Is RTX 4070 a good 1440p gaming graphics card?

Nvidia believes the RTX 4070 is a good 1440p gaming graphics card that will impress its users. The company also claims it can run games like Returnal and Cyberpunk 2077 at 1440p with the highest graphical fidelity and high ray tracing settings.

So, is RTX 4070 a good 1440p gaming graphics card? Yes, it is, but there’s a catch. You may need upscaling technologies like DLSS for some titles, especially when it comes to ray tracing.

This article discusses everything there is to know about the RTX 4070 and how it works for different games.

Note: This article is subjective and solely reflects the writer's opinions.

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What does the RTX 4070 bring to the table?

The Nvidia RTX 4070 from both sides and the box (Image via Hardware Unboxed/YouTube)

The Nvidia RTX 4070 is a good 1440p gaming graphics card with massive performance improvements and power efficiency. Compared to Nvidia's older RTX 3070, it has more VRAM, which is important in titles like The Last of Us: Part 1. This game can consume over 10GB of VRAM at ultra settings.

Nvidia also has improved the ray tracing cores in the RTX 4070, which should improve the raytracing performance.

Here are all the specs of the Nvidia RTX 4070:

Specifications	Details
Shader cores	5888
RT cores	46
TMUs	184
ROPs	64
Base clock	1920 MHz
Boost clock	2475 MHz
VRAM size	12GB
VRAM bus width	192-bit
VRAM bandwidth	504.2 GB/s
Manufacturing node	5nm
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	200W
Price	$539

There's not much difference between the RTX 4070 and the RTX 3070 when it comes to the number of shader or ray tracing cores.

However, the RTX 4070 has a TDP of 200W, which is 20W less than the RTX 3060. This makes it a good 1440p gaming graphics card.

Also, check out the five best 1080P GPUs in 2024.

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How is the RTX 4070 a good 1440p gaming graphics card?

To better judge the RTX 4070's gaming performance, let's see how it runs different titles. All the FPS numbers used here are from the Hardware Unboxed team on YouTube.

Performance

The Nvidia RTX 4070 vs other GPUs (Hardware Unboxed/YouTube)

Here, the RTX 4070 is running games at 1440p with "Very High/Ultra" settings.

Games	Performance
Watch Dogs: Legion	127 FPS
Far Cry 6	151 FPS
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	119 FPS
Outer Worlds	141 FPS
Hitman 3	141 FPS
Cyberpunk 2077	80 FPS
Dying Light 2	91 FPS
Halo Infinite	109 FPS

The Nvidia RTX 4070 is a beast at 1440p and easily delivers 100 FPS in many titles, making it a good 1440p gaming graphics card. However, in some demanding games, such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Dying Light 2, it delivered around 80 - 90 FPS, which is still more than 60.

Here's how the GPU performs in 1440p with ray tracing turned on:

Games	Performance
F1 2022 (Ray tracing)	90 FPS
Watch Dogs: Legion (Ray tracing)	64 FPS
Guardians of the Galaxy (Ray tracing)	88 FPS
Fortnite (Ray tracing)	54 FPS
Resident Evil: Village (Ray tracing)	144 FPS
Spider-Man: Remastered (Ray tracing)	116 FPS
Cyberpunk 2077 (Ray tracing)	39 FPS

The Nvidia RTX 4070 manages to get 60+ FPS in most of the games with ray tracing. However, max ray tracing settings in Fortnite caused the FPS to drop below 60. In Cyberpunk 2077, ultra ray tracing settings caused the FPS to drop all the way down to 39.

The GPU can play raytracing games comfortably over 60 FPS. However, some titles, like Cyberpunk 2077, have heavier RT effects, so FPS drops to around 39. In these cases, you will have to turn on DLSS to push the FPS to around 60.

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Pricing

The Nvidia RTX 4070 is currently available for $529.99. The price is great for a GPU that performs extremely well in rasterized and raytracing games.

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Alternative option

The AMD Radeon 7900 GRE (Image via Hardware Unboxed)

The best alternative graphics card to the RTX 4070 is the AMD Radeon 7900 GRE, which handily beats it while costing around $10 - $15 less.

The Radeon GPU also comes with 16GB of VRAM, which is another advantage it has over the RTX 4070.

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Verdict

So, is RTX 4070 a good 1440p gaming graphics card? Yes, absolutely. It can comfortably play raytracing games. However, in some titles like Cyberpunk 2077, you will need to use DLSS to get 60 FPS.