NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Founders Edition Video Card Review

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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Founders Edition Video Card

Introduction

Today, March 4th, 2025, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Founders Edition is launching, with the availability of video cards, as well as factory overclocked non-MSRP video cards, on March 5th, 2025. The GeForce RTX 5070 is NVIDIA’s $549 GeForce RTX 50 series GPU based on the Blackwell architecture. The GeForce RTX 5070 is a 12GB GDDR7 video card with features such as DLSS 4 and Multi-Frame Generation. If you haven’t checked out our recent GeForce RTX 50 series reviews, we have the GeForce RTX 5090 FE, GeForce RTX 5080 FE, and GeForce RTX 5070 Ti video cards reviewed on our site.

The GeForce RTX 5090 sits at the top of the GPU stack as a flagship video card with a $1,999 MSRP. The GeForce RTX 5080 sits much farther down the stack as a $999 MSRP video card with 16GB of GDDR7. The GeForce RTX 5070 Ti fits in under the GeForce RTX 5080 also as a 16GB GDDR7 video card at $749 MSRP. The new GeForce RTX 5070 being launched today fits in under the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, but as a 12GB GDDR7 video card for $549, and uses a smaller GB205 die compared to the RTX 5070 Ti’s GB203.

The GeForce RTX 5070 utilizes the GB205 die, which interestingly is not the full specification of GB205, it is cut down by 1 TPC, and 2 SMs from the full specification of GB205. The GeForce RTX 5070 GPU is based on the NVIDIA Blackwell architecture, and the GB205 is based on the TSMC 4nm 4N NVIDIA custom process, which is the same as the previous generation Ada Lovelace. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 supports a PCI-Express 5.0 (Gen5) interface.

The GeForce RTX 5070 at $549 can be equated as a successor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which launched in April of 2023 at an MSRP of $599. It can also be equated as a successor to the more recent GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER launched in January of 2024 with an MSRP of $599 as well, in which the GeForce RTX 4070 officially moved down to $549 at that time. Both the GeForce RTX 4070 and GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER were based on the same AD104 die, with the SUPER getting a large upgrade in shader and raster performance. It is, therefore, a departure, in comparison to the previous generation, for the RTX 5070 to utilize the “xxx05” die, while the previous generation in this model used the “xxx04” die.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 consists of 5 GPCs, 24 TPCs, and 48 SMs with 128 CUDA Cores per SM. When you add all this up, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 has 6,144 CUDA Cores, 192 5th Gen Tensor Cores, 48 4th Gen RT Cores, 80 ROPs, and 192 Texture Units. The L1 Data Cache/Shared memory size is 6144KB, and the L2 cache size is 49152 KB. The GPU Boost Clock is set at 2512MHz. Memory consists of 12GB of GDDR7 on a 192-bit memory bus at 28Gbps, giving it 672GB/s of memory bandwidth. The TGP (Total Graphics Power) is 250W.

GeForce RTX 5070GeForce RTX 4070 SUPERGeForce RTX 4070
GPU CodenameGB205AD104AD104
ArchitectureBlackwellAda LovelaceAda Lovelace
ProcessTSMC 4N NVIDIATSMC 4N NVIDIATSMC 4N NVIDIA
SMs485646
CUDA Cores614471685888
RT Cores48 (4th Gen)56 (3rd Gen)46 (3rd Gen)
Tensor Cores192 (5th Gen)224 (4th Gen)184 (4th Gen)
ROPs808064
Texture Units192224184
GPU Boost2512MHz2475MHz2475MHz
VRAM12GB GDDR712GB GDDR6X12GB GDDR6X
Memory Interface192-bit192-bit192-bit
Memory Clock28Gbps21Gbps21Gbps
Memory Bandwidth672 GB/s504 GB/sec504 GB/sec
TGP250W220W200W

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Pictures

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Founders Edition is a small video card, and not very heavy, it will fit very well in a small case or small build. The video card measures 242mm in length (9.5″), 112mm (4.4″) in width, and is a 2-slot video card. This actually makes the GeForce RTX 5070 just a hair shorter than the GeForce RTX 4070 and GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER, which have a length of 244mm (9.6″) in length, with the same width and 2-slot nature. In terms of power, NVIDIA recommends a 650W PSU using 2x PCIe 8-pin cables (adapter in box) or a 300W or greater PCIe Gen 5 cable. The video card does support PCI-Express 5.0 x16.

The GeForce RTX 5070 Founders Edition utilizes NVIDIA’s custom dual-fan cooling solution, with half of the GPU venting air passing through the heatsink completely, but the other half not, it has a solid backing. The backside of the vents do have the curved nature, however, to improve air pressure and noise levels.

Both of the fans pull in air and push it out, there is a bit of openness on the I/O shield where hot air can escape as well. The 12VHPWR 2×6 connector is positioned at an angle atop the video card, and the included power adapter cable is quite bulky on the connector end; it’s built very sturdy. The video card also features the top and bottom air deflectors to keep hot air from circulating back into the video card.

In terms of display support, you’ll find 3x DisplayPort 2.1b with UHBR20: up to 4K 480Hz or 8K 165Hz with DSC and 1x HDMI 2.1b: up to 4K 480Hz or 8K 120Hz with DSC, Gaming VRR, and HDR. There is no RGB or LEDs on this video card, which should make for a very nice stealthed-out kind of build.

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REVIEW OVERVIEW

Gaming Performance
7
Build Quality and Cooling
10
Value
7

SUMMARY

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Founders Edition is aimed at the $549 price point, with Blackwell architecture and DLSS 4 features. Its gaming performance is for the most part stagnant with the previous generation GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER, and has its weakness in raster performance, and RT performance, though a slight performance improvement in compute related workloads in games. Featured also with 12GB of GDDR7, we see another stagnation in terms of VRAM capacity for this price point, and generation. Overall, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Founders Edition is built well, but lacks the "next generation" feel in gameplay improvement, and reminds us of a card we already had in the GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER.
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

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