ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 OC Edition Review

TweakTown's Rating: 93%

The Bottom Line

The ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 OC Edition mixes the remarkable efficiency of Ada Lovelace with RTX 3080-like performance, and sprinkles a little groundbreaking DLSS 3 on top. A fantastic GPU.

Pros

• + RTX 3080-like performance using 40% less power
• + Small 2.5-slot and twin fan design that's stylish and cool
• + Uncompromised 1440p gaming
• + DLSS 3 is a game changer

Cons

• - 4K performance drop-off is pretty big

Should you buy it?

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Introduction

ASUS makes some exceptional graphics cards; that much has been true for several years. From the TUF line-up to the premium Republic of Gamers (ROG) STRIX offerings to the compact DUAL series - as seen in the ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 OC Edition reviewed here. Outside of performance and cooling, each ASUS GPU type features a distinct design, with the compact DUAL (named because these GPUs use two fans for cooling) featuring some transparent flourishes and an enclosed look that is part videogame console, part high-tech thing.

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Of course, this review is also all about the GeForce RTX 4070 too, which represents the mid-range option in the GeForce RTX 40 Series line-up - even if the MSRP saw an increase from USD 499 for the GeForce RTX 3070 up to USD 599 for the GeForce RTX 4070. And as it has been a couple of months since the RTX 4070 hit the scene, there's no mystery surrounding the level of performance you can expect - which can be summed up as GeForce RTX 3080-like but using over 40% less power.

That figure comes from the 1440p results captured with the ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 OC Edition and is worth celebrating.

On top of this, you've got the added benefit of Ada Lovelace's architectural improvements to ray-tracing performance and new AI rendering goodness in the form of DLSS 3 and Frame Generation. With Frame Gen now available in several titles, including the recent smash hit Diablo IV from Blizzard, it's quickly becoming one of the most impressive features for NVIDIA's latest generation of graphics cards.

And with its compact design, the ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 OC Edition is an excellent option for those looking to add a powerful GPU in a smaller case or don't want to worry about things like GPU sag and having to install a bracket or look at a vertical mount. This is no-fuss plug-and-play stuff from ASUS, so let's dig in.

ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 OC Edition

	Today	Yesterday	7 days ago	30 days ago
	$539.00	$539.00	$539.00	$529.99	Buy
	$631.58	$631.58	$615.22	$539.99	Buy
* Prices last scanned on 4/26/2024 at 10:49 pm CDT - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission.

The Ada Lovelace Generation

Below is a summary of the GeForce RTX 40 Series technology, applicable to all models.

There was a time when outright visual quality was the main driver for determining how advanced real-time rendering, especially in games, had progressed. There was also a time when pure grunt in raw hardware power determined how good a game could technically look and how fast it ran. We're now at a point where visual quality and performance go hand-in-hand, with raw power only being a part of the equation.

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The GeForce RTX 40 Series, the Ada Lovelace generation, is a lineup of GPUs built on a cutting-edge process node while leveraging and evolving all of the advances in AI and hardware-based ray-tracing that NVIDIA helped become mainstream with the GeForce RTX 30 Series.

Named after mathematician Ada Lovelace, considered the world's first computer programmer, the GeForce RTX 40 Series is built on TSMC 4N process technology - a giant leap forward over the Samsung 8nm process used in the GeForce RTX 30 Series Ampere generation. From a pure numbers perspective, the full NVIDIA Ada GPU features 76.3 billion transistors, up to 18,432 CUDA Cores (70% more than the previous gen), and delivers clock speeds over 2.5 GHz while maintaining the same power requirements of the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti.

Ada also introduces the latest generation of RT and Tensor Cores, with the latter introducing brand-new hardware responsible for the next iteration of AI rendering - DLSS 3. NVIDIA's DLSS or Deep Learning Super Sampling is one of the reasons why raw power is no longer the be-all-end-all; it's an AI-based form of upscaling that can provide a sizable boost to in-game performance without sacrificing visual fidelity. In fact, in some cases, it can improve upon native rendering.

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For this reason alone, DLSS and other forms of algorithm-based upscaling have become some of the most talked about bits of technology in the PC gaming space.

Free frames, enough said.

DLSS 3 combines DLSS Super Resolution (DLSS 2) with NVIDIA Reflex to reduce system latency and the brand-new hardware-accelerated Frame Generation technology. Three bits of rendering tech = DLSS 3. And it's exclusive to the GeForce RTX 40 Series.

And it's here where NVIDIA is looking to do what it has done for real-time graphics upscaling to the idea of frame-interpolation - or what they call Motion Plus in the TV world. Which, to be fair, is not a fair comparison on account of tech like Motion Plus being - well - terrible. But the fundamental idea is the same, albeit using specialized AI hardware in the GeForce RTX 40 Series graphics cards to generate and create entire frames.

So far, the results, although not without flaws, are impressive - with dramatic improvements to overall performance (in the frame-per-second stakes) seen in games like Cyberpunk 2077, F1 22, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered, and more.

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As seen with DLSS 3, the Ada generation is much more than "smaller = more," with NVIDIA introducing back-end technology in the form of Shader Execution Reordering - which effectively ensures render tasks happen more efficiently and without running into bottlenecks. This means a leap forward in the real-time rendering of hardware-intensive ray-tracing effects.

The Ada generation also levels up NVIDIA's already formidable content creation chops with the arrival of AV1 encoding for better video quality for streamers without sacrificing anything in the way of performance or more bandwidth.

Specs and Test System

Specifications

Here we can see how the specs and hardware stack up for the GeForce RTX 4070 compared to the previous generation's GeForce RTX 3070 and the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti.

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Interestingly, the GeForce RTX 4070 bucks the trend seen with the higher-tier GeForce RTX 40 Series offerings like the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, RTX 4080, and RTX 4090. The GeForce RTX 3070 is the Ampere generation's equivalent GPU, and the RTX 4070 features the same number of CUDA Cores, RT Cores, and overall Tensor Cores. A cause for alarm? Does this mean they're the same? Not really, as the synthetic and in-game benchmarks paint the generational leap picture you expect.

It's not all like-for-like, as the new AI Optical Acceleration technology makes DLSS 3 and Frame Generation possible. And as we see in the actual in-game benchmark results, even though the power rating reduction from 220W on the RTX 3070 to 200W for the RTX 4070 isn't massive, the power efficiency of the Ada architecture paints a very different picture in real-world cases.

Also, the GeForce RTX 4070 follows what we've seen with other Ada entries in that boost clock speeds have been pushed to well above 2 GHz - with the ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 OC Edition's 2550 MHz representing a massive 48% increase over the RTX 3070's boost clock speed of 1725 MHz. As an OC model, the ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070's 2550 MHz is a modest increase over the Founders Edition's 2475 MHz boost clock.

With all of the VRAM capacity talk of late, there is some good news for the RTX 4070, it features 12GB of GDDR6X memory, a 50% increase over the RTX 3070, even though the memory interface has been stripped back to a 192-bit bus. The GeForce RTX 4070 significantly increases L2 Cache size compared to the RTX 3070, with 36.8 MB on offer, which improves 1% low performance.

• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070
• Model: ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 OC Edition
• Interface: PCI Express 4.0
• CUDA Cores: 5888
• Tensor Cores: 184 (4th Generation)
• RT Cores: 46 (3rd Generation)
• Clocks: Base Clock: OC Mode: 2550 MHz, Default: 2520 MHz
• Memory: 12GB GDDR6X
• Memory Speed: 21 Gbps
• Memory Interface: 192-bit
• Total Memory Bandwidth: 504 GB/s
• Display Connections: 3 x DisplayPort, 1 x HDMI 2.1 x 1
• Power Connectors: 1 x PCIe 8-pin cable
• Recommended PSU: 650W
• What's in the Box: ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 OC Edition, Collector Card, Quick Start Guide

Kosta's Test System

• Motherboard: MSI MPG X670E Carbon Wi-Fi
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
• Cooler: Corsair iCUE H100i RGB PRO XT Liquid CPU Cooler
• RAM: 64GB (2x32GB) Corsair DOMINATOR PLATINUM RGB DDR5 DRAM 5200MHz
• SSD: Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus-G M.2 PCIe Gen 4 SSD 4TB, Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus Plus M.2 PCIe Gen 4 SSD 8TB
• Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 850W
• Case: Thermaltake Core P3 Tempered Glass Snow
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 64-bit

Physical Design and Cooling

With a 2.56-slot thickness and dimensions of 267.01 x 133.94 x 51.13 mm, the ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 OC Edition is the sort of GPU you could recommend to pretty much anyone without having to remind them or inform them that in 2023 buying a powerful GPU means building a PC around a giant GPU.

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That is, it should fit all new builds without causing an issue. Even so, the ASUS Dual aesthetic is stylish with an enclosed look that sees the plastic shroud on the front wrap around to meet the metal backplate. There are a few silly flourishes like the random text 'SPACE' and '2049' placed at random spots, but these tack a back seat to the high-tech look that also features a transparent top.

Looks aren't everything, so it's nice to see that ASUS has delivered when it comes to the overall build quality and cooling. With two Axial-tech fans (with dial ball fan bearings) designed to improve airflow, you've also got great touches in the form of an aluminum backplate, a stainless steel bracket, and 0dB technology that has the fans turn off when GPU temperatures drop below 50 degrees Celsius. This happens quite a bit thanks to the GeForce RTX 4070's exceptional power efficiency and cutting-edge design.

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Even when put through its paces, the ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 OC Edition remains remarkably cool and quiet, with temperatures below 60 degrees Celsius and fan speeds hovering at around 50% or roughly 1100 RPM. But, we did experience some strange behavior with the ASUS Dual, where the fans would initially begin at high speed before ramping down to near silent levels after a few seconds. This happened a few times, so it's worth noting.

Benchmarks - 15 Game Averages

The Games and Tests

In 2023 PC gaming is a complicated and varied space, from indie games to major blockbuster releases and titles that push hardware and technology to their limit with the adoption of effects like real-time ray-tracing.

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This is all a way of saying that the 15 in-game benchmarks we've chosen (and run at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K) represent a wide range of styles, not only in terms of genres, like first-person shooters and racing games but also in the API technology (DirectX 11, 12) and cutting-edge features like ray tracing and upscaling technology.

Results include DLSS and FSR 2, where possible, as both technologies are the sorts of things, especially in 4K, which you'd turn on. Six of the 15 game benchmarks also feature ray tracing, a great way to see the additional benefit of NVIDIA's DLSS and Frame Generation technology. Also, each title is set to ultra-equivalent quality settings to push GPU hardware and minimize CPU bottlenecks at higher resolutions.

Also, it's just fun to max out a game's visual settings and see the results. Here's the breakdown of games, graphics settings, and what's being tested.

And with 15 games, a special shoutout goes to Sabrent for providing us with the storage to ensure we can keep everything installed - and then some - with both the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus-G M.2 PCIe Gen 4 SSD 4TB and Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus Plus M.2 PCIe Gen 4 SSD 8TB offering exceptional performance, capacity, and reliability.

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We can keep all our benchmark software installed while also installing every new game release that comes our way.

• Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Ultra High-quality settings, with the in-game benchmark tool used.
• Borderlands 3: Ultra quality settings, with the in-game benchmark tool used.
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II: Ultra quality setting, in-game multiplayer benchmark tool used.
• Cyberpunk 2077: Ultra quality setting, in-game benchmark tool used. AMD FSR and NVIDIA DLSS results are included.
• Cyberpunk 2077 (RT): Ray tracing Ultra quality setting, in-game benchmark tool used. AMD FSR and NVIDIA DLSS results are included.
• DOOM Eternal (RT): Ultra Nightmare quality setting with ray-tracing enabled, the opening of Mars Core campaign level used to benchmark.
• F1 22 (RT): Ultra High-quality setting with ray tracing, one lap of the Bahrain track benchmarked. AMD FSR and NVIDIA DLSS results are included.
• Forza Horizon 5 (RT): Extreme quality setting with ray tracing enabled, in-game benchmark tool used. AMD FSR and NVIDIA DLSS results are included.
• Hitman (RT): Ultra-quality settings with ray-tracing, Dubai scene benchmarked. AMD FSR and NVIDIA DLSS results are included. A May 2023 update to the game has greatly improved performance, so comparison results for this game are excluded for now (but still factored into the averages).
• Horizon Zero Dawn: Ultimate quality setting, in-game benchmark used.
• Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (RT): Ultra quality setting with ray tracing enabled, the in-game benchmark tool used.
• Rainbow Six Extraction: Ultra quality settings and in-game benchmark tool used.
• Red Dead Redemption 2: Maximum quality settings, with in-game benchmark tool used. AMD FSR and NVIDIA DLSS results are included.
• The Division 2: Ultra quality settings with in-game benchmark tool used.
• Total War: Warhammer III: Ultra-quality settings with the in-game Battle Benchmark tool used.

15 Game Average FPS - 1080p Results

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If you're looking for something for 1080p gaming, you might want to consider something like the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti rather than the ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 OC Edition. But it's still a widely used resolution, the most popular according to the latest Steam Hardware Survey results, and the average frame rate of 157 fps beats the GeForce RTX 3080 by 6.8% and the GeForce RTX 3070 by an impressive 34.2%. This puts the 1080p performance for the ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 OC Edition within striking distance of the GeForce RTX 4090, depending on the title.

Best of all, the GeForce RTX 4070 uses substantially less power than its previous generation counterpart and still manages a 34.2% increase in 1080p performance. Of course, there is still some CPU bottleneck action at this resolution, but with average frame rates and 1% lows in the triple-digits, the RTX 4070 is a beast for those that game on a high refresh-rate 1080p display.

15 Game Average FPS - 1440p Results

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For a mid-range GPU like the ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 OC Edition, 1440p is the sweet spot where you get a crisper image and better overall fidelity than 1080p. The good news is that the performance drop-off from 1080p to 1440p is only 27.4%, so you're still looking at an average frame rate across the 15 games benchmarked of 114 fps.

The results here once again beat out the GeForce RTX 3080 but only slightly, with the performance uplift compared to the GeForce RTX 4070 being a respectable 32.6% - maintaining the sort of generational bump you'd expect to see. Once again, it's worth mentioning that the efficiency of the ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 OC Edition means that it's delivering similar performance to the GeForce RTX 3080, using 183W of power on average, compared to the RTX 3080's 307W.

With DLSS Super Resolution and DLSS 3's Frame Generation, you're looking at a GPU that can deliver uncompromised 1440p performance with or without ray-tracing and other hardware-intensive visual effects. Even though the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is notably more powerful, the more affordable RTX 4070 is, the better value 1440p option.

15 Game Average FPS - 4K Results

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Switching things up to 4K and the ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 OC Edition shows its limitations, at least from a raw performance perspective. Compared to what it can do when playing games in 1440p, going 4K means a sizable 44.7% drop off in overall performance. The good news is that this is still on par with the GeForce RTX 3080, with nearly identical results.

Compared to the GeForce RTX 3070, you're still looking at a 28.6% increase in 4K gaming performance. With that, you might say that the ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 OC Edition would be an excellent choice for an Ultrawide 21:9 1440p display with more pixels than 1440p but fewer than native 4K. Still, DLSS does pick up a lot of the slack, with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II hitting an impressive 91 fps on average, with ray-traced racing game F1 22 hitting an average frame rate of 77 fps.

Benchmarks - 3DMark FireStrike

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3DMark FireStrike is a DirectX 11 test that has been around for many years and covers quite a large portion of games released over the past decade - at least in terms of the API and graphics technologies used. The three tests cover the resolutions - 1080p, 1440p, and 4K. Looking at the 1440p FireStrike Extreme test, the ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 OC Edition delivers a result 27.3% higher than the previous gen's RTX 3070, 16.1% higher than the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, and a result 21% lower than the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti.

The three 3DMark FireStrike benchmarks reinforce the in-game benchmark results for the GeForce RTX 4070, painting a picture of a smaller and more efficient GeForce RTX 3080. 4K is the only exception, where it falls behind. The ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 OC Edition delivered similar results compared to the Founders Edition model.

Benchmarks - 3DMark TimeSpy and Port Royal

With 3DMark TimeSpy being DirectX 12-based, it's a more relevant synthetic benchmark for modern games. The ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 OC Edition performs on par with the GeForce RTX 3080 in the standard 1440p benchmark while falling behind in the 4K-based TimeSpy Extreme - ala FireStrike. The 1440p score is 26% higher than the previous generation's GeForce RTX 3070.

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Finally, we come to the 3DMark Port Royal synthetic ray-tracing benchmark, and here the ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 OC Edition results show a significant leap forward for real-time ray tracing. Compared to the RTX 3070, the 34.9% increase in ray-tracing performance again puts performance in the realm of the GeForce RTX 3080 - though with considerably less power usage.

1440p with DLSS, the ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 can render Cyberpunk 2077 with RT using the DLSS Quality setting at an average of 68 frames per second. This result is on par with AMD's flagship Radeon RX 7900 XTX using the FSR 2 Quality Mode - a remarkable result for a 200W card. And a reminder that NVIDIA is still a generation ahead of the competition regarding ray tracing.

Benchmarks - 1080p Gaming

Benchmarks - 1440p Gaming

Benchmarks - 4K Gaming

Benchmarks Summary, Ray-Tracing Performance, and DLSS 3

When looking at the averages and individual benchmark results, the GeForce RTX 4070 story is pretty straightforward - RTX 3080-like performance using less power, with better results when playing games in 1080p or 1440p. And it's here where it's worth reminding everyone that the GeForce RTX 3080 is still a very capable GPU and delivers more impressive visuals than the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X.

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In specific titles like Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Forza Horizon 5, you're looking at 1080p and 1440p performance that even manages to beat out the GeForce RTX 3090 - which is still a monster of a GPU for gaming. Bumping up the resolution to 4K and the ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 still matches the GeForce RTX 3080 for the most part, but it's a case of diminishing returns.

That is until you enable DLSS 3 and Frame Generation.

At 1440p, the DLSS 3 results are eye-opening. Cyberpunk 2077, using the Ultra ray-tracing setting, the triple-digit frame-rate result with DLSS 3 represents a 2.8X increase over native 1440p rendering. This is also using the DLSS Quality setting to maintain excellent visual quality. The similarly ray-tracing intensive Hitman in 1440p offers up a 2X increase in performance with DLSS 3 versus native rendering. For F1 22 in 1440p, you're also looking at a 2X boost, with Forza Horizon 5 offering a more modest 1.3X increase.

With NVIDIA confirming that DLSS 3 adoption in games is happening faster than DLSS 2 when it launched, it's looking like Frame Generation is of the killer features of the Ada Lovelace generation. Plus, it's excellent to see that it works on a GeForce RTX 4070 and isn't limited to flagship GPUs like the RTX 4090 and RTX 4080.

Temperature and Power Efficiency

Okay, so this review has mentioned the impressive power efficiency of the GeForce RTX 4070 several times so far - so let's take a look at wattage. We are highlighting, in particular, the 1440p results, which take the average power draw and usage from our full 15-game benchmark suite.

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With 1440p results showing a generational leap in performance over the GeForce RTX 4070, the ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 manages this by using 13.7% less power on average. The real eye-opener comes when you compare power usage with the GeForce RTX 3080, and here you're looking at similar performance but with 40.4% less power being used by the ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070.

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Not only is it a power-efficient 1440p-capable GPU, but the ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 is quiet and cool, with temperatures under full load staying below 60 degrees with a hot spot of 64.1 degrees. It makes sense that you're looking at cooler temps with less power being drawn. Still, it's also indicative of the excellent cooling found on the ASUS Dual model - even with it being a more compact model with two fans as opposed to a more extensive three-fan heatsink setup. And the bonus of staying cool is that fan speeds are generally low to the point where you'd call the ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 a silent performer.

Final Thoughts

The GeForce RTX 4070 is well and truly here, a more power-efficient GeForce RTX 3080 in some ways, but also an excellent example of the new Ada Lovelace architecture scaling well in a mid-range product. This means you've got features like AV1 encoding, DLSS 3's Frame Generation, improvements to ray tracing, and more.

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And with that, the ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 OC Edition is an excellent choice if you're looking for a more compact 2.5-slot model that delivers similar results to NVIDIA's own Founders Edition model with room for some OC action. ASUS offers its GPU Tweak III software for that very purpose, and with the ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 installed, you can hit the OC Mode button for a modest boost to clock speeds. We tweaked this higher with some manual settings and saw a slight improvement in in-game performance without affecting temperatures or cooling.

Ultimately, the GeForce RTX 4070 feels like a new and improved GeForce RTX 3080, one of the most sought-after and popular GPUs ever. DLSS 3 is a game changer, and it's showing up in more and more titles with each passing month. Frame Generation is something you'd enable in several games, just as you would if DLSS Super Resolution is in the options.

These features sit alongside the raw performance capabilities of the underlying hardware that make the ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 OC Edition a winner. We wish NVIDIA launched this with the same USD 499 MSRP of the GeForce RTX 3070 as it did with the release of the RTX 4060 Ti, where that GPU's price matched the previous gen's RTX 3060 Ti.