NVIDIA RTX 4070 Super review: A 1,440p powerhouse for $599

No, NVIDIA's mid-range RTX 40-series GPUs aren't getting any cheaper, but at least the new RTX 4070 Super packs in a lot more performance for $599. We called the original RTX 4070 the "1,440p gaming leader," and that still holds for the Super. It's so much faster, especially when it comes to ray tracing, that it edges close to the $799 RTX 4070 Ti (due to be replaced by its own Super variant, as well). And together with the power of DLSS3 upscaling, the 4070 Super is a far more capable 4K gaming card.

So what makes the RTX 4070 Super so special? Raw power, basically. It features 7,168 CUDA cores, compared to 5,888 on the 4070 and 7,680 on the 4070 Ti. Its base clock speed is a bit higher than before (1.98GHz compared to the 4070's 1.92GHz), but it has the same 2.48GHz boost clock and 12GB of GDDR6X VRAM as the original.

The difference between the RTX 4070 Super and the plain model was immediately obvious. On my desktop, powered by a Ryzen 9 7900X with 32GB of RAM, I was able to run Cyberpunk 2077 in 4K with Ultra graphics and DLSS at an average of 78fps. The RTX 4070 sometimes struggled to stay above 60fps at those settings. NVIDIA’s new GPU showed its limits in Cyberpunk's RT Overdrive mode (which enables intensive real-time path tracing), where I only saw 51fps on average while using DLSS and frame generation. (CD Projekt says that mode is meant for the RTX 4070 Ti and up, or on the 3090 at 1080p/30fps).

While the original RTX 4070 was a card that could occasionally let you game in 4K, the 4070 Super makes that a possibility far more often (so long as you can use DLSS). Of course, you'll need to have reasonable expectations (you’re not getting 4K/120fps) and ideally a G-Sync monitor to smooth out performance.

When it comes to 1,440p gaming, the RTX 4070 Super is truly a superstar. In Cyberpunk's Overdrive ray tracing mode with Ultra graphics settings, I saw an average of 157fps — almost enough to satisfy the demands of a 165hz 1,440p monitor. To my eye, the whole experience looked far smoother than the 4K Overdrive results and, as usual, I found it hard to tell the difference between 4K and 1,440p textures during actual gameplay.

Similarly, I'd rather keep the 160fps/1,440p average I saw in Halo Infinite with maxed out graphics, than the 83fps I reached in 4K. That game doesn't get an assist from DLSS, either, so there's no upscaling magic going on in those numbers.

Across most of our benchmarks, the RTX 4070 Super landed smack dab between the 4070 and 4070 Ti. In 3DMark Timespy Extreme, for example, the new GPU scored 9,830 points, compared to 8,610 on the 4070 and 10,624 on the 4070 Ti. In some cases, like the Port Royal ray tracing benchmark, it leaned far closer to the 4070 Ti (which also bodes well for the 4070 Super's overclocking potential). NVIDIA's advanced cooling setup on its "Founders Edition" cards also continues to work wonders: The 4070 Super idled at around 40 Celsius and typically maxed out at 66C under heavy load.

Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

The RTX 4070 Super is clearly a big step forward from the original card, and a far better value for $599. It's a solid upgrade if you're running a 20-series NVIDIA GPU and even some of the lower-end 30-series options. The value should hopefully trickle downhill, as well: The original 4070 now sells for $550 on NVIDIA's website and used models are on eBay for well below that.

While we’ll continue to long for the days when “mid-range” described a $300 GPU, NVIDIA is giving gamers more of a reason to shell out for the $599 RTX 4070 Super. It’ll satisfy all of your 1,440p gaming needs — and it’s ready to deliver decent 4K performance, as well.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nvidia-rtx-4070-super-review-a-1440p-powerhouse-for-599-160025855.html?src=rss
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