Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 overview and benchmarks

The RTX 50-series launch hasn’t gone easily thus far. Severely restricted inventory, excessive costs, and manufacturing points have left PC avid gamers annoyed. Now, Nvidia is attempting to get issues on track with the RTX 5070, a GPU that it promised would ship $1,599 RTX 4090-like efficiency for $549.

It doesn’t, and it was by no means going to. It’s about 20 p.c sooner than the RTX 4070 and a naked 4 p.c sooner than final 12 months’s RTX 4070 Super. It’s a stable card for 1440p gaming, identical to the RTX 4070, however as with the remainder of the 50-series playing cards, Nvidia’s efficiency claims depend on Frame Generation quite than significant enhancements to rendering.

At $549, the RTX 5070 may even come up towards AMD’s new $549 Radeon RX 9070 and $599 Radeon RX 9070 XT after they launch on March sixth. If AMD manages to beat Nvidia’s RTX 5070 or come near the $749 RTX 5070 Ti, that’s going to place lots of much-needed stress on Nvidia’s pricing.

You may wish to wait a few days to buy something till we are able to discuss these AMD playing cards.

The RTX 5070 Founders Edition card I’ve been testing appears like a miniature RTX 5090 with a barely darker paint job and no LEDs. It’s nonetheless a two-slot card, and it retains the 2 followers on the backside that direct cooler air over the cardboard and exhaust it out of the highest, in addition to the marginally angled 12V-2×6 energy connector that makes it simpler to suit into extra instances.

I actually like the scale. It seems like the best companion for a small kind issue PC, and I don’t assume I’d be too apprehensive concerning the warmth this little GPU would generate or the facility draw (extra on that later).

I’ve been testing the RTX 5070 card with AMD’s Ryzen 9 9800X3D processor and Asus’ 32-inch 4K OLED PG32UCDP. I’ve put it up towards the earlier RTX 4070 and RTX 4070 Super playing cards, in addition to the costlier RTX 5070 Ti and AMD’s RX 7900 XT, which you’ll see within the benchmark charts beneath.

I’ve examined a wide range of video games at each 1440p and 4K, together with extra demanding titles like Black Myth: Wukong and benchmarking favorites like Cyberpunk 2077 and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. All video games have been examined at very excessive or Ultra settings, so that you’ll get a good suggestion of the RTX 5070’s true capabilities, although you’ll in all probability wish to drop the settings for higher body charges.

As with each different 50-series card, the 5070 isn’t a lot of an improve in uncooked efficiency over the past era. Without DLSS or RT enabled, the RTX 5070 is eighteen p.c sooner than an RTX 4070 at 1440p and 22 p.c sooner at 4K; in comparison with the 4070 Super, it’s solely 3 p.c sooner at 1440p and 4 p.c at 4K. You’ll see a stable enhance for those who’re coming from a 30-series card or older, although; it’s practically 55 p.c sooner than the RTX 3070 Ti.

The RTX 5070 remains to be largely a 1440p card, which has been the candy spot for Nvidia’s 70 lineup for a couple of generations. While it delivers playable body charges for many video games in my take a look at suite at 4K decision, you’ll have to allow DLSS in some titles if you wish to be over 60fps persistently with all of the settings maxed out. If you’re keen to drop some high quality settings and allow DLSS, the RTX 5070 turns into much more succesful.

If you’re on the lookout for higher 4K efficiency, stepping as much as an RTX 5070 Ti will get you about 29 p.c larger body charges, however you’ll pay at the least 35 p.c extra, assuming both card stays wherever close to MSRP.

My important concern concerning the RTX 5070 for 4K gaming is its 12GB of VRAM. I’ve already run into efficiency points testing entry-level 4K gaming with the 8GB RTX 3070 Ti in sure video games, and I don’t assume 12GB of VRAM goes to fare nicely sooner or later, both. This is especially related when AMD is about to ship its RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT with 16GB of VRAM. I want Nvidia had finished the identical.

DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Gen

It was apparent from the beginning that Nvidia’s claims that the RTX 5070 would match the RTX 4090 relied completely on DLSS 4’s Multi Frame Generation. The 50-series playing cards have as much as 4x body era with DLSS 4, to allow them to generate as much as three further frames per body rendered historically. The RTX 4090 can use DLSS 4, together with Nvidia’s up to date transformer fashions, however solely has 2x body era.

It’s solely the truth that the 5070 can generate 3 times as many interstitial frames because the RTX 4090 that lets it seem wherever close to as quick. In Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K with Ultra settings, ray tracing enabled, and 4x Frame Generation, the RTX 5070 averaged 122fps. The older RTX 4090, with 2x Frame Generation, managed 128fps, and it’s rendering much more of them the old school approach.

If you’re taking Nvidia at face worth and assume efficiency equals body fee, the RTX 4090 remains to be 5 to 10 p.c sooner than the RTX 5070 when body era is cranked up all the way in which on each playing cards. In conventional rendering, the RTX 4090 is 75 p.c sooner on common. Without ray tracing or body era, the RTX 4090 obtained 76fps in Cyberpunk 2077, and the RTX 4070 obtained 48fps.

As I’ve mentioned in earlier critiques, and as even Nvidia’s supplies present, multi-frame era makes gameplay look smoother, however the sport will nonetheless really feel sluggish if the bottom body fee is low. You can actually really feel it on the RTX 5070, particularly in 4K. With DLSS Super Resolution and x4 Multi Frame Generation, Cyberpunk 2077 hit 77fps at Ultra settings with full path tracing, however it nonetheless feels just like the 24fps it’s earlier than Multi Frame Gen is utilized.

Multi Frame Gen makes extra sense at 1440p as a result of the bottom body charges are so much larger. I wouldn’t purchase the RTX 5070 due to Multi Frame Generation alone, however the DLSS 4 enhancements and the brand new transformer mannequin have actually improved picture high quality for me in a wide range of video games, and you may even power DLSS 4 in unsupported video games by Nvidia’s new app. But you don’t want an RTX 5070 for DLSS 4, so for those who don’t care about Multi Frame Generation and you may someway discover an RTX 4070 Super at an inexpensive value, it’s nonetheless a sensible choice.

Beyond gaming, the RTX 5070 also can ship higher efficiency in video enhancing or for AI workloads. In Procyon’s AI XL (FP16) take a look at, the RTX 5070 is sort of 28 p.c sooner than the RTX 4070, or practically 4 p.c sooner than the RTX 4070 Super. For video enhancing, I examined the RTX 5070 with PugetBench’s DaVinci Resolve take a look at and located it’s 11 p.c sooner than the RTX 4070 and practically 10 p.c sooner than the RTX 4070 Super.

Nvidia recommends a 650-watt energy provide for the RTX 5070, which is precisely the identical as each the RTX 4070 and RTX 4070 Super. The whole graphics energy has elevated to 250 watts in whole, up by 50 watts over the RTX 4070 and simply 30 watts over the RTX 4070 Super.

At 4K decision, the RTX 5070 averaged 210 watts throughout the 9 video games examined — 25 watts greater than the RTX 4070 averaged (185 watts) and simply 4 watts greater than the RTX 4070 Super (206 watts). The RTX 5070 hit its max energy draw of 250 watts in the course of the Metro Exodus Extreme benchmark, and it hit a most temperature of 77 levels Celsius in that very same take a look at on my open bench, in comparison with 67C on each the RTX 4070 and 4070 Super.

I’m as soon as once more impressed that Nvidia hasn’t massively elevated the facility necessities right here, however it appears just like the RTX 5070 will run hotter than earlier playing cards. While the RTX 5090 is actually power-hungry, each the RTX 5070 and RTX 5070 Ti are much more environment friendly, whereas delivering positive factors over the previous-generation playing cards.

I really feel like a damaged report saying that the RTX 5070 continues the development of modest generational enhancements with the RTX 50 sequence, however sadly, that’s the case right here once more. This is de facto a great 1440p card because of the excessive body charges at that decision, or an entry-level 4K card for those who’re keen to drop settings down and allow DLSS.

But it’s laborious to advocate the RTX 5070 till the query hanging over it has been answered: AMD’s RX 9070-series playing cards. AMD shocked everybody with a $549 price ticket for its RX 9070 and $599 for its RX 9070 XT final week. Both playing cards are difficult Nvidia’s pricing for its RTX 5070 and RTX 5070 Ti, and in the event that they’re adequate, they could put stress on Nvidia to regulate its pricing.

Until we all know how all 4 playing cards evaluate, I might maintain off on shopping for an RTX 5070 on day one. AMD may simply shock us with its efficiency in addition to its pricing.

Photography by Tom Warren / The Verge