Nvidia Geforce RTX 4070 Ti vs RTX 3080 Ti: GPU comparison in 2023

The RTX 4070 Ti is the latest launch from Team Green and is the spiritual successor to the RTX 3070 Ti, a GPU built for 1440p gaming. The Ada Lovelace-based card packs a much more power-efficient and optimized design that can deliver much higher performance marks.

However, while purchasing new graphics cards, gamers might be confused between the RTX 4070 Ti and the last-gen 80-class GPU, the RTX 3080 Ti. After the price cuts, both cards are priced almost similarly.

Thus, let's analyze what the two graphics cards offer and which is a better choice for gamers in 2023.

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How does Nvidia's last-gen 80-class GPU compare against new RTX 4070 Ti?

The 4070 Ti and the 3080 Ti are fairly powerful graphics cards built for 4K gaming. Both GPUs can handle all modern AAA games in high resolution without hiccups.

Before delving into performance differences, let's look at their specifications.

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Specs

A side-by-side comparison between the RTX 3080 Ti and the RTX 4070 Ti is not 100% accurate because the two GPUs are based on different architectures. Thus, with similar or lesser core counts, an RTX 40 series graphics card can outperform a last-gen variant.

The detailed specs of the GPUs are listed below.

	RTX 3080 Ti	RTX 4070 Ti
Starting Price	$959	$799
Nvidia CUDA Cores	10,240	7,680
Boost Clock	1665	2610
Standard Memory Config	12GB GDDR6X	12GB GDDR6X
Memory Interface Width	384-bit	192-bit
Ray Tracing Cores	2nd Generation	3rd Generation
Tensor Cores	3rd Generation	4th Generation
Nvidia Architecture	Ampere	Ada Lovelace
Nvidia DLSS	2	3
Nvidia Encoder	7th Generation	2x 8th Generation
Graphics Card power	350 W	285 W
Recommended PSU	750 W	600 W

The newer 4070 Ti seems like an inferior card in all aspects. It has a lower CUDA core count, narrower memory interface bandwidth, and, overall, a less chunky design.

In addition, the Ada Lovelace-based relies on higher clock speeds to deliver performance. The GPU has a lower total board power. Nvidia recommends a 600 W PSU for the card, which makes it ideal for mid-range gaming cards.

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RTX 3080 Ti vs RTX 4070 Ti performance comparison

Based on the specs, the 4070 Ti has a theoretical performance of 40.09 TFLOPs The last-generation 3080 Ti comes with an FP32 performance of 34.10 TFLOPs. Thus, it is evident that the Ampere-based card is slightly weaker than the new launch from Nvidia.

According to TechPowerUp's GPU computing prowess aggregates, the 4070 Ti is about 4% faster than the 3080 Ti. The Lovelace card levels the RTX 3090 by about 3% and is slightly slower than the RTX 3090 Ti.

Regarding performance with video games, the RTX 3080 Ti and the 4070 Ti come close.

While the Ada Lovelace-based card beats the 80-class entry from the last-gen in multiple titles like Forza Horizon 5 and Dying Light 2, the card loses it in games like Fortnite Assassin's Creed Valhalla, according to the benchmarks conducted by YouTuber Game Tests.

However, the RTX 4070 Ti and the 3080 Ti offer equivalent performance with most games. This can be seen across the board in heavy titles like Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Horizon Zero Dawn.

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Conclusion

The RTX 4070 Ti and 3080 Ti are close competitors in terms of performance. Both GPUs perform similarly across video games and creative software. Thus, the answer boils down to which GPU is available at a better price.

Currently, the 4070 Ti starts from around $799, while the cheapest 3080 Ti is available for around $959. Thus, gamers should opt for the newer Ada Lovelace-based card. Gamers can also access technologies like frame generation and better power efficiency with this card.