Today the GeForce RTX 4070 officially becomes available to the general public. In this review, we tested the Founders Edition of this graphics card, which was engineered and manufactured by NVIDIA itself and comes in a very compact configuration
introduction
Having familiarized ourselves with the ASUS model for a basic RTX 4070, we move on to the model that NVIDIA itself created as the basis for this graphics card. NVIDIA’s Founders Edition is a limited edition model for our local market, as sometimes the only way to get it is to order and import it from abroad.
NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4070 Founders Edition comes in at a base price of $599. It is expected to be sold on the NVIDIA website and in several computer stores overseas.
In the last couple of graphics card generations, NVIDIA has made its Founders Edition design iconic. This is cooling that resembles an hourglass when there is one fan on each side of the card.
A fan on one side cools one part of the cooling body and releases hot air through openings near the display interfaces, while the other blows air through cooling tubes and aluminum fans in another part of the card. These are two forms of cooling in one cooling body.
It’s been a long time since we met an advanced graphics card that is also this compact. With a length of only 25 centimeters and a height that does not blatantly exceed the standard height of the installation shield, the GeForce RTX 4070 Founders Edition immediately becomes a leading contender for computer cases in compact configurations.
The thickness of the video card is also minimal considering the model with only 2 slots and no more (about 5 centimeters).
Unlike the ASUS model, the Founders Edition model includes the 12VHPWR connector and comes with an adapter between a pair of 8PIN PCI-Express connectors and this connector.
The array of display interfaces is standard as in the other RTX 40 cards today. These are three DisplayPort 1.4a next to HDMI 2.1a. We would love to see NVIDIA move to DisplayPort 2.0 in the future.
In the picture you can see the area from which hot air came out through the fan.
The pair of screws in the tail of the video card is intended for installing adapters for use in server cases.
This is what the back of the video card looks like, this is the part that faces the user when the video card is installed in a standard case.
Operating frequency and temperature
Before we get to the performance tests, this is how the frequency distribution looks between the Founders Edition version and the ASUS DUAL version. The main difference is that DUAL has more advanced and larger cooling and therefore allows the frequencies on average to be slightly higher for the graphics core.
The operating temperature during the effort for the Founders Edition and also the noise level were in accordance with the fact that it is a significantly smaller video card. We measured 83 degrees at the hottest point with an ambient temperature of 25 degrees, hence the slight drop in frequency compared to the ASUS DUAL model. The fans reached 40 percent and about 1,800 rpm, which made the noise level slightly higher compared to the DUAL model.
It’s not bad and it’s not terrible, but beauty and size come at a price and the price is mainly added noise and heat.
The examination system and the performance tests
- Intel Core i9 13900K processor
- ASUS ROG STRIX Z790 HERO motherboard
- Cooling for the processor Noctua NH-D15 Chromax.Black
- Kingston Renegade Fury 2TB NVMe storage
- ASUS ROG THOR 1200W Platinum power supply
- Memory G.Skill Trident Z5 32GB DDR5-6000 CL30
The test systems use the Windows 11 operating system with the latest update of the second half of 2022, and the most updated drivers for all tested video cards. ReBAR through the BIOS is enabled for all graphics cards.
We tested the video cards in WQHD 2560X1440 and 4K UHD 3840X2160 resolutions, which are two of the most common resolutions among gamers in the high end market. The graphs in blue represent 1440P and the graphs in green represent 4K.
Unsurprisingly, the numbers for the RTX 4070 Founders Edition will be similar, in fact almost identical to those of the ASUS DUAL RTX 4070. The difference between them is mainly due to slightly higher operating frequencies that the DUAL can provide. Actually, the performance results in the review of the ASUS DUAL tell the whole story, but for those who missed it here they are once again together with the Founders Edition.
Analysis of the performance tests and summary
NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4070 is its new benchmark for performance at $599. While it carries the new AD104 core, this graphics card shows performance that is consistently between the RTX 3070 Ti and the RTX 3080. Closer to the RTX 3080 side given our performance tests.
Using 12GB of graphics memory is something NVIDIA has done in the past with its popular RTX 3060, but the RTX 3060 Ti and RTX 3070 models of sorts included only 8GB of graphics memory. It can be assumed that in the distant past the hardware we call RTX 4070 today was designed to be RTX 4060 Ti or RTX 4060.
AMD or Intel have no competition, and that’s probably why the RTX 4070 costs 599 and no less. The distance of 200 dollars from RTX 4070 Ti may be enough to convince users who have no reason to increase the budget, but on the other hand it is important to say that the performance of RTX 4070 Ti at least in 1440p and 4K is very convincing that the additional 200 dollars may be worth it. We see differences of between 20 and 40 percent between these two graphics cards.
NVIDIA’s compact design is refreshing. While the 12VHPWR connector is not particularly good news for those who want a low profile and will need an adapter or a supporting power supply, the fact that you get graphics power similar to that of an RTX 3080 in a compact package and under 200W is great news. This is a significant decrease in electricity consumption and heat emission compared to what we were used to in the previous generation.
A reminder from the ASUS DUAL RTX 4070 review shows that this graphics card also has a nice margin in using performance enhancement technologies like DLSS. Even in Quality mode, you can gain tens of percent performance and sometimes even make 4K gaming a possible experience, although this video card is mainly intended for 1440p gaming.
Now it remains to be seen how many other titles will force the NVIDIA technologies that enable this significant acceleration in performance.