NVIDIA’s release of the RTX 40 SUPER series GPUs offers choices for gamers, not to mention better pricing this time around. Unlike the 4070 Ti Super and 4080 Super, the 4070 Super will not replace its predecessor. Instead, the RTX 4070 Super will have the starting price of the RTX 4070 at $599, and the RTX 4070 will get a price cut, currently retailing for ~$540. Gamers now have the option to choose between the older but cheaper RTX 4070 or the newer and faster RTX 4070 Super. So, which of the two GPUs is the better pick? Is it worth spending more and getting an RTX 4070 Super, or save some cash and get the RTX 4070? Our review comparison will help you decide better; find out below.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super vs. RTX 4070 GPU – Which has the better value?
The RTX 4070 SUPER features an AD104 GPU and Ada Lovelace architecture. It’s not the full AD104 but has a configuration and specs between the 4070 and (to be discontinued) RTX 4070 Ti. It features 7168 CUDA cores, a ~21.7% increase from the RTX 4070, 224 Tensor, and 56 RT cores. Most of the specs are bumped up, except in the memory department.
Like the RTX 4070, the RTX 4070 Super (still) has 12GB GDDR6X VRAM with an effective clock speed of 21Gbps and a memory bandwidth of 504 GB/s running on a 192-bit memory interface. Unfortunately, you’ll have to spend more and get the RTX 4070 Ti Super if you need a higher VRAM. Conversely, despite NVIDIA’s decision not to increase its VRAM, the 4070 Super still offers a decent performance increase from the 4070.
Meanwhile, we are already familiar with the RTX 4070 at this point. It has 5,888 CUDA Cores, providing 29 FP32 Shader-TFLOPS of power for rendering traditional rasterized graphics. It also has 184 4th-gen Tensor Cores offering 466 Tensor-TFLOPS (with Sparsity) for AI processing and DLSS; 46 3rd-gen Ada RT Cores capable of 67 RT-TFLOPS for powering next-generation ray-traced graphics; and 12GB of GDDR6X memory.
As for the video encoders, unfortunately, NVIDIA didn’t increase the encoder on the RTX 4070 Super. Again, if you need a GPU with dual encoders, it’s only available on the RTX 4070 Ti Super and upwards. Based on the specs alone, it looks like the RTX 4070 Super is just a “super-charged” RTX 4070 at no additional cost.
Below are the full specifications of the RTX 4070 and RTX 4070 Super, and I also added the RTX 4070 Ti for comparison.
RTX 4070 Super vs RTX 4070 GPU Specifications
| Graphics Card | RTX 4070 | RTX 4070 SUPER | RTX 4070 Ti |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fabrication Process | TSMC 4N NVIDIA Custom Process | TSMC 4N NVIDIA Custom Process | TSMC 4N NVIDIA Custom Process |
| Transistor Count | 35.8 billion | 35.8 billion | 35.8 billion |
| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Ada Lovelace | Ada Lovelace |
| GPU | AD104 | AD104 | AD104 |
| Graphics Processing Clusters | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| Texture Processing Clusters | 23 | 28 | 30 |
| Streaming Multiprocessors | 46 | 56 | 60 |
| CUDA Cores | 5888 | 7168 | 7680 |
| Tensor Cores | 184 (4th Gen) | 224 (4th Gen) | 240 (4th Gen) |
| RT Cores | 46 (3rd Gen) | 56 (3rd Gen) | 60 (3rd Gen) |
| Texture Units | 184 | 224 | 240 |
| ROPs | 64 | 80 | 80 |
| Boost Clock | 2475 MHz | 2475 MHz | 2610 MHz |
| Memory Clock | 10500 MHz | 1313 MHz | 10500 MHz |
| Memory Data Rate | 21 Gbps | 21 Gbps | 21 Gbps |
| L2 Cache Size | 36.9MB | 48MB | 49.15MB |
| Total Video Memory | 12 GB GDDR6X | 12 GB GDDR6X | 12 GB GDDR6X |
| Memory Interface | 192-bit | 192-bit | 192-bit |
| Total Memory Bandwidth | 504 GB/s | 504 GB/s | 504 GB/s |
| Texture Rate | 455.4 Gigatexels/sec | 554.4 Gigatexels/sec | 626 Gigatexels/sec |
| Connectors | 3 x DisplayPort 1 x HDMI | 3 x DisplayPort 1 x HDMI | 3 x DisplayPort 1 x HDMI |
| Minimum Power Supply | 650 Watts | 650 Watts | 700 Watts |
| Total Graphics Power (TGP) | 200 Watts | 220 Watts | 285 Watts |
| PCI Express Interface | Gen 4 | Gen 4 | Gen 4 |
| Release Date | April 2023 | January 2024 | January 2023 |
| Launch Price | $599 $549 (new) | $599 | $799 |
Check the latest pricing and availability: (#ad)
RTX 4070 SUPER graphics cards are available on Amazon here.
GeForce RTX 4070 graphics cards are available on Amazon here.
GeForce RTX 4070 Ti graphics cards are available on Amazon here.
Test System Used
In testing these GPUs, I’m using an X670E motherboard with an AMD Ryzen 7 7700X. It also has a DDR5-5600MHz CL36 memory kit with the AMD EXPO profile enabled. Resizable BAR was also enabled from the BIOS settings. Below are the rest of the specifications of the system:
| Operating System | Windows 11 Pro |
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 7 7700X |
| Motherboard | MSI MPG X670E Carbon WiFi |
| Memory | Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5-6000MHz CL30 AMD EXPO |
| Graphics Cards | MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Super Gaming X Slim MLG NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Founders Edition |
| OS Drive | MSI Spatium M480 Play |
| Game Drive | SanDisk Extreme PRO Portable SSD V2 and Extreme Portable SSD V2 |
| Power Supply | MSI MPG A1000G PCIE5 |
| Chassis | OpenBench BC1 V2 |
| Monitor | MSI MPG 321URX QD-OLED 4K 240Hz |
I used 3DMark’s benchmark suite for synthetic benchmarks, 11 games for rasterization, and 2 for ray tracing with DLSS.
GeForce RTX 4070 Super vs. RTX 4070 – Synthetic Benchmarks
In the 3DMark benchmark suite, the RTX 4070 Super is generally faster in all benchmark tests. It is not a night and day difference but a substantial performance increase from the RTX 4070. Generally speaking, the RTX 4070 Super is about 20% faster than the RTX 4070 using the 3DMark’s benchmark suite.
These are just synthetic benchmarks and are graphics scores. So, let’s find out how these two GPUs compare in actual games next.
RTX 4070 Super vs. RTX 4070 Game Benchmarks
The RTX 4070 and newer RTX 4070 Super are gaming GPUs for 1440p gaming. You can also use it on a 1080p resolution, especially if you plan to use ray tracing; it would greatly help. In fact, the RTX 4070 or the 4070 Super are a much better GPU than the (gimped) RTX 4060 and 4060 Ti. Although these GPUs are not intended for 4K gaming, I also added 3840×2160 or 4K benchmarks. Perhaps some of you plan to get any of these GPUs for 4K gaming.
The results are clear and self-explanatory. The RTX 4070 Super is generally faster than the RTX 4070, especially at 1440p and 4k, where it has more room to “stretch its GPU”. Below is a graph that will give us a general view of the results I got during my tests.
Summary Results
At 1080p, the RTX 4070 Super is about 15% faster than the RTX 4070 on average. It is mostly CPU-bound at 1080p, so the performance difference could increase at higher resolutions.
Moving up to 1440p, the RTX 4070 Super is about 15% to 18% faster than RTX 4070. Sometimes, depending on the game title, it can even go as high as 19% faster. It is less CPU-bound at this resolution, and the GPUs have more room to stretch their legs.
Finally, at 4K or 2160p, the RTX 4070 Super is, on average, around 16% to 18% faster than the RTX 4070. While you can use the RTX 4070 Super to play games at 4K resolution, the experience is not the same as that of the RTX 4070 at 4K. The RTX 4070 will struggle, especially without the help of DLSS and if the game is graphics-intensive. I would not get any of these cards for 4K gaming since both cards only have 12GB of VRAM.
Pricing and Availability
At launch, the RTX 4070 had a starting price of $599, but most of the best RTX 4070 graphics cards were priced north of $600. With the release of the RTX 4070 Super, the 4070’s starting price is now only $550. I saw some RTX 4070 cards even sell for as low as $540.
On the other hand, the RTX 4070 Super starts at $599, replacing the RTX 4070’s position. Fortunately, availability isn’t an issue. There are plenty of RTX 4070 Super cards in the market. Even scalpers will have difficulty reselling these GPUs if they jack up the prices. So, pay the right amount for an RTX 4070 Super.
Check the latest pricing and availability: (#ad)
RTX 4070 SUPER graphics cards are available on Amazon here.
RTX 4070 graphics cards are available on Amazon here.
In Conclusion: Which GPU is Better? The RTX 4070 Super or RTX 4070?
With the release of the RTX 4070 Super and considering its price and performance, I can no longer recommend the RTX 4070, at least at its current price. The RTX 4070 Super offers a better price-to-performance than the RTX 4070. There’s only about a 9% price difference between the RTX 4070 and the RTX 4070 Super. But the RTX 4070 Super offers a 15% to 18% performance increase. The difference between the two GPUs is obvious: the RTX 4070 Super is a no-brainer.
You may only want to consider an RTX 4070 graphics card if it is priced at $500 or below. Even if the RTX 4070 card is priced at $535, the RTX 4070 Super is still the better value. I guess NVIDIA won’t be dropping the price of the RTX 4070 down to $500 or below since many RTX 4060 Ti 16GB are currently selling for around $450 to $480 – a terrible price/value. Not unless they also adjust the 4060 Ti’s pricing.
At the end of the day, the RTX 4070 Super is the better choice between the RTX 4070 and RTX 4070. While the RTX 4070 Super is about 9% more expensive than the RTX 4070, it is 15% to 18% faster, making it the better GPU.
You can check out the best RTX 4070 Super graphics cards here. Or, if you still want an RTX 4070 and save some cash, check out some of the best RTX 4070 graphics cards here.
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