ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12GB OC Edition Video Card Review

The FPS Review may receive a commission if you purchase something after clicking a link in this article.

ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC Conclusion

In today’s video card review, we put the new ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12GB GDDR6X OC Edition (TUF-RTX4070Ti-O12G-GAMING) to the test. This video card heralds the new launch of NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4070 Ti GPU as a new entrant into the GeForce RTX 40 Series. The NVIDIA MSRP is $799, however, there are no Founders Edition video cards, instead, this is an add-in-board partner launch, and therefore prices will vary based on manufacturer and SKU. The particular model we reviewed today is a custom factory overclocked card from ASUS in its TUF branding and has an MSRP of $849.99. We tested performance at 4K, 1440p, Ray Tracing, and DLSS.

GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Gameplay Experiences

We have spent a lot of time with the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, playing games at both 1440p, and 4K, with and without Ray Tracing and DLSS. Based on our gameplay experiences we feel that the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti starts to have a performance drop off as you approach 4K gaming. We feel that this is due to constrained bandwidth. The behavior is that of a bandwidth fall-off bottleneck. 

The GeForce RTX 3090 Ti, GeForce RTX 3090, and Radeon RX 7900 XT seem to handle 4K better.  Those cards can hold on to performance longer, but the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti has a larger performance drop at 4K compared to 1440p between those video cards. At 1440p though, the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti does extremely well. Note that this is without upscaling taken into account, just pure native resolution performance.

When you take DLSS into account, this bandwidth constraint is relieved at 4K, and the video card is able to perform much better. Therefore it can achieve a playable 4K experience, but the use of upscaling, like DLSS, will be a common factor in providing that experience. As for 1440p, upscaling is not needed, its native 1440p experience is a very good one. It can provide a high level of performance in the most demanding games without needing any special help.

As an upgrade from something like a GeForce RTX 3070 Ti from the last generation, the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti seems to offer between a 30-60% performance uplift depending on the settings and game. We found that the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti particularly does well with DLSS performance when Ray Tracing is being used. We seem to have experienced a larger boost in DLSS performance, compared to the RTX 3090 and RTX 3090 Ti even. The DLSS performance on the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti seems to be a strong point, as well as its Ray Tracing performance over the previous generation.

GeForce RTX 4070 Ti vs Radeon RX 7900 XT Performance

Comparing the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti to the Radeon RX 7900 XT is multi-faceted. Answering which is better really depends on your use case, and what you are looking for.

If you are after pure raster performance and don’t care about Ray Tracing, the Radeon RX 7900 XT seems to offer better performance.  At 1440p there was only one game where the Radeon RX 7900 XT was slower, Dying Light 2, but in every other game, it was faster than the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti at 1440p.  At 4K the Radeon RX 7900 XT was faster in every game we tested.

If you do care about Ray Tracing performance, and want to use that feature in games, then the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti will offer a performance advantage.  At 1440p the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti had a larger advantage in Ray Tracing performance over the Radeon RX 7900 XT, it will offer a playable gameplay experience with Ray Tracing at 1440p.  At 4K, the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti still holds a performance advantage over the Radeon RX 7900 XT with Ray Tracing, but the margins are much smaller, and the Radeon RX 7900 XT catches up to the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti because the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti performance falls off a cliff when it hits 4K resolution.

The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti has some advantages, including DLSS and DLSS 3 support, which will improve that performance at 4K.  Both video cards can benefit from FSR in games that support it, but only the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti can also use DLSS and DLSS 3 Frame Generation in games that support it.  That does give you more upscaling options which will make a positive impact on the gameplay experience at 4K.

GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Performance Summary

Is the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti faster than a GeForce RTX 3090 Ti?  It really depends on the game. At 1440p there are some games that it can be faster, but really it’s 50/50.  At 4K, more often than not it is under the RTX 3090 Ti in performance. Generally speaking, performance sits between the GeForce RTX 3090 and GeForce RTX 3090 Ti, and at worse, is equal to the GeForce RTX 3090.

Is the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti faster than a Radeon RX 7900 XT?  In Ray Tracing, Yes.  In raster performance, No.  Generally speaking, the Radeon RX 7900 XT is faster, and in this review, it wasn’t even overclocked, yet was still beating the factory-overclocked, GeForce RTX 4070 Ti.  The Radeon RX 7900 XT offers more bandwidth, and this shines through at higher resolutions, and games that benefit from that specific advantage.  The one downside of the Radeon RX 7900 XT is its Ray Tracing, and for that, the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti will win every time, regardless of resolution, though some games had a narrower margin than we expected.

Which has better upscaling performance?  Well, this one is a wash.  The performance benefit from DLSS or FSR is rather close, and with those features utilized can boost either card from a non-playable performance to a playable performance level.  For example, making 4K gaming viable with these video cards, or Ray Tracing viable at 1440p or 4K.  The Radeon RX 7900 XT can only utilize FSR, but the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti has the support advantage as it can run DLSS and FSR in games that have either, or just one.  The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti can also support DLSS 3 Frame Generation, to further boost performance, and the Radeon RX 7900 XT currently has nothing similar.

The Obligatory Price Rant

Now let’s rant about pricing. We would not be out of line in saying we wish the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti would be priced lower than $799.99. I think most people would agree with this assessment. This is after all an ‘xx70’ class GPU, and typically mid-range to performance GPU pricing has never been this high. The GeForce RTX 3070 Ti launched at $599.99 MSRP. It is obvious that each GPU tier has risen in price. What was mid-range pricing, is now high-end, and so forth.

What’s worse, the price and performance are going up almost linearly, and that is not preferred. Performance has increased, but so has the price, by at least 33% (and higher with AIB OC SKUs). When you take that into account, is the performance uplift from the previous generation really all that exciting? You are paying more for it. Yet, people still buy video cards at these prices. The pricing issue in general is terrible, and we don’t like it, but at the end of the day, it is up to you and your wallet.

If we compare the $799.99 MSRP to the Radeon RX 7900 XT’s MSRP of $899.99 the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti will be less expensive.  The one we reviewed today is $850, and thus is cheaper than the $899 made by AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, and this RTX 4070 Ti is factory overclocked and does overclock quite well.  If you went with a reference MSRP-priced one, it would be $799.99 and therefore $100 less than the Radeon RX 7900 XT reference spec cards.  Naturally, both cards do have more expensive AIB factory overclocked cards, and therefore the pricing gets more muddied and can cross each other and switch positions.  It just depends on which models you spring for, and if you think that is worth it.

Final Points

ASUS has put together a well-made and well-engineered video card. The ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12GB GDDR6X OC Edition video card carries the same ASUS quality and is cooled very well. We found the cooling to be more than adequate, and it does not hold back overclocking potential. It does not run loud, and we found plenty of overclocking headroom to shoot past 3GHz with it. It can overclock quite high on GPU and memory. Overclocking will yield around a 6-9% performance boost.

We were also very excited about its power efficiency. It provides between RTX 3090 and RTX 3090 Ti performance using less power than an RTX 3070 Ti. That power efficiency should not be overlooked. NVIDIA has done wonders with Ada Lovelace’s architecture power efficiency as the die scales down. ASUS GPU Tweak III was easy to use when it comes to overclocking, and the OSD to monitor the video card in games works seamlessly. At $849.99, this TUF O12G model has it all. Optionally, there is a TUF 12G model at the $799.99 MSRP.

Join the discussion in our forums...

REVIEW OVERVIEW

Gaming Performance
8
Power Efficiency
10
Build and Cooling
10
Price Value
8

SUMMARY

We reviewed the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC video card, putting it up against the competition at 4K, 1440p, with and without Ray Tracing and DLSS. Performance was strong at 1440p, and with Ray Tracing and DLSS, though it starts to fall off in performance as you approach 4K. It offers a good performance upgrade from the previous generation, but the overall price point for this class of GPU has risen to new heights as well. It is an excellent build by ASUS, and the power effeciency is second to none.
Brent Justicehttps://www.thefpsreview.com
Former managing editor of GPUs at HardOCP for 18 years, Brent Justice has been reviewing computer components since the late 90s, educated in the art and method of the computer hardware review, he brings experience, knowledge, and hands-on testing with a gamer-oriented and hardware enthusiast perspective. You can follow him on Twitter - @Brent_Justice You can sub to his YouTube channel - Justice Gaming https://www.youtube.com/c/JusticeGamingChannel You can check out his computer builds on KIT - @BrentJustice https://kit.co/BrentJustice

Recent News

We reviewed the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC video card, putting it up against the competition at 4K, 1440p, with and without Ray Tracing and DLSS. Performance was strong at 1440p, and with Ray Tracing and DLSS, though it starts to fall off in performance as you approach 4K. It offers a good performance upgrade from the previous generation, but the overall price point for this class of GPU has risen to new heights as well. It is an excellent build by ASUS, and the power effeciency is second to none.ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12GB OC Edition Video Card Review