GeForce RTX 3070 Ti review: a good graphics card for a few more FPS

Hardware news GeForce RTX 3070 Ti review: a good graphics card for a few more FPS

And one more! The GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is the seventh GeForce card to use the Ampere architecture from Nvidia (we are deliberately discarding the 3050/3050 Ti for laptops for the time being). With this, the company with the green logo continues to water the reference market, even if the cards are hard to find. Without surprise the 3070 Ti lies exactly between the RTX 3070 and the RTX 3080, with a starting price of $ 619 for the “Founder” version that we are testing here. It is 100 $ more than the RTX 3070 and 100 $ less than the RTX 3080. Of course this “official” tariff remains a fantasy for the vast majority of buyers: In the reality of 2021, this price has to be multiplied by at least two in order to hope for a card from a third-party manufacturer.

This price increase is just as delusional as it is problematic and should last at least until the end of 2021. It is best to be very patient or particularly reactive as soon as cards at prices appear “normal” merchants.

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The features of the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti

The RTX 3070 Ti has a lot more in common with the 3070 than with the 3080, since we are dealing with a charged version of the 3070, neither more nor less. It is based on the same GA104 graphics chip engraved in 8nm, but houses a little more “CUDA” cores (6144 compared to 5888), a little more computing units for AI (useful for DLSS) and two other dedicated ray tracing computing units. On the frequency side, we are again entitled to a slight increase: 1575 MHz for the base frequency and 1770 MHz for the boost frequency.

As far as memory is concerned, nothing has changed compared to the 3070 and we are still entitled to 8 GB in GDDR6X. Note that the advertised TGP will frankly increase from 220 watts for the 3070 to 290 watts for the 3070 Ti.

Design and construction: a “small” RTX 3080

Physically, however, the 3070 Ti has more to do with the RTX 3080. : slightly more compact than the latter, uses the same fan system on each side that dissipates the heat vertically on both sides of the card. A system that has proven itself in the 3080, 3080 Ti and 3090, but requires a well-ventilated and not too compact housing in order to ruthlessly overheat the processor and RAM.

Left to right: 3070, 3070 Ti, and 3080

In addition, there is the 12-pin connector specific to the GeForce RTX 3000, which in turn is clamped in the middle of the upper part. As usual, the box comes with an adapter to easily connect it to the PC power supply via two 8-pin connectors. Finally, on the video output side, there are three DisplayPort 1.4 and one HDMI 2.1.

Consumption and temperature: above an RTX 3070

Before we go into in-game performance, let’s talk about the power consumption of the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti and the temperature emitted by the chip. Nvidia is announcing a 290 watt TGP for its new card, and our tests match that number. In the Metro Exodus benchmark – with DLSS enabled – we found an average of 282 watts, but we can get up to 300 watts with even more greedy titles like Cyberpunk 2077. but we’re still a little prudent compared to a 3070, consume significantly less (240 watts on average with Metro Exodus) and their performance difference to the 3070 Ti is not huge, as we will see below.

On the temperature side, the GPU goes up to 85 ° C in Metro Exodus. A value that still remains good, but a very well-ventilated case is better here too, as the card tends to be a little noisy when the fans are switched on. The good news, however, is that you stand completely still when you are not playing. The card therefore remains completely silent.

Performance: ideal for 1440p and comfortable in 4K

We said it in the preamble to this review: The RTX 3070 Ti is similar to a boosted version of the RTX 3070 and we shouldn’t expect an abyss in terms of performance improvement. But the void is still there, with up to 13 FPS more in WQHD (2560 x 1440) on Doom Eternal. This definition is also ideal for really enjoying the menu.

, with the guarantee of running in all games (except Flight Simulator) with the maximum level of detail and with ray-tracing / DLSS in compatible games with more than 60 FPS.

But still you have to acknowledge that most of the differences are often quite small: witness Borderlands 3 or Metro Exodus that wins 3 FPS, or Control that climbs to 75 FPS versus 70 FPS on the 3070. A game like Flight Simulator, which limits the CPU, does not become more fluid.

So yes, the performance boost is sure to be there, and the RTX 3070 Ti allows most games to be played at over 75 FPS at 1440p. But we are still very close to the RTX 3070. In Ultra HD, the RTX 3070 Ti widens the gap a little and very often approach the untouchable 60 FPS, while the 3070 struggles to exceed 50 FPS on many titles. The gains at Control and Doom Eternal, for example, are pretty substantial.

This finding is interesting and shows above all that the 3070 Ti can be worthwhile if you want to play in Ultra HD.. For the most greedy games, with some graphic concessions, you can get 60 FPS in 2160p.

Buy the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti on Rue du Commerce

Points fortresses

• Excellent performance at 1440p
• Rather comfortable in Ultra HD
• Efficient design
• Silent card from games

Weak points

• Few performance gaps in the RTX 3070
• Relatively high power consumption
• A well-ventilated case is recommended
• “Real” prices and lack of availability

As the ideal card for gaming in 1440p, the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti does quite well in Ultra HD, even if not all games achieve 60 FPS in this definition. Nevertheless, the performance is very close to that of the RTX 3070 and the card costs 100 dollars more, while it consumes 70 watts more. At this price, the GeForce RTX 3080, which is officially sold for 719 dollars or 100 dollars more than the 3070 Ti, is undoubtedly the better offer and offers a significantly more interesting increase in performance. Of course, we’re talking about the official Founders Edition prices again, and the reality of the market is much more complex. The position of the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is therefore not clear, it is in the uncomfortable in between. Certainly a very good graphics card, but the price-performance ratio isn’t the most interesting.