GeForce RTX 4070: Everything we know - specs, price, release date
Although no official confirmation or announcement surrounding the RTX 4070 has come from Nvidia itself, there have been plenty of leaks, speculation, and rumors over the last few weeks. While we can't comment on the validity of these leaks, we've rounded up the most plausible details on price, specs, release date, and features to fill you in on everything we know about the RTX 4070.
The 4070 marks the beginning of the mid-range releases from Nvidia's 40 series GPUs, as we expect to see a 4060 Ti and 4060 soon, which have also been heavily rumored and speculated on of late. As an elevator pitch, the 4070 is supposed to offer 3080 performance at a much lower price, which would easily make it one of the best graphics cards. This type of performance-for-price would certainly be consistent with the 4090, 4080, and 4070 Ti releases, which all offer a step above their last-gen counterparts.
What we can say for certain, is that the 4070 will make use of DLSS 3 and Ada Lovelace architecture. These two features being used in combination will allow for some excellent performance, even if a graphics card doesn't have the beefiest innards. That's exactly what we found with the 4070 Ti, something we previously reviewed.
Without further ado, let's break down the details of what we know about the RTX 4070, and discuss the implication of each factor.
RTX 4070 Specs
As per a leaked presentation slide published by VideoCardz, the 4070 specs are set to be "a giant leap" above the RTX 3070 and 3070 Ti. These are, of course, a step down from the 4070 Ti, and like everything about the 4070 so far, have not been officially confirmed by Nvidia.
If the leak is to be believed, the 4070 should still be capable of great 1440p performances with some light 4K in there too, particularly with the help of DLSS. Do note, that the 4070 is going to be a mid-range option and won't compete with the likes of the RTX 4090, for example. Regardless, we're sure the 4070 will still be seen in plenty of the best gaming PCs in the years to come.
The full spec leak can be found in the table below:
When we compare some of these core specs to the 4070 Ti, it allows us to speculate what kind of gaming performance the 4070 might offer.
As you'll see from that table, the leak would suggest the 4070 and 4070 Ti aren't far off, besides a couple of specs where there is obvious disparity. In particular, the 40 teraflops the Ti has dwarfs the 4070's 29. However, the same amount of memory and memory speeds definitely carries over some genes from the Ti. Both in the number of cores and clock speeds may point to lesser performances, but in 1440p, with things like DLSS, the 4070 should still be more than capable.
In our 4070 Ti review, we found that the 12GB of GDDR6X memory was swallowed up too easily at 4K to generate the best kind of performances we've seen from AMD's Radeon RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX, which produced excellent frame rates in 4K. We'd expect the 4070 to be relegated to Quad HD, but it's likely to offer great framerates in that resolution for the money. Especially compared to the last-gen 70 models, this will be a big step up.
RTX 4070 Price
The rumor mill continues to spin, suggesting that the MSRP of the RTX 4070 will be $599 in the US. This is $200 less than the MSRP of the 4070 Ti which sits at $799.
A $200 gap between the 70 and 70 Ti is fairly substantial. The 30 series versions of these cards, for example, sat at $499 and $599 respectively. For upgraded features and specs, the 4070 sitting at the same price as the 3070 Ti is fairly reasonable at first glance, if proven true.
Of course, there's a little more to this pricing than meets the eye. This is, unfortunately, just a suggested price from the manufacturer, and with the markup GPUs have seen in recent years, it's likely that you'll be able to get your hands on the RTX 4070 anywhere between $650 and $700. This is also thanks to third parties like PNY, Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, and Zotac offering versions of these cards too since there's then another portion of funds that need to be drawn out.
In our 4070 Ti review, we mentioned that it was the "unlaunched" 4080 12GB model and that despite being rebranded as the 4070 Ti, its specs and build were completely the same, but priced $100 lower. This was fairly revealing, as it showed that Nvidia was capable of charging $100 less for the same product, and presumably still making a profit from it. This led to a lot of backlash and speculation that Nvidia has been over-charging for its GPUs. Considering the poor reception of the RTX 4070 Ti from critics and consumers alike, it may be that Nvidia has realized it needs to set prices a bit lower.
Although the price of graphics cards remains high, it's been reported on multiple occasions over the last few months that discrete GPU sales have hit historically low slumps, especially in 2022. Demand has significantly dropped since the chip shortage years of the pandemic, and the reason for the $200 disparity in the 4070 cards (if this price is true), could be due to that.
Once again, this is all conjecture until Nvidia breaks silence on the matter. Once we have a more solid word, we'll update you.
RTX 4070 release date
It's long been speculated that the GeForce RTX 4070 would see a launch in April of this year, and recently, it's been touted for a release on April 13th, 2023.
Once again, this hasn't been confirmed, although the fact that certain vendors and third-party manufacturers have verified their board variants early would suggest this date might have some validity. PNY and MSI, to name a few, have confirmed the existence of the 4070.
For a release on April 13th, it'd be highly likely that review embargoes will lift sometime between the 10th and the 12th. If we receive a confirmation of any sort on this, we'll update this page.
RTX 4070 Pre-orders
As we don't have a solid, confirmed release date for the next 40 series GPU, it's difficult to say where to buy, or when you'll be able to buy an RTX 4070. We'd keep an eye on the best retailers for gaming PCs and their components to see if any listings go live. Other than that, keep both ears pinned back for release date news.
Newegg
Newegg's stock of GPUs is second-to-none. You'll find models from PNY, ASUS, MSI, and more. Newegg also hosts third-party sellers, which usually creates ground for good stock levels. With Newegg being a trusted retailer when it comes PC and components, it has to be one of the best places to watch for upcoming 4070 orders.
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Best Buy
If you want to get as close to Nvidia's MSRP as possible, Best Buy is always the best bet. We frequently see entire gaming PCs at reasonable prices and very healthy GPU stock.View Deal
Nvidia
There's always the option to go straight to the source. This will certainly be the first place we'll see confirmation of the 4070's specs, features, price, and release date. Nvidia's website also has solid alerts to tell you when and where the board of your choice will be available in your area. It also refers you to different models and their manufacturers, which is super helpful since getting a Founder's Edition from Nvidia itself is always incredibly difficult.
RTX 40 Series deals
If you can't wait, or are looking for a higher-end GPU, we've used our price comparison software to bring you the best deals in your area for Nvidia's GeForce RTX 40 series GPUs down below.
Happy with your GPU for now? Go for a different upgrade instead. Take a look at what we deem the best SSD for gaming, the best RAM for gaming, or the best CPU for gaming.
