Ever for the reason that introduction of the GTX 470 greater than a decade in the past, the xx70 card has been one thing of a regular for PC gaming, the go-to tier of efficiency that received’t wreck your funds for greater than a month or so. However with graphics card costs climbing ever greater, is that also the case? PCWorld’s Keith Might took it upon himself to reply that query, testing and evaluating the enhancements within the final 4 generations of playing cards: the GTX 1070 (2016), RTX 2070 (2018), RTX 3070 (2020), and RTX 4070 (proper freakin’ now).
Utilizing a few of our ordinary gaming benchmarks throughout 4 generations of playing cards reveals a reasonably regular and predictable delta for efficiency, even in some older video games with out the good thing about extra fashionable graphics optimization strategies. There are a couple of exceptions, like Trendy Warfare 2, however typically you’ll see the efficiency curve enhance with every card.
However since leap from GTX to RTX, Nvidia has been boasting much less tangible enhancements like help for ray tracing and DLSS, and used a few of these claims to justify the will increase in pricing. Are they price it? Operating by way of Cybeprunk’s benchmark on the RTX 2070, 3070, 4070, and 4070 with ray tracing and DLSS turned on, you may see a gradual enchancment in framerates thanks to those graphical shortcuts. The leap is even greater once you allow the improved DLSS 3, unique to the RTX 40 collection. You possibly can see related jumps when enabling the brand new Overdrive Mode with path tracing.
And do these jumps in efficiency justify the relative improve in value? For reference, the GTX 1070 launched at a retail value of $380 in 2016, whereas a brand new RTX 4070 will run you $600 at this time. (The Zotac card used on this comparability is $670.) That’s a large leap, even accounting for inflation… but it surely’s additionally the identical value because the RTX 2070Founders Version, after a quick drop final technology. Kieth concludes that the RTX 4070 is a predictable and justifiable enchancment in efficiency, particularly with the addition of DLSS 3, but it surely’s nothing to get too enthusiastic about.
