with 8GB GDDR6 memory capacity on a 128-bit memory bus width. There's a total of 136 texture mapping units and 48 ROPs. It has a bandwidth of 288GB/sec with a base clock speed of 2,310 MHz and a boost clock speed of 2,535 MHz. There is 18 Gbps effective memory, and it's all powered by either a 16-pin power connector or a standard 8-pin as with our Zotac review unit.

What may also change depending on your version of the card is its physical size. Nvidia's Founders Edition model measures 9.6 x 3.9 inches (LxW) with a weight of 2.25 lbs. It's a dual-slot card so shouldn't take up much room inside even cramped PC cases. In contrast, the Zotac Gaming RTX 4060 Ti Twin Edge OC variant is a little more compact at just 8.9 x 4.9 (LxW) being slightly shorter but a little wider with a 2.2 slot size.

Power requirements are also pretty conservative as you can tell from the requirements of a single 8-pin connector. Nvidia recommends a minimum total system power of at least 550W, so you won't necessarily need the best PSU for gaming here. We recommend at least a 600W brick just to give yourself overhead for the future, especially if you're planning on keeping the card overclocked at a baseline.

Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti key design

The design of the RTX 4060 Ti will largely vary by manufacturer, and going off our Zotac Gaming RTX 4060 Ti Twin Edge OC unit, it's clear to see the focus has been on power efficiency. The card itself is a dual-fan setup that includes a reinforced metal backplate protecting the PCB and connects with the standard PCIe 16x port. There's a total of three DisplayPort 1.4 and a single HDMI 2.1 port so you should be all good connecting to some of the best gaming monitors.

It's a remarkably well-built graphics card with a thick heatsink, sleek rounded edges, and a premium feel, and that's good considering that you're able to overclock the card passed what the original model can do. The RTX 4060 Ti Founders Edition version is capable of a 2,535 MHz boost clock, but the Zotac model furthers this to 2,550 MHz for a slight edge, albeit one that may mean an extra frame here or there.

Speaking to the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse branding, this is likely to be a key selling point. Your extra $40 over the FE model gets you a magnetic backplate featuring Miles Morales, Miguel O'Hara, and Gwen Stacy. There are also emblem badges that can go over the logos for a splash of color, as well as decals for your PC case and even a themed tote bag. If you're a fan of the movies and want unique-looking gear in your machine.

Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti gaming benchmarks

As far as the gaming performance goes, the Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti excels across the board in 1080p and 1440p with some impressive figures, especially for the sub-$400 price point. As you can see below from the testing conducted by BGFG's Sebastian Kozlowski, the graphics card had absolutely no problems chewing through some demanding software with minimal roadblocks. For the highest frame rates you're going to want to stick with Full HD, but Quad HD is no slouch either.

Keep in mind that this isn't the card you'll want if 4K is something you're aspiring to do. Instead, we recommend the RTX 4070 Super as it has a lot more under the hood. We benched many games in 2160p to test the absolute limits of the RTX 4060 Ti, but it's not where this GPU excels. The framerates are largely playable, 30fps or above in most cases, but it's consistent.

We've opted to show you native gaming performance instead of DLSS-powered upscaled so you can get a feel for its actual power. While the Tensor cores can produce vastly improved framerates through Frame Generation, it's not the most accurate depiction, as some games still don't support this tech as standard. For this reason, we haven't tested ray tracing as while the third generation RT cores and no doubt impressive, they seriously hinder native performance.

Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti synthetic benchmarks

Synthetic scores are strong for the Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti, however, it does start to slow the limits of what 8GB VRAM capacity can do when compared to a high capacity such as the 16GB version. If you're looking at getting a video card for productivity, you may want the version for $100 more that has double the memory pool. Here's how our 8GB review unit did in industry-standard tests.

Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti encoding benchmarks

Encoding times are pretty impressive with the RTX 4060 Ti, which can be evidenced in HandBrake's Tears of Steel 4K render and Cinebench r24. Rates are quick in various resolutions as you can see below:

Conclusion

In terms of how it competes with AMD, we recommend checking out our dedicated RTX 4060 Ti vs AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT feature, which deep dives into the performance. However, there's little debate about the upgrades ushered in by Ada Lovelace architecture even with a smaller memory bandwidth than what we typically see from the best graphics cards. This is partially due to the smaller 192-bit memory bus when compared to the 256-bit of RDNA 3 architecture.

For the best experience, you're going to want to pair this GPU with one of the best CPUs for gaming that has a high amount of L3 cache and good multiprocessors for single-core and multi-core tasks. This can mean an AMD Ryzen chip or one of the latest Intel processors on the LGA 1700 socket, and you should check your mobo's compatibility with this GPU to ensure you won't need an upgrade.

Is the RTX 4060 Ti worth it?

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti is an excellent graphics card for 1080p and 1440p with some good entry-level performance in 4K if you can smartly utilize DLSS 3 Frame Generation. Considering the value for money at the sub-$300 price tag, even with 8GB VRAM, you should be very happy with what this video card can do with the latest and most demanding PC games.

Copy by Aleksha McLoughlin ; Testing by Sebastian Kozlowski

AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT price

The AMD RX 7600 XT was announced and released in January 2024 with starting MSRP of $329.99 / £319.99 from Team Red's partners. Keep in mind that there's no Reference Card (AMD-made) version, so you're at the behest of the AIBs. For context, that's a touch more expensive than the base RX 7600 which was released well over a year ago that debuted from $269.99 / £249.99 - an increase of 22%. The company's latest is still very much a budget card, but it's arguably less attractive pushing passed the $300 / £300 mark. There's a lot of promise from RDNA 3 architecture at this rate.

Our specific review unit is the Gigabyte Radeon RX 7600 XT OC which retails for $329.99 / £332.99, matching the MSRP in the US and being a little over the RRP in the UK. It's a solid buy if you want a fully featured model for your money without splashing out extra, but more on its design, features and performance further down the page. Regardless of variant, the RX 7600 XT's biggest rival is the Nvidia RTX 4060 which sells for $299 / £289, so you're paying a fair bit more for the new mainstream offering here.

AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT key specs

The main selling point of the AMD RX 7600 XT is the bump up in VRAM, which doubles the original model's 8GB GDDR6 all the way to 16GB GDDR6 instead. In theory this should provide a significant amount of overhead to crank games up in 1080p and 1440p. It's built on the Navi 33 GPU with a total of 2,048 Stream Processors, 64 ROPs, and 128 texture mapping units (TMUs) on a 128-bit memory bus. Little has changed over the base model apart from the memory pool increase, that is, until you look closer.

As with other hardware refreshes, AMD's Radeon RX 7600 XT is significantly faster out of the box than its predecessor. It features a base clock of 1,980 MHz and a boost clock of up to 2,755 MHz with a bandwidth of 288 GB/s. That's a subtle improvement over the original's 1,720 MHz base and 2,655 MHz boost clock - an increase of 15% and 3% respectively. You won't be pushing this card much further than the first version, but it can do a little more without needing to be put under undue stress.

What's good about the RX 7600 XT is it keeps things nice and conventional. That means the return your standard 8-pin PCIe connector without the need of a fancy adapter and a dual-slot width. It's also fairly low power with a 165W TDP, meaning any PSU above 450W should be able tor un this card no problem. Depending on the partner card you buy, you'll either be using one or two, but more on that further down the page.

AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT key design

As there's no Reference Model available, we can only go off the partner card we have in for review when we talk about design, and fortunately, the results are solid this time around. We have the Gigabyte RX 7600 XT Gaming OC model which features a triple fan setup for enhanced cooling over a dual-fan or single fan option. This does mean that it's significantly longer and wider than some other variants, though. It measures in at at 11 x 4.5 x 2 inches (LxWxH) and requires 2x 8-pin PCIe connectors and a recommended 650W PSU.

That extra power usage and enlarged heatsink cooler are due to the overclocking potential, meaning you'll be able to squeeze a couple extra frames out of the latest games releasing. Namely, this is a faster boost clock of 2,810 MHz and a Game Clock of 2,539 MHz which is an increase of 1.9% and 2.7% respectively. It may not sound like much, but depending on the optimization of the software, that could be the difference between 60fps and less than ideal framerates. The clock speeds are fairly good here.

What's more, there's also RGB Fusion lighting on the card as well as the "Windforce" cooling system which means those three fans spin in alternative directions to aid enhanced airflow. There's also a metal backplate which should keep the GPU safely secure in your rig. The "3D active fans" provide semi-passive cooling which means even when not engaged, the card should still be chilled out when idle or under low loads, too. You'll naturally find both HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 2.1 here as well.

AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT gaming performance

AMD claims impressive figures for the RX 7600 XT of being able to max out games in 1080p and 1440p and the testing conducted by BGFG's Sebastian Kozlowski shows the quoted potential largely hold up. In Assassin's Creed Mirage, the GPU was able to achieve an average of 91fps in 1080p and 67fps in 1440p. The same cannot be said for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, however, which couldn't quite produce 1080p60 with averages of just 45fps in 1080p and only 30fps average in 1440p; far from ideal.

This is echoed by Cyberpunk 2077, albeit not quite to the same extent. CD Projekt Red's RPG manages an average of 86fps in 1080p but just 53fps in 1440p. Factoring in ray tracing, though, and the framerates begin to chug. You're looking at unplayable averages of 24fps in 1080p and 14fps in 1440p in Ultra settings without FSR (AMD's answer to DLSS) enabled. Not exactly ideal. Turn your attention to more well-optimized games, though, and the GPU redeems itself well.

The RX 7600 XT has no problem ripping straight through Doom Eternal with averages of 221fps in 1080p and 158fps in 1440p. This confident lead extends to games such as The Finals as well as the mainstream graphics card averages 141fps in 1080p and 87fps in 1440p at "Epic" settings. It doesn't take too big a bump either with 135fps average in 1080p and 1440p with RT on. It's a bit of a mixed bag, but if you're smart with your settings and enable FSR (our benchmarks are native) then you shouldn't have many problems.

AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT synthetic benchmarks

The RX 7600 XT handles synthetic benchmark testing well but won't exactly surprise you. The card performs well enough in 3D Mark through Fire Strike Ultra, Time Spy Extreme, and Port Royal but seriously lags behind the RTX 4060 Ti which features half the VRAM. Its scores are 7,465, 5,371, and 5,920 points in the respective software, which are figures dwarfed by its rival's achievements of 14,518, 11,887, and 15,552 points respectively.

Unfortunately, this also extends to the likes of Blender 4.0, too. The RX 7600 XT pales behind the competition in Monster, Junkshop, and Classroom with just 606.6, 324, and 312.6 samples compared to the RTX 4060 Ti's respective scores of 3,707.8, 1,785.2, and 1,883.6 points. There's not even really a fair comparison here, which is shocking considering the former has a total of 16GB VRAM which just isn't getting used in any meaningful fashion.

AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT encoding benchmarks

Encoding performance is fine but far from exceptional. The RX 7600 XT achieved a GPU performance benchmark score of 5,959 in Cinebench r24. For comparison sake, the RTX 4060 Ti boosts a far mightier figure of 25,211 which is over four times the performance, or an increase of 323%. If you're really hard up and want the catch-all card, you may be better served by opting for Team Green's mainstream model if you're a creative.

Is the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT worth it?

The AMD RX 7600 XT holds its own in 1080p and can provide more-than-playable framerates in 1440p but not flawlessly. While the bump up to 16GB of GDDR6 memory is commendable for giving you overhead, it's not really been put to any good use for gaming, nor encoding or synthetic benchmarks. For the money, it's a respectable card but you may be better served by either upping your budget with Team Red's latter offerings or going for an RTX 4060 or RTX 4060 Ti instead.

It's worth pointing out that this card could live its best live when pushed with FSR 3 Frame Generation able to really push frame rates and flex its memory size with the help of AI accelerators. Considering its price point, it's an affordable graphics card with a low total board power that should still perform superior to Intel Arc alternatives. The ray accelerators inside won't be able to keep up with Nvidia, but RT is still solid. It's not a sweeping upgrade from the original, but enough for those on a budget.

Copy by Aleksha McLoughlin ; Testing by Sebastian Kozlowski

Team green starts off the year strongly with a range of mid-range and a high-end GPU to broaden Ada's expanse. If you missed out on the original RTX 4080 due to the high price tag before then the new RTX 4080 Super could be just the thing to win you over. This RTX 4080 Super review will be going over the pricing, availability, design, features, specs, and performance below so you have all the information you need to make an informed purchasing decision.

Nvidia RTX 4080 Super price

The big USP of the new card comes down to what it's selling for, that's because the Nvidia RTX 4080 Super retails from $999 / £959. It's now the same price as the AMD RX 7900 XTX. The latest GPU significantly undercuts the MSRP of the base model as the original RTX 4080 came out of the gate at $1,199 / £1,139 which we always thought was far too high for 80-class. Now, the reduction of $200 / £180 takes the graphics card down to far more aggressive territory, arguably the price it should have been from the start.

It's no secret that the pricing of the original RTX 4080 was a bit of a red flag for consumers, and you can't really blame people. The first 80-class Ada card came in a full 71% more than its predecessor, the RTX 3080, which hit the shelves at $699 / £649 over three years ago. That's quite the jump, and a tall order even factoring in the generational improvements. Now, that gap's been shortened to a 42% increase, which while still high, isn't as much of a bitter pill to swallow down at launch.

Now, it's worth stating that these figures are going off of Founders Edition models and the respective MSRP set by Nvidia but some partner cards will vary upwards of this rate. In the case of our review unit, the Gigabyte RTX 4080 Super Windforce V2, the asking price is $999 in the US but £1,049 in the UK, so prices are similar to stock, but some partners may be asking considerably more. It's also worth stating that the RTX 4080 Super's current availability leaves a little to be desired.

Nvidia RTX 4080 Super key specs

As hinted at above, very little has fundamentally changed with the RTX 4080 Super compared to its predecessor. As with the original variant, this new refresh is built on the AD103 GPU with 16GB GDDR6X VRAM on a 256-bit memory bus. What's been improved minorly, however, is the slight bump up in CUDA cores to 10,240 from the first iteration's 9,728 (a 5% upgrade). There's also now 320 texture mapping units (TMUs) up from the first run's 304. This means a real-world difference of between 2-5% performance gains.

For the full breakdown on how the latest video card stacks up to its predecessor we recommend reading our RTX 4080 Super vs RTX 4080 feature, but we'll outline the other key improvements here. Chiefly, the slightly faster base clock speed of 2295 MHz and a boost clock of 2550 MHz which slightly pulls ahead in the Super's favor. There's also a little more memory bandwidth with the Super's 736.3 GB/s working out to 23 Gbps effective over the base model's 716.8 GB/s and 22.4 effective. A slight bump.

Nvidia RTX 4080 Super key design

Where our review unit deviates from the RTX 4080 Super Founders Edition model is in its design. That's because the Gigabyte RTX 4080 Super Windforce V2 is a triple fan GPU with a larger heatsink than some other iterations of the card. All in all, it measures in at 12.9 x 5.3 x 2.2 inches (LxWxH) being one of the bigger and thicker partner cards available. For comparison sake, Nvidia's FE model comes in at a sleeker 11.9 x 4.4 x 2.3 inches (LxWxH) respectively. We recommend choosing the best case for RTX 4080 Super for a good fit.

An advantage to a partner card such as our Gigabyte model, is the inclusion of an anti-sag bracket in the box which can help to prevent the forces of gravity from wrecking havoc on your PCIe x16 port. Regardless of which model you opt for, you'll either be using a 16-pin power connector or a 16-pin adapter which splits out into 3x PCIe power connectors. You should consider one of the best PSUs for RTX 4080 Super if your rig's on the weaker side; Nvidia suggests a minimum system power of at least 750W. You'll also find both HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 2.1 as standard as well, with support for up to 8K60.

The Gigabyte RTX 4080 Super Windforce V2 itself is packed with some premium figures such as a dual BIOS for running standard and "silent" operation. It also benefits from the "Windforce cooling system" where the triple fans spin in alternative directions which is said to aid airflow when under stress. Dubbed "3D active fans" they provide a level of passive cooling even when stationary to keep the card cool when idle or in low intensity situations as well. This is coupled with screen cooling and a large copper plate attached to the metal backplate, too.

Nvidia RTX 4080 Super gaming performance

In the testing conducted by BGFG's Sebastian Kozlowski, we can see that the RTX 4080 Super performs either as well or slightly better than the more expensive base RTX 4080 from 2022. Starting with intensive games, the new GPU made short work of Cyberpunk 2077 without DLSS AI upscaling enabled. The card was able to average 125fps in 1440p and 51fps in 4K natively. The same can be said of both Assassin's Creed Mirage and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora as the two games achieved 139fps and 119fps in 1440p and leading figures of 95fps apiece in 4K respectively. It largely performs as well or better than the RX 7900 XT.

Competitive gaming is also a breeze for the RTX 4080 Super, too. This is evidenced by its performance in The Finals at "Epic settings" with averages of 189fps in 1440p and 99fps in 4K. There's not much of a hit when factoring in ray-tracing performance either. RT enabled still sees rates of 182fps and 95fps, too. This extends to Rainbow Six Siege which gets steamrolled with 356fps average in 1440p and a staggering 194fps in 4K. Simply put, there's very little you can throw at this GPU that will worry it in 2024. It's worth stating that our benchmark testing is done without the use of DLSS Frame Generation so that you can get an accurate depiction of what it can natively do.

Nvidia RTX 4080 Super synthetic benchmarks

The synthetic benchmarks for the RTX 4080 Super are equally as impressive. This is especially the case when putting the graphics card through its paces in industry standard tests such as 3D Mark and Blender 4.0, which yield impressive results. The RTX 4080 Super slightly pulls ahead of the base model in Fire Strike Ultra with a score of 17,005 to 16,749 and the same can be said with Time Spy Extreme with 13,622 to 13,564 as well. This extends to Port Royal's ray tracing test with a confident figure of 17,594 over the base model's 17,471 points.

This lead extends in our Blender 4.0 testing as well. Through the GPU rendering benchmark launcher, the RTX 4080 Super leads with 4,413 points in Monster, 2,097.5 points in Junkshop, and 2,149.5 points in Classroom. In contrast, the base card did 4,345.6, 2,065.9, and 2,143.6 points respectively, lagging behind by about 1-2% if that. The Super variant isn't considerably faster, but it's a lot cheaper.

Nvidia RTX 4080 Super encoding benchmarks

The slight lead of the RTX 4080 Super is kept up when it comes to encoding tests as well, namely through Cinebench r24 and HandBrake. Starting with the former, the refresh achieved a leading score of 26,815 points in the GPU performance benchmark compared to the original model's 26,522. This is consistent in the latter as well, the Super burns through the Tears of Steel 4K test in 1 minute and 52 seconds compared to the original model's 1 minute and 53 seconds - a full second faster.

Is the RTX 4080 Super worth it?

The RTX 4080 Super effectively erases any reason to go out and buy the original RTX 4080 with slightly increased performance and a much more palatable price point. It delivers across the board in terms of high-end gaming performance in 1440p and 4K while being just as powerful for content creators, too. Simply put, this is the GPU that Nvidia should have released at first, with a price cut that really helps. It's leading hardware from the Nvidia GeForce RTX line and for good reason.

Copy by Aleksha McLoughlin ; Testing by Sebastian Kozlowski

Nvidia RTX 4070 Super review - price

The Nvidia RTX 4070 Super is available with a starting MSRP of $599 / £579 for the Founders Edition model with rates varying for partner variants. Our review unit is the ASUS TUF RTX 4070 Super OC Edition for $689.99 / £670 from retailers such as Amazon, Best Buy, and Newegg. If you’re after the best value for money then we recommend considering an alternative to this model closer to the respective MSRP. 

Price is always going to be a deciding factor when investing in a GPU so it’s important to compare this latest model against the original. The RTX 4070 Super is priced identically to the first RTX 4070 from late 2022. However, that’s only one side of the story, because the release of this new card has meant price drops on the first iteration. That’s a fair jump from the rates of the previous 70-class card, the RTX 3070, which debuted at $499 / £469 of £100 / £90.

Nvidia RTX 4070 Super review - key specs

Much like with the original, the RTX 4070 Super is built upon the AD104 die and features 12GB GDDR6X VRAM. However, where things differ is in the CUDA core department. That’s because this new release features 20% more cores with a hearty 7,168 CUDA cores compared to the non-Super’s 5,888. There’s also a bump up to 224 TMUs and 80 ROPs. For more about how it compares to the first version, check out RTX 4070 Super vs RTX 4070. 

There’s a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s and a base clock of 1,980 MHz with a boost clock of up to 2,475 MHz, which is 21 Gbps effective for Nvidia’s Founders Edition model. Our review unit, the ASUS TUF RTX 4070 Super OC Edition, features a boost clock of 2,565 MHz (a 3% increase) with an OC mode pushing to 2595 MHz (a 4.8% improvement). Whether or not that’s worth the extra $90 / £90 will ultimately come down to how much performance you need. What will also depend on your version is the physical size. The Founders Edition model is a dual-slot GPU measuring in 10.5 x 4.4 x 1.7 inches (LxWxH). Our review unit is a bit bigger than this, as a triple slot GPU coming in at 11.8 x 5.4 x 2.4 inches (LxWxH). We recommend closely considering one of the best cases for RTX 4070 Super if you’re thinking of going for a larger variant. All versions need a 16-pin power connector which shouldn’t be too surprising.

Nvidia RTX 4070 Super key design

Our ASUS TUF Gaming RTX 4070 Super OC Edition features a significantly larger heatsink and a triple fan setup for enhanced cooling capabilities. The company claims thermal improvements of up to 21% more airflow than the previous generation with the Axial-tech fans. This version also has an aluminium backplate brace against the PCB so it should slot into your case without worry. It did for us. There’s 3x DisplayPort 1.4a ports and a single HDMI 2.1a port so you should be covered, too. 

The ASUS TUF Gaming RTX 4070 Super OC Edition looks great and the triple fans should ensure strong cooling at the cost of a higher MSRP and taking up more space. I’m particularly fond of the angular design which looks militaristic and rugged, true to the name sake of being tough. If you’re in the market for a card that will last and be able to be pushed further than others, this could be it. 

Nvidia RTX 4070 Super gaming benchmarks

In the testing conducted by BGFG's Sebastian Kozlowski, we can see that the RTX 4070 Super performs well in many demanding modern games in not only 1440p, but also in 4K as well. Generally speaking, this new card holds up significantly better than its predecessor and we can see its leading performance in the likes of Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora as evidence. 

Both games were steamrolled by the RTX 4070 Super in 1080p with 150fps and 117fps respectively. This is equally strong when doubling up to 1440p with 119fps and 80fps. Average framerates are more than playable in 4K with 74fps and 60fps, too. These two games are fairly demanding, having been launched last year, and this card had no issues in flexing. 

The same can be said with The Finals which the RTX 4070 Super powered through in 1080p, 1440p, and 4K with averages of 256fps, 150fps, and 73fps respectively. Enabling ray tracing doesn’t see a big hit either, as the card outputs 241fps, 124fps, and 61fps, too. This GPU tears through Doom Eternal as well, with averages of 397fps in 1080p, 288fps in 1440p, and 174fps in 4K on ‘Ultra Nightmare’ setting. This is a card that excels in 1440p but does decently in 4K, too. 

Nvidia RTX 4070 Super synthetic benchmarks

The RTX 4070 Super also performs well in the synthetic testing with strong figures in 3D Mark, Cinebench r24, and Blender 4.0. More specifically, the card made short work of Fire Strike Ultra with 12,166 points, Time Spy Extreme with 10,072 points, and Port Royal (which focuses on ray tracing) with 13,011 points, a strong lead over the base RTX 4070. 

Similar can be said with Blender 4.0 with strong numbers in Monster, Junkshop, and Classroom with rates of 3242.5, 2531, and 1624.1 points respectively. Clearly, the added 20% more CUDA cores means the 12GB GDDR6X VRAM can be pushed significantly harder than the original.

Nvidia RTX 4070 Super encoding benchmarks

Encoding is where the Nvidia RTX 4070 Super does fine with what it has under the hood. In HandBrake, the Tears of Steel 4K render averaged 154fps with a total rendering time of 1 minute and 57 seconds, about matching what the base RTX 4070 and RTX 4070 Ti Super can do. The GPU benchmark in Cinebench r24 is respectable, too, with a figure of 19,257.

Is the RTX 4070 Super worth it?

The RTX 4070 Super is a powerful mid-range graphics card that packs in more under the hood than the original without raising the price. If you're after a leading 1440p GPU but also want to check out 4K without an eyewatering MSRP, then it's a card you should consider in 2024.

For more on the card, we have a full RTX 4070 Super hub, and we're also comparing the GPU to the previous-generation flagship with our RTX 4070 Super vs RTX 3090 feature, and the RTX 4070 Super vs RX 7800 XT feature as well. Buying a graphics card can be an investment that could last you several years, so it's important to make the right choice. We're ensuring that PC Guide is the best place for hardware coverage.

Copy by Aleksha McLoughlin ; Testing by Sebastian Kozlowski

Nvidia's decision to bring the Super era to a start is an interesting one. Not least because, as we point out in our RTX 4070 review, it does suggest Nvidia realized it needed a bit of a shuffle and maybe missed the mark with the original lineup. Judging by the lukewarm reaction to the 4070 Super's arrival it's not clear if all issues have been addressed. But the Ti Super does offer an interesting proposition.

ROG Strix RTX 4070 Ti Super OC key specs

The key thing about the 4070 Ti Super is certainly the AD103-275 processor. With a CUDA core count of 8,448 vs the 7680 of the 4070 Ti, there's more capability for sure. Combined with 16GB GDDR6X vs 12GB and a bandwidth of 672 GB/s and 256-bit bus (compared to 504.2 GB/s and 192-bit in the original card), there are clear improvements that should make the new arrival more of a fit for 4K gaming - especially for a XX70 card!

In terms of the Strix card specifics, it offers 3x DisplayPort connectors and 2x HDMI just in case - so a good amount of IO capacity. The card also offers 2x fan headers on its end, should you want to directly target GPU temps and keep things cool. Those would be more handy in the Strix card's 'Performance Mode' profile, although there is also a 'Quiet Mode' for when you don't need extra grunt.

Unfortunately, along with the price, this Asus card is particularly large too. Its dimensions include a 336 mm (13.22 inch) length, and it weighs in at 1.81kg (3.99lbs). So it's not small, and nor is it lightweight. You'll want to ensure you have the space for a card this size. To further confound things, the ROG Strix RTX 4070 Ti Super utilizes a 12VHPWR connector. This is the connector that has caused some issues with 'burning out' when not handled correctly and not pushed fully in. That's less likely if you have an ATX 3 PSU which offers the power needed natively, and the Ti Super may not pull enough power - but it's worth noting.

ROG Strix RTX 4070 Ti Super OC key design

In terms of aesthetics, the ROG Strix RTX 4070 Ti Super OC certainly looks good. It has an edge of color to it, so it's not just a big bulky mass of darkness. Hints of blue and red draw the eye and offer some interest, and the card follows this styling around the edge, while also offering lighting to create some illumination when in your system.

More practically, the card features three axial fans with alternating spin to optimize airflow - augmented by a larger than three-slot heatsink and vented back and sides. The card features a diecast backplate, frame, and shroud to support cooling functionality too. In short, there shouldn't be any heat issues in reasonable environments.

ROG Strix OC RTX 4070 Ti Super - gaming benchmarks

The RTX 4070 Ti Super is clearly a step above the 4070 Super. And, although NVidia compares it to the 3070 Ti for 1440p performance we're actually looking at solid 4K capability here. Here's our test bench setup:

In terms of 4K performance for the card, we saw CS2 at 151 fps, while AC Mirage hit skipped along at an average of 84 fps. Rainbow 6: Siege hit an excess of 160 fps on 4K. Meanwhile, Cyberpunk 2077's 4K run saw it at 44 fps without DLSS and ray tracing while on Ultra settings. DLSS 3 does allow you to push that up, but 1440p is a more comfortable run at 93 avg fps. Overall, the RTX 4070 Ti Super is very capable in all but harsh 4K environments. For more info on gaming benchmarks, head over to WePC's Strix 4070 Ti Super OC review.

ROG Strix OC RTX 4070 Ti Super - synthetic benchmarks

In synthetic benchmarks, we’ve paired the tested ROG Strix OC RTX 4070 Ti Super with a 4080 OC from Gigabyte so you can see where the gap is between the 4070 Ti vs the RTX 4080. We know that synthetic tests can be hard to get a sense of context for - ultimately the tests below are to test synthetic graphical prowess to show where cards sit in terms of hierarchy. If you were to benchmark your current graphics card you'd gain additional understanding too if you're looking to upgrade. What we see here is that the RTX 4070 Ti Super is where we expect it to be.

RTX 4070 Ti Super review – encoding benchmarks

In terms of encoding benchmarks, there's little surprise that the RTX 4070 Ti Super is behind the 4080. What's interesting here though is that while the Cinebench score is above that found in our RTX 4070 review, the Handbrake test is identical. This speaks to a lack of benefit in choosing the Ti Super over the 4070 or 4070 Ti purely for encoding and editing prowess. This could be a quirk of the test, but there's no discernible difference here from the bottom 4070 card to the top 4070 Ti Super. Of course, if you're keen on higher framerates as well that's a moot point. You'd opt for the 4070 Ti Super anyway.

RTX 4070 Ti Super review - price

As with other Supers, the RTX 4070 Ti Super arrives with an MSRP identical to that of the 'vanilla' card. That's a good way to start, especially because pricing across the board for the 40-series has generally been...lackluster. But even improved value doesn't mean good value. The 4070 Ti Super is still $799 at MSRP, and that means it's still priced over and above the RTX 3080 of Nvidia's last generation. We'll consider if that's a sensible placement further down.

Asus ROG Strix RTX 4070 Ti Super OC price

Even more important for our test card - the ROG Strix RTX 4070 Ti Super OC - is that you're unlikely to see it anywhere near that price. As the ROG Strix 4070 Super is priced around $799, $200 above the 4070 Super MSRP, you'll be seeing the Strix RTX 4070 Ti Super OC at around $999 (Best Buy). That's a 25% markup on MSRP for this card, so a big consideration should you want this particular model. There is a reason for that of course.

Is the RTX 4070 Ti Super worth it?

Ultimately, if you want a bit more edge than the original RTX 4070 Ti, better value, and higher framerates than a regular 4070 where smooth 4K gaming is far more feasible (and expected across many titles), then yes - the RTX 4070 Ti Super is worth it. In terms of general workloads and rendering it sits comfortably between the 4070 and 4080 cards - although we've seen no clear benefit to rendering above the 4070.

In terms of the ROG Strix OC RTX 4070 Ti Super specifically, it's a smart and powerful card. But it's overpriced for what we consider a 4070 Ti Super should be. So unless you really want all the features and style of the Strix - and are happy to pay for it, when you're in 4080 Super MSRP range - then we'd not opt for this particular card.

Released in April 2023, the RTX 4070 was released in April 2023, the card wasn't the first or second 40-series to arrive following the RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 launches of 2022. Nvidia waited, likely to ensure demand post-30-series-fervor in the light of crypto-mining and global pandemic-driven GPU shortages. And that seems to have made sense; after all, we rate the RTX 4070 as one of the best graphics cards available and it offers cool features too.

Yes it has better efficiency and performance when compared to the 30-series - to be expected. But even the likes of AI creeping in with DLSS 3 improves value - for example, it makes upscaling seamless. But there's more to it. Our RTX 4070 review will see what the card offers in general, in the shadow of the RTX 4070 Super, and what the Gigabyte solution is like overall.

RTX 4070 Review - design

Gigabyte's RTX 4070 Eagle OC card is what we're looking at, and opts for a fairly straightforward and sleek design. Of course, the RTX 4070 has a TGP of 'just' 200W, so it doesn't need extreme cooling solutions fitted to it - like the RTX 4090, which is pretty much dominated by a 450W spec needing extra consideration.

Gigabyte's Windforce system is well-established and handles the performance of the card, so thermals aren't adversely affected. Featuring a direct contact design of four heat pipes, heat is effectively moved to the heatsinks and dealt with in good time, dissipating heat more effectively.

There's a metal plate on the back, with a cut-out for flow-through, which means any generated heat can radiate and flow with less issue, adding to the cooling capabilities. Meanwhile, the side of the card is mostly....well, heatsink without any impedance for heat removal. In respect of the fans on the card, the RTX 4070 Eagle makes use of three 80mm alternate spinning fans. This not only means reduced turbulence but also that cool and 'cleaner' air can be pulled through to keep temperatures lower.

For the IO on this card, you get a standard setup - 3x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x HDMI 2.1a port for a range of connectivity to your displays. For more overarching design considerations, that 'slim' choice from Gigabyte keeps things titdy, though the card is on the longer side. Still, keeping it down to just two slots means the Eagle RTX 4070 is good for smaller systems. And although a few cuts and some limited RGB options are in play, it keeps things clean while getting the job done - RGB fans, this may not be for you.

RTX 4070 review - performance

Our test setup consisted of the following:

Is the RTX 4070 the right card for you? Let's dive into the performance to see what matters perhaps most: performance. The RTX 4070 sort of sits in the middle of the lineup, albeit pushed down thanks to the RTX 4070 Super (which isn't replacing it, unlike for the 4070 Ti and 4080). You can expect a 4070 to achieve 1440p gaming easily. It may not achieve 4k in the latest games, it will with older titles, but it's not a stretch to say smooth 4K is achievable. Of course DLSS 3, DLSS 3.5 and other options can help to push things higher in some games. Also, note that we're looking at an 'OC' version of the RTX 4070, which offers a bit more in terms of core clock against the reference design (2505 MHz vs 2475 MHz). But the changes in performance won't be huge.

RTX 4070 gaming

Gaming is important for pretty much every user looking at an RTX 4070 card, so we've got a summary of key takeaways here. If you want a fuller dive into gaming performance, be sure to check out our sister title WePC's review of this card for more detail. Right then...

At lower resolutions, there are no issues. CS2 hits 313 FPS average at 1080p, 214 at 1440p, and 103 at 4K. Cyberpunk 2077 is optimized with Nvidia cards, and you can expect 108, 74, and 27 FPS averages - not bad, and certainly playable up to 1400p.

Ultimately it's a little bit of a mixed bag, as some games will be smooth across resolutions: Doom Eternal and Rainbow Six Siege for example. Meanwhile, the likes of AC: Mirage, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and The Finals are likely to sit in the 50-80 fps range at 4K. Things get harsher when looking at enabled Ray Tracing too, and enhanced graphics effects will push the frames per second down.

RTX 4070 review - synthetic benchmarks

In synthetic benchmarks, we've paired the tested Gigabyte Eagle with its 4080 counterpart so you can see the gap between the two cards. Ultimately on their own, synthetic tests can be hard to contextualise, but what we're looking at here is graphical prowess. If you were to benchmark your current graphics card you'd get added context of course, but ultimately the 4070's card across 3D Mark tests and Blender displays a good level of graphical and rendering capabilities, although not matching that of the RTX 4080.

RTX 4070 review - encoding benchmarks

In terms of encoding, which is another area of interest - especially for anyone conducting video editing or content creation/streaming, the RTX 4070 proves handy. Although as expected it lags behind the 4080 when it comes to pure rendering power (Cinebench r24), the card puts in a solid score on 4K encoding using the H.264 Nvenc test. Taking three seconds longer and delivering 5 fps less on average than the RTX 4080 OC in our encoding test, this card will be a handy boost for anyone jumping up from the RTX 3070.

RTX 4070 Review - pricing

Nvidia's 40-series isn't cheap, and that explains why the likes of the 3060, 3070, 3080, and AMD options are still very viable. While the RTX 4090 may be a good choice for professionals compared to enterprise solutions, especially with creeping AI technology, anything over $1K is a lot, especially when you can spend that on a whole rig.

The RTX 4070 MSRP is at least more attainable for many. The $599 cost is cheaper, but it's still a fairly large amount of money for a XX70 model card when the RTX 3070 debuted at $499. However, it does sit sensibly in Nvidia's current card stack - between the 4060 Ti 16GB at $499, and the RTX 4070 Ti's MSRP of $799. Users can expect limited 4K gaming from the 4070, so there's some potential there too. And don't forget, with the release of the RTX 4070 Super, the regular 4070 is expected to drop to an MSRP of $549

In the context of competition from AMD, the more recent RX 7800 XT is pitched around the same level of capability and has an MSRP of $499 - akin to the pricing of the 4060 Ti. So there are a few things to unpack - specifically what you really need from your next GPU and how far your budget will go. This is even more true in the era of the Super variants.

Is the RTX 4070 worth it?

Well the RTX 4070 is a strong contender 1440p gaming for sure. With efficiency, clear performance, and added (including DLSS) feature gains it's a step up for anyone upgrading from a 3070 or lower. Although it doesn’t quite hit smooth 4K gaming needs, it can achieve some 4K success on specific titles - meaning it's a fairly flexible option.

The general 40 series pricing is high and this is still an issue for the 4070 too. A similar price to the older RTX 3080 level makes it tricky to recommend, but the 4070 does occupy some well-balanced ground. However, with the RTX 4070 Super release, you could potentially go where your budget dictates Gigabyte's own Eagle provides a fine solution all around as an RTX 4070 card. Its cooling, simple design, and slimmer, smaller, form factor, do make it a fine choice should you decide a 4070 is right for you. There's not much in terms of extras other than a few more MHz, and RGB is lacking, but it is a nice addition for a cleaner rig. It certainly keeps things cool in a compact package.