Conclusion
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, which was announced at CES 2024 is here and we were able to test performance with the retail ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER MSRP video card. This video card will retail for $799 from ASUS and comes clocked at the reference clock speeds but with a robust, quiet, and cool custom cooling and design. ASUS will also offer an OC Edition with a factory overclock, as well as other SKUs from their lineup as well depending on your needs, though those can certainly demand higher pricing.
The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER uses the more capable GeForce RTX 4080 AD103 die, which allows a 256-bit memory bus and 16GB of VRAM plus more cores, RT cores, tensor cores, ROPs, and all. This upgrades the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti series to a better performance level, and with greater VRAM capacity the ability for more usable Ray Tracing and higher resolution gaming with all the bells and whistles turned on. It also extends the lifespan and allows games in 2024-2025 to perform better since Unreal Engine 5 games are pushing the boundaries of VRAM buffers.
GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER Musings
Overall, when it comes to rasterized gaming without Ray Tracing, the new GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is around 12% faster than the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. This was the common number we experienced mostly, without Ray Tracing. When Ray Tracing was used, this percentage number crept up slightly. With Ray Tracing the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER was more like 15% faster, with some outliers like Alan Wake 2. There are of course games, where the percentages were lower, around 10% or 11%, maybe even some under, as you lower the resolution. The highest differences were at 4K or with Ray Tracing.
Looking at performance compared to the Radeon RX 7900 XT is more mixed. The Radeon RX 7900 XT put up a competitive fight, and in many games was as fast as the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER or faster. When looking at raster performance, without Ray Tracing, the Radeon RX 7900 XT is compelling in its performance by comparison, and this was at 4K and 1440p. More often than not, there were standout games like Starfield, or Cyberpunk 2077, or Returnal or Dying Light 2 where the Radeon RX 7900 XT seemed to get the edge on the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER. Even in Alan Wake 2, performance was equal between the cards, delivering the same experience.
The one sore spot for the Radeon RX 7900 XT is once again Ray Tracing. This is going to be game dependent, and also depend on the types of Ray Tracing effects used and how heavily implemented they are. The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER has a huge lead in Path Tracing performance, as is shown in Alan Wake 2 and Cyberpunk 2077. Overall, the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is going to deliver much higher Ray Tracing performance in games. In some circumstances, you can use upscaling FSR on the Radeon RX 7900 XT to make it playable, but this brings up the image quality of FSR at 1440p.
That is an advantage the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER has, DLSS, and RTX features. When the going gets tough on the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER with Ray Tracing you can also use upscaling on it with DLSS. Overall, DLSS has superior image quality to FSR at lower resolutions, like 1440p. You will more likely want to use DLSS on the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER than you would want to use FSR on the Radeon RX 7900 XT at 1440p if you also want to get good Ray Tracing image quality. The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER also has DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction support, to improve Ray Tracing image quality. In games that support it, like Alan Wake 2 and Cyberpunk 2077, its Ray Tracing image quality is unmatched.
Radeon RX 7900 XT Pricing
AMD is offering a special promotional pricing program for select etailers and retailers this quarter for the Radeon RX 7900 XT that brings it down to $749 from its MSRP of $899. That means it could be found cheaper than the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, and it does have more VRAM even at 20GB, though we feel 16GB is perfectly fine at this price range, still, it’s a difference worth noting that could matter. The Radeon RX 7900 XT has also proven that it can be just as fast, if not faster in several games, compared to the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, as long as Ray Tracing is off.
When the Radeon RX 7900 XT was $899, this would have made the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER the no-brainer choice. However, if this “price drop” remains, it will put a lot of pressure on the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER. Even if the Radeon RX 7900 XT went back up to $799, it would still be competitive and could sway buyers. We will have to see how pricing remains after Q1 of this year.
The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER has a lot going for it compared to the competition: DLSS upscaling image quality, DLSS 3 Frame Generation, DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction, and faster Ray Tracing performance. When you look at the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER as a whole package, it has a compelling feature set that many would argue can warrant a higher price premium than the competition.
The buyer has a tough choice, and having the options is great for the consumer, competition is good and has created a more exciting price segment at this price point in 2024, driving GPU prices down on both sides. We are getting more performance now, at lower price points, and this is a good thing all around, really good for PC gaming as a whole.
Final Points
The ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is a really great video card for gamers and enthusiasts at the $799 price point. We found that it offers playable performance in games at 4K, and with DLSS upscaling you can enjoy 4K gaming at maximum settings. At 1440p it performs exceptionally and has a strong Ray Tracing performance that makes the feature viable in gameplay. With DLSS that is extended, and you really are able to enjoy games at their highest image quality without having to worry about hitting VRAM limits.
The increased VRAM capacity to 16GB can make a difference in high-resolution gaming, and with Ray Tracing, and is perfect for 4K gaming. This will make it so that the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER enjoys new game releases in 2024-2025. The extra performance over the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is a nice bonus, and since you are getting it at the same price point as the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti it creates a value increase at this price point.
We were also impressed with the power efficiency of the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, it doesn’t pull much more power compared to the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti yet gives us more performance for the very small power increase. We were also thrilled to see it had a lot of overclocking headroom and was able to apply Voltage in GPU Tweak III for even more. Even with that Voltage increase and extra power, it still remained just at 300W while gaming and remained very cool on automatic fan control.
The cooling solution on the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is top-notch, it runs quiet and cool in every mode. We do have to say the video card is a bit bulky, it wouldn’t hurt to have a slimmer video card, but that bulkiness also adds to the cooling and creates the cool running GPU temps and quiet operation.
Overall, the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is built TUF, and it shows. If you are in the market for a new GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER video card, check out the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER as an MSRP $799 RTX 4070 Ti SUPER.
