Gigabyte RTX 4070 Ti Gaming OC | Review

After a succession of rumors and indiscretions, NVIDIA has finally unveiled the new RTX 4070 Ti. Initially presented to the public as RTX 4080 12GB, the card immediately ended up at the center of criticism for the characteristics that were too distant from the RTX 4080 16GB and the high price; NVIDIA wisely ran for cover, initially withdrawing the card and reintroducing it at a later time, with a revised name (and list price) and, ideally, more in line with the product's performance.

Index

Technical characteristics Performance in 4K Performance in 4K with ray tracing Performance in 4K with ray tracing and DLSS Performance in Quad HD Consumption Temperatures Conclusions

Technical characteristics

The new RTX 4070 Ti makes use of the  processor graphic AD104, equipped with 35.8 billion transistors in an area of ​​295mm². The GPU, which offers 7680 Cuda cores, 60 RT cores and 240 Tensor cores with operating frequencies from 2,310MHz to 2,610MHz, is combined with 12GB of GDDR6X memory at 21Gbps on a 192-bit bus, for a total bandwidth of 504 2GB/s. The bus is one of the sore points of the new card, given that the RTX 4080 16GB has a 256-bit one which, combined with the faster 22.4Gbps memories, allows you to reach a bandwidth of 716.8GB/s, over 40% more. Finally, the TDP is equal to 285 watts.



The new RTX 4070 Ti doesn't have a Founders Edition, so for our review we received a custom model, specifically the Gigabyte RTX 4070 Ti Gaming OC. The customization is very similar to that seen with the Gigabyte RTX 4080 Gaming OC, not to mention identical: the small PCB has allowed for an even larger hole to be inserted in the gray metal backplate, for the benefit of cooling. The front has the classic hard plastic cover mostly black, but with gray details; the RGB LEDs are present both in the RGB Halo (the lighting around the fans, which among other things turns off when the 0dB mode is active) and in the upper part of the body.

Cooling is entrusted to a vapor chamber in direct contact with the CPU and a large heat sink, in turn cooled by three 10mm fans with the central one rotating in the opposite direction, so as to reduce turbulence and noise. The memories are instead cooled by the more classic thermal pads.





The Gigabyte RTX 4070 Ti Gaming OC measures 337x125x55 mm, occupies 2.75 slots and uses the new 16-pin connector. A support bracket is included in the package to prevent the weight from damaging the video card or motherboard. Given the reduced TDP, the adapter included in the package has only two 8 pins at the other end, so you won't have any particular problems with cable management; Speaking of power, NVIDIA recommends a power supply of at least 600 watts for this GPU. The port allocation includes one HDMI 2.1 and three DisplayPort 1.4. In terms of functionality, there is also the double BIOS, which allows you to choose between the classic OC and Silent modes to have a handful of MHz more or more silently.

Performance

To evaluate the performance of the new RTX 4070 Ti We used our usual suite of games, consisting of a good mix of different titles. Most of the benchmarks were performed at 4K resolution, but in this review we have also given space to some tests in Quad HD. The test platform consists of an Intel Core i9-12900K processor, cooled by a Corsair iCUE H150i Elite LCD 360mm heatsink and paired with 32GB of DDR5-6000 RAM.

4K performance

In the rasterization tests at 4K resolution we set the maximum quality in the games (except for Doom Eternal, where we select the "Ultra" preset), deactivating ray tracing, DLSS or FSR . Where available we take advantage of the integrated benchmark, while in titles where it is not present we follow a pre-established path, so as to make the test easily replicable.

In 2160p the RTX 4070 Ti performs practically like an RTX 3090, remaining just below the RTX 3090 Ti. The most marked differences between the now ex top of the range NVIDIA and the new GPU are found in Cyberpunk 2077 (-10%) and Horizon Zero Dawn (-14.5%), while in the other games the framerates are always very similar, with differences always below 5%. Taking an average of all the tests there is instead no difference between RTX 4070 Ti and RTX 3090, while the gap with the RTX 4080 is considerable and stands at around 19%.

Compared to AMD cards, the RTX 4o70 Ti is on average 11% slower than the RTX 7900 XT and 24% slower than the RX 7900 XTX. F1 22 is the title where the gap is widest, with the new NVIDIA GPU scoring -18% and -29% respectively compared to the two Radeons. Conversely, the situation is better in other games such as Doom Eternal, where the gap from the 7900 XT is practically nil (-1.1%), but as mentioned, Radeons are on average faster.

Performance in 4K with ray tracing

Enabling ray tracing benefits the performance of the RTX 4070 Ti, which can count on next-generation RT Cores. On average, the card is 8% faster than the RTX 3090  and only 1.5% slower than the RTX 3090 Ti, which however proves to be while the gap from the RTX 4080 remains around 19%.

In ray tracing, the comparison with AMD smiles at NVIDIA again, with the  RTX 4070 Ti on average 18% more performing than the RX 7900 XT  and with practically identical results to the RX 7900 XTX, which should be of a higher range given that it is placed on the same segment as the RTX 4080. These results only reconfirm the excellent work and experience of NVIDIA in handling ray tracing, with results not yet achieved by AMD.

4K performance with ray tracing and DLSS

Looking at the tests with ray tracing and DLSS, we find a situation similar to the previous one, with a minimal difference (1.9%) from the RTX 3090 Ti and performance 6.4% better than the RTX 3090. The RTX 4080 remains on average about 20% faster even in these benchmarks, asserting itself in all you the effects as a higher-end card.

Quad HD performance

Rasterization performance at 1440p resolution paints a not too bad picture different than described for 4K: the RTX 4070 Ti is almost as fast as an RTX 3090 Ti and ranks above the RTX 3090; however, it falls behind the two Radeon RX 7000 and the RTX 4080.

Power Consumption

The power consumption measurement paints an interesting picture that smiles at the RTX 4070 Ti, card which draws 272 watts and fits perfectly into the declared TDP of 285 watts. The new NVIDIA GPU consumes 37.5% less than the RTX 3090 Ti and 23% less than the RTX 3090, a sign that the new architecture does an excellent job guaranteeing similar/slightly higher performance with much lower consumption. Power draw is also lower than Radeons, by 12% for the RX 7900 XT and 20% for the RX 7900 XTX, respectively.

Temperature

Slightly different speech for the temperatures detected, which leave mixed sensations. In our gaming test, the Gigabyte RTX 4070 Ti Gaming OC clocked in at 67°C, the same value as the RTX 3090 Ti. It's a good value, but Gigabyte's custom has a really massive cooler (especially considering the small size of the PCB) and we would have expected a few degrees less. Despite being more compact and drawing more power, the Radeon RX 7900 XT runs slightly cooler.

Conclusions

NVIDIA has made the right choice by transforming the RTX 4080 12GB into this RTX 4070 Ti: a name that fits much better the performance guaranteed by the card even if a little less than the price, to which we will return later. Evaluating this new GPU isn't easy, especially since the fight with the RX 7900 XT is tight: let's see what the pros and cons are and who, in our opinion, should buy it.

Let's start with the performance: the RTX 4070 Ti is as fast as an RTX 3090 in rasterization and more powerful in ray tracing, where it is very close to the framerates of the RTX 3090 Ti. Compared to the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, the NVIDIA card (at 4K resolution) is instead 11% slower in raster, but 18% faster in RT.

Secondly, let's talk about power consumption: the RTX 4070 Ti has a TDP of 285 watts, but in our in-game tests, the actual power draw is 272 watts. The value can change from card to card and based on the title under examination, so we can simply say that the GPU operates within the TDP. The recorded value is 23% lower than that of the RTX 3090, which reaches 353 watts, and 12% lower than that of the RX 7900 XT, which reaches 310 watts absorbed. The new RTX 4070 Ti is therefore not only more efficient than RTX 3090 and RTX 3090 Ti, offering similar performance and lower consumption, but also convinces compared to the RX 7900 XT, which despite being faster in rasterization consumes more.



We now come to price, a very delicate topic as always. The RTX 4070 Ti has a list price of 919 Euros, but there is no Founders Edition. There will be some custom models that will cost this much, but others (probably most) will cost more; it is probable that the card will settle on an average price between €1,000 and €1,100. The figure is the same as that for which it was possible to find the RTX 3080 Ti, a card with which NVIDIA's newcomer has several aspects in common.

If we were to take this hypothesis for granted, the RTX 4070 Ti would cost practically as much as a Radeon RX 7900 XT and we could ask ourselves the question "Which video card to buy with 1000 Euros?". If for various reasons, which can be from gender to any other factor,  you have no interest in ray tracing and just want maximum raster performance,  then the right choice could be the  RX 7900 XT,  which guarantees higher framerates in both 4K and in QuadHD. If, on the other hand, you want a GPU capable of better managing RT effects and with new-generation technologies capable of improving framerates such as DLSS 3, then the RTX 4070 Ti would be a more appropriate choice.

We conclude with a relative consideration right at the price of the card, which will surely make many turn up their noses. 919 Euros is not a small amount for a 70 family card, especially considering that the RTX 3070 Ti Founders Edition was launched on the market at 649 Euros. However, the feeling, also considering the prices of AMD GPUs, is that this is the new normal; the dizzying increases in transport costs born of the chip crisis and the pandemic have never recovered and, taking into account the global macroeconomic situation, we can assume almost for sure that a mid-range video card will hardly cost 500-600 Euros again, a figure which it was possible to buy, at launch, a GTX 1070. The hope is that, with these new prices, the future entry level RTX 4060 will not have too high a price, even if a lot will depend on the performance offered: if the card was capable to manage Quad HD at 60 FPS in all games, in a moment where the most widespread resolution is still 1080p, could it really be defined as “entry level”?