The Bottom Line
Pros
- + Rivals performance of the RTX 3090, RTX 3090 Ti... impressive
- + Monster 1440p 120FPS+ gaming performance
- + Dual HDMI 2.1 ports, thanks ASUS!
- + Uses 100W+ less power than Radeon RX 7900 series GPUs
- + Ray tracing and DLSS 3 dominance
Cons
- - No DisplayPort 2.1 connectivity... why!
Should you buy it?
AvoidConsiderShortlistBuyIntroduction
NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is now official, with the company sending me over the custom ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC Edition for review... sadly, no Founders Edition is available. It would've been nice, to add it to the collection with the GeForce RTX 4090 and GeForce RTX 4080, but onwards we go with the review.
The new GeForce RTX 4070 Ti isn't here to solve your 4K 120FPS+ gaming but rather for high-performance 1440p gaming at 120FPS and beyond. However, I was using the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti for some higher-end 4K 120FPS+ gaming in titles like Overwatch 2 and Warzone 2 -- both fully maxed out -- and they ran gloriously smooth.
NVIDIA has crammed a considerable amount of performance into the third-fastest Ada Lovelace GPU, with the new AD104 GPU joined by 12GB of super-fast GDDR6X memory. Even with the cut-down GPU and half the VRAM, the new GeForce RTX 4070 Ti easily keeps up -- and sometimes beats -- the previous-gen Ampere-based GeForce RTX 3090 and GeForce RTX 3090 Ti graphics cards. An astonishing feat, all while using less power than both of those previous-gen flagship GPUs.
- Read more: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition Review
- Read more: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Founders Edition Review
The power inside of the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti continues to get better, especially if you're playing games with ray tracing enabled... and far, far better with DLSS 3 enabled. DLSS 3 is exclusive to the Ada Lovelace GPU architecture, so you're in for some happy days with the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti if you're playing games with RT, but more especially, DLSS 3 enabled.
As for pricing, the model we're looking at here today in the form of the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC Edition costs $849. That makes it $50 cheaper than AMD's second-fastest Navi 31-based Radeon RX 7900 XT, and $150 cheaper than the flagship Radeon RX 7900 XTX.
Ada Lovelace
Detailed Look
ASUS continues to nail its retail packaging here with the new TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC Edition graphics card, where once again, if you're a collector of the retail boxes that your PC hardware comes in, you'll want to keep this on your shelf.
The new custom ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC Edition graphics card looks sharp from the front, with its triple-fan cooler, while the backplate that ASUS has on its custom TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti looks great. It keeps the back of the card safe, and cool... much cooler than the just-released Radeon RX 7900 series GPUs from AMD.
It would've been nice to have seen the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC Edition come in as a dual-slot design, but the thicker design does help thermals... which are wicked low for the RTX 4070 Ti.
You've got a single 16-pin "12VHPWR" power connector here on the card, which splits out to 3 x 8-pin PCIe power connectors. You're only going to be using 200-220W or so, which is great for power consumption.
ASUS does something a little different on their custom graphics cards in the TUF Gaming and ROG series, offering not one, but two HDMI 2.1 connectors that are both 4K 120Hz+ capable. There's also 3 x DisplayPort 1.4 connectors here, as usual.
Test System Specs
I've recently upgraded my major GPU test bed for 2022, but I will be upgrading again soon, now that Intel has launched its new 13th Gen Core "Raptor Lake" CPUs and Z790 motherboards, and AMD with its new Ryzen 7000 series "Zen 4" CPUs and X670E motherboards.
The new upgrades include the shift to the Intel Core i9-12900K processor, ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme motherboard, 64GB of Sabrent Rocket DDR5-4800 memory, and 8TB of Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD goodness. Intel's flagship Core i9-12900K is a beast, with the Alder Lake CPU packing 8 Performance cores (P-cores) and 8 Efficient cores (E-cores) at up to 5.2GHz.
Motherboard: ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme
I've got that installed into the bigger-than-life ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme motherboard, which is absolutely loaded to the brim with technologies and features that it houses everything you need. We're talking about one of the best-looking designs on a motherboard yet, PCIe 5.0 support, enthusiast-grade 10GbE networking, and oh-so-much more.
RAM: 64GB Sabrent Rocket DDR5-4800
Sabrent helped out in a huge way by sending over 64GB of DDR5-4800 memory in the form of 4 x 16GB DDR5-4800 modules of its new Sabrent Rocket DDR5 memory. The company also helped out in an even bigger way, supplying us with a gigantic and super-fast 8TB model of its Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD.
SSD: 8TB Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus M.2
We're talking about 7.5GB/sec+ (7500MB/sec) from a single M.2 SSD, along with a gigantic 8TB of capacity. The 2TB drives aren't big enough for all of our game installs for GPU testing... the 4TB is much better, but the 8TB gives us room to move into 2023 without worrying about installing multiple games that are 200GB+ in size.
Some glory shots, of course.
Displays: ASUS ROG Strix 43-inch 4K 120Hz
ASUS has been a tight partner of TweakTown for many years, with the fine folks at ASUS Australia sending over their ROG Strix XG438Q and ROG Swift PG43UQ gaming monitors for our GPU test benches. They're both capable of 4K 120Hz+ through their DisplayPort 1.4 connectivity.
I will be upgrading these in the near future, over to some DisplayPort 2.0-capable panels and some new HDMI 2.1-enabled 4K 165Hz panels in OLED form of course...given that next-gen GPUs are right around the corner, there has been no better time to upgrade your display or TV.
I've been working on this system for a while now, but now we're stretching its legs with the newly-released PC port of Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered. Not just in 1080p or 1440p, not even in just 4K... but at 8K with a native resolution of 7680 x 4320. I've run through some of the very fastest GPU silicon on the planet.
- CPU: Intel Core i9-12900K (buy from Amazon)
- Motherboard: ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme (buy from Amazon)
- Cooler: CORSAIR iCUE H150i ELITE LCD Display (buy from Amazon)
- RAM: Sabrent Rocket 64GB DDR5-4800 (4 x 16GB) (F4-3600C18Q-32GTZN) (buy from Amazon)
- SSD: Sabrent 8TB Rocket 4 Plus PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD (buy from Amazon)
- PSU: MSI MPG A1000G Gaming Power Supply 1000W (buy from Amazon)
- Case: InWin X-Frame 2.0
- OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro x64 (buy from Amazon)
- Display: ASUS ROG Swift PG43UQ (4K 120Hz) (buy from Amazon)
Benchmarks - Synthetic
Benchmarks - 1080p
Benchmarks - 1440p
Benchmarks - 4K
Temps & Power Consumption
The new custom ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC Edition has the AD104 GPU clock at 2835MHz or so, pretty rock solid, while GPU temps are at a chilly 55C or so, and GPU hotspot temperatures sitting at a steady 60-62C or so. We have power consumption of between 200W and 220W, which is damn good considering it beats the RTX 3090 and RTX 3090 Ti for the most part.
What's Hot, What's Not
What's Hot
- Keeps up with, sometimes beats the RTX 3090 and RTX 3090 Ti: NVIDIA doing what it does best here, with the new GeForce RTX 4070 Ti offering performance that rivals previous-gen flagship GPUs. You won't be smashing through 4K 120FPS in games for the most part, but with DLSS you will be.
- Kick ass 1440p 120FPS+ gaming performance: If you're gaming on a 1440p or 3440x1440 ultrawide gaming monitor, there's enough performance under the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti hood to annihilate those resolutions at 120, 144, or 165Hz easily.
- 12GB GDDR6X memory: You don't need 24GB of VRAM for the most part, which really comes into play at 8K resolutions, but the 12GB of GDDR6X on the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is ultra-fast and will handle everything you can throw at it. If you need 16GB or 24GB, there's always the GeForce RTX 4080 and GeForce RTX 4090 ready to go.
- Wicked power consumption numbers: 200W to 220W is what I like to see, especially after the power-hungry Navi 31-based Radeon RX 7900 XT and Radeon RX 7900 XTX graphics cards using 300W+ and 350W+ respectively.
- Dual HDMI 2.1 ports: Another ASUS touch, dual HDMI 2.1 ports FTW.
- ASUS TUF Gaming design aesthetics: I love the design of the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC Edition, it's not as over-the-top as the ROG variant, and doesn't look too plain, either.
- Ray tracing and DLSS 3 goodness: If you're playing games like Cyberpunk 2077 or the like, the ray tracing performance and super-performance injection from DLSS 3 will leave a huge, huge smile on your dial.
What's Not
- No DisplayPort 2.1 connectivity: This isn't an issue of ASUS, but rather NVIDIA for not including the latest DisplayPort 2.1 connectivity on their GeForce RTX 40 "Ada Lovelace" GPU architecture. Sigh. Sigh, sigh, SIGH.
Final Thoughts
NVIDIA has knocked it out of the park with the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, offering up the third-fastest Ada Lovelace GPU in the AD104 GPU and its 12GB of GDDR6X memory. If the GeForce RTX 4090 and GeForce RTX 4080 were a little expensive for your taste, the new GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is here to change that starting at $799.
The review unit that we've looked at today in the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC Edition is a fine example of a higher-end card, and a "new" mid-range price of $849, keeping up with previous-gen flagship GPUs, and rolling around taking punches at the current-gen flagship GPUs from AMD.
In games like Cyberpunk 2077, you're going to be enjoying nearly 100FPS average -- without RT and DLSS enabled, mind you -- which is fantastic to see considering the previous-gen GA102-based GeForce RTX 3090 spits out 96FPS (versus 98FPS on the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti) and it beats the custom MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Ti SUPRIM X with its 97FPS. Damn good results, with less power, and less heat being pumped out.
Even in AMD-friendly titles like Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti does an amazing job at 1440p with 241FPS average compared to 249FPS average on the second-fastest Navi 31-based Radeon RX 7900 XT. For comparison's sake, the flagship Radeon RX 7900 XTX spits out 278FPS, while the GeForce RTX 4080 scales well at 288FPS, and the flagship AD102-based GeForce RTX 4090 is miles ahead with an incredible 356FPS. All without AI-based upscaling technology like FSR and DLSS enabled.
If we take a game like Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition, the new ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC Edition graphics card creams the competition... we're looking at 72FPS average at 1440p, which matches the more expensive, and flagship Radeon RX 7900 XTX with 72FPS average. NVIDIA's new Ada Lovelace GPU architecture smashes Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition, with the GeForce RTX 4080 reaching 89FPS average, and the flagship GeForce RTX 4090 with an astonishing 115FPS average at 1440p.
ASUS includes not one but two HDMI 2.1 ports on its custom ROG and TUF Gaming series GPUs, which is a handy thing to have if you have one HDMI 2.1 monitor or TV now, and upgrade to another in the future. Not everyone will use this feature, but I love that ASUS includes it... where its competitors don't.
- Read more: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition Review
- Read more: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Founders Edition Review
NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 4070 Ti isn't going to add a chunk to your power bills, with the custom ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC Edition only using up to 220W of power or so. If you pit this against the new Navi 31-based Radeon RX 7900 XT and Radeon RX 7900 XTX, which easily use 300W+ and 350W+, respectively, the new GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is an efficiency powerhouse.
We have improved RT cores, Ada Lovelace GPU-exclusive black magik technology in DLSS 3, 12GB of ultra-fast GDDR6X memory, and performance that bests what used to be freakishly fast graphics cards in the GeForce RTX 3090 and GeForce RTX 3090 Ti.
To wrap things up, love or hate how NVIDIA handled the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti -- which was meant to be the now-unlaunched GeForce RTX 4080 12GB -- the new GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is a fantastic graphics card. Yes, it's more expensive than traditional RTX x070 and RTX x070 Ti series GPUs, but generation-over-generation it offers some absolutely stellar improvements.
At the $849 price, the new custom ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC Edition will be a fantastic addition to any gaming PC, especially as it only uses 220W of power and runs at under 60C all day and all night long.