Today, we are finding out how well benchmark games run on resolutions like 4K, 1440p, and 1080p. For those who have been holding onto it for the past 5 years, it is a viable upgrade. We will also see how much faster it is and how much faster it will be going forward, with the 4070 RTX. Of course, today we are dusting off the old GeForce 2070 RTX to see how well it holds up.

Now is the perfect time to upgrade, but it will cost you $600 more than the original price of $500. If you are willing to pay, you have the opportunity to purchase the RTX 4070, which will be released in October. Let’s say you decide to go for the Founders Edition model, which is priced at $600. However, it is worth noting that the GeForce 2070 RTX is now an outdated product, as it has been on the market for five years.

The 4070 RTX has been upgraded with 12GB of GDDR6X memory, operating at a speed of 21 Gbps. On the other hand, the 2070 RTX came with 8GB of GDDR6 memory, running at a speed of 14 Gbps. Apart from the obvious architectural differences, each GPU is based on a completely different architecture, utilizing very different manufacturing processes. When delving into the specifications, there isn’t much to point out.

Unfortunately, Nvidia is not expected to offer at least 16GB of VRAM at the price point of $600 by 2023, which is not surprising considering that we did not anticipate a significant upgrade after 5 years in 2018.

The 4070 RTX GeForce offers several significant upgrades over the 2070 RTX, including better general performance and improved efficiency. It also supports DLSS generation frame 3, better ray tracing, and encoding AV1.

Before we delve into the data and analyze the graphs, let’s breakdown the titles of the dozen or so graphs. As usual, we’ll be using 32GB of CL30 DDR5-6000 memory, which is paired with the Gigabyte Aorus X670E motherboard and powers our testing system, the Ryzen 7800X3D CPU.

What We Learned

It is astonishing how we seem to have disregarded the minimum standards nowadays, as we seldom take the time to closely examine the remarkable performance of the 2070 RTX in comparison to a vast selection of games. So, if you are wondering how the GeForce 2070 RTX fares, you will be impressed.

The most impressive item we’ve encountered priced above $500 in the past two and a half years, considering its price to performance ratio, is just as disappointing as any other GPU of the current generation; in reality, it is equally as underwhelming as the RTX 4070.

Offering a performance increase of around 60% at the exact same price, the release of the RTX 3070 just 2 years after the RTX 2070 is pretty exciting. It was a massive upgrade in terms of performance, with an average boost of around 60%, but there was no upgrade in terms of VRAM capacity, which remained at just 8GB. The truth is, most of these gains were made with the RTX 3070, which also had a similar price tag of around $500 as the previous RTX 2070.

With an additional $100 added, it is approximately half of the profit margin we observed from the 2070 to the 3070. Therefore, you are only receiving a roughly 30% increase in performance for that, and it comes with a $100 higher price tag. Although it has enhanced the VRAM capacity to 12GB, which we consider to be a small improvement, the RTX 4070 was introduced 2.5 years after the RTX 3070, on the contrary.

In order to make it more affordable, we would ideally need a $500 price point, a VRAM capacity increase, and a performance boost of around 60%. It would be exciting if the RTX 3070 was able to achieve this, but it would be even more thrilling if it could be the RTX 4070 Ti.

The 4070 RTX is an amazing upgrade from the 2070, and anyone who is thinking of upgrading will be very happy. It’s not just established as a great performer, but it also offers twice the performance for a premium of $100. This is good news for those who have been holding out for something like the 2070. Especially if you care about AV1 encoding, frame generation, and power efficiency, the 4070 RTX GeForce is as good as it gets, right now, at $600.

Owners of the RTX 3070 will also fear being shafted by having their VRAM reduced from 8GB to a mere 12GB on the more expensive product. For RTX 3070 owners, the ideal scenario would be to pay less than 20% more for the 4070 RTX, which originally offered a minimal upgrade of just 30% in performance.

At $800, the Ti 4070 with 12GB of RAM is the ideal option if you’re looking for a mid-range gaming experience. We can’t predict what the future holds, but for the next few years, it should work perfectly fine. However, it’s likely that gaming will become more demanding, and in 12 months, having at least 16GB of RAM will be brutal. Some people may argue that 8GB of VRAM is enough, but we haven’t seen any evidence to support that claim yet.

If we have to wait a little longer, which is a few more months, we’re not very confident that we’ll see anything terribly compelling that you’ve never known or liked. However, it’s worth noting that if you’ve held out this long with a similar GPU from that era, you might have to wait a little longer to see what AMD brings with the Radeon RX 2070 or a GeForce RTX 2070.

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Benchmarks

Without the assistance of upscaling, especially in this situation, the 4070 is not truly feasible. Nevertheless, at 4K, it exhibits a 76% increase in speed, at 1440p it demonstrates an 88% increase in speed, and at 1080p it showcases an 84% increase in speed compared to the 2070. All these figures are based on utilizing the high-quality preset with ray tracing effects turned off, commencing with Cyberpunk 2077.

With the 4070, you can experience excellent refresh rate capability at 1080p, and the contrast in outcomes at 1440p is strikingly noticeable.

The performance drastically plummets to an unplayable state, with any significant level of ray tracing enabled, even at 1080p. In our perspective, where the GeForce 20 series was a significant disappointment was the ray tracing capability.

Tracing rays is a feasible technique for future generations, with at least two notable advancements. However, it is remarkable that the average frame rate of 58 fps is not achieved. DLSS was able to provide playable performance without compromising the resolution of 1080p. In fact, it delivered an impressive improvement of 132% compared to other methods. Nevertheless, the performance still falls short when using DLSS, even with its assistance.

Those who have been waiting will find the upgrade to the 4070 highly beneficial, as we observed a remarkable increase of 117% at 1080p, 118% at 1440p, and 114% at 4K when transitioning from the 2070. These substantial improvements in performance will surely be appreciated by gamers playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare II.

The RTX 4070 provides significant improvements in performance, allowing for 4K gaming at 60 fps using DLSS. Additionally, it supports resolutions up to 1440p without the requirement for upscaling. Moreover, the game A Plague Tale: Requiem showcases impressive visuals that can be fully enjoyed with the RTX 4070. In terms of performance gains, there is a remarkable 93% increase compared to the 2070 at 1080p, a 72% boost at 1440p, and a 70% boost at 4K.

The previous intermediate-level graphics processing unit (GPU) was excessively powerful for 4K resolution, however, it performed admirably at both 1440p and even 1080p resolutions on the RTX 2070. With a remarkable 114% increase in performance, the RTX 2070 effortlessly handles the Callisto Protocol on the highest graphical settings. It achieves an impressive 92 frames per second (fps) at 4K resolution.

The 4070 is a notable improvement in this case, needless to mention, as the 2070 is essentially dysfunctional at 1440p, with a 610% enhancement. With upscaling, it would probably function at 4K and was operational at 1440p. However, the 2070 experienced significant frame interruptions and was entirely impractical at 1440p and higher resolutions, even at 1080p, where the previous 8GB graphics card struggles. Nevertheless, the issue arises with ray tracing enabled, as the game truly demands more than 9GB of memory.

When playing Fortnite using DirectX 11 mode, we observed that the RTX 4070 performed approximately twice as fast as the 2070, reaching an average of 99% increase in showing at 171 fps. However, at 1080p resolution with Epic quality settings, the 2070 still performed well with an average of 86 fps.

Once again, the inclusion of ray tracing significantly hampers the performance of the RTX 2070, resulting in a mere 22 frames per second at a resolution of 1080p. In contrast, the RTX 4070 exhibits a remarkable improvement, being nearly 200% faster and achieving a frame rate of 65 at 1080p. Consequently, the 4070 is able to provide a satisfactory level of performance at 1080p and is also capable of delivering enjoyable gameplay at 1440p when upscaling is enabled. This makes it an ideal choice for individuals who desire to experience Fortnite with all the visually stunning effects enabled.

The RTX 4070 exhibited a speed increase of 106% at 4K, 120% at 1440p, and 126% at 1080p. In terms of gaming performance, the RTX 2070 is capable of running Resident Evil 4 without ray tracing at a frame rate exceeding 60 fps at 1080p and slightly below 60 fps at 1440p.

Interestingly, enabling the maximum quality preset does not significantly reduce the performance of the 2070 at 1440p and 1080p, although it did deliver playable fps at 1080p, hitting a significant performance upgrade of 88% resulting in 124 fps, while the 4070 was faster at 66 fps. However, it is understandable that it does not break the performance at 4K.

The Remastered Spider-Man is one of the better-optimized games released in the last few years, as it demonstrates impressive results even at 4K on the old 2070. While it’s ideal to achieve less than 48 fps at 4K, we’re still looking at a respectable 84 fps at 1440p. Furthermore, when using the maximum quality preset at 1080p with the RTX 2070, it shows an impressive 118 fps.

The RTX 4070 demonstrates significant performance improvements, especially when gaming at 1440p and 4K. It delivers an 81% increase in performance at 1080p, 89% at 1440p, and 85% at 4K, which is quite impressive.

The RTX 2070 displayed remarkable performance at both 1080p and 1440p, even when ray tracing was enabled, providing playable performance. With a 60% increase in performance at 1080p and a 92% increase at 1440p, the 4070 will certainly meet your demands if you require more power. Additionally, 4K gaming is now achievable with an average of 82 fps.

If you are gaming at 4K, your double rate frame will upgrade to the 4070 RTX. However, we are currently testing with the disabled RT preset and the highest quality, and it is likely that 71 fps will be the most acceptable at 4K. In fact, the GPU from the old-year 5, given that it still performs well with 116 fps at 1440p and 154 fps at 1080p, probably won’t find themselves in desperate need of an upgrade. Those who play a lot of 2022 F1 and own the 2070 RTX probably aren’t interested in ray tracing and won’t be interested in upgrading.

At the very least, a substantial boost in performance of 100% or more is what you can expect to see if your viewpoint varies. And if it does, activating ray tracing is an option, although I personally don’t believe it’s worthwhile in this particular game. However, for F1 2022 players, the RTX 4070 upgrade may become essential.

The RTX 4070 will offer a performance increase of 109% for 4K and 100% for 1440p, while also providing a boost of 104% for 1080p performance. If you desire a high refresh rate experience with excellent graphical quality, the RTX 4070 is the ideal choice. Additionally, Forza Horizon 5 is a visually stunning modern game that can be fully enjoyed with an RTX 2070, even when the visual settings are set to the maximum at 1440p.

The upgrade offered is massive, which greatly boosts performance. It is 85% faster at 1440p and even 90% faster at 1080p. The question of 4K is eliminated, as upscaling will be required. However, for those targeting 1440p, the 2070 RTX plays Dying Light 2 quite well even at 1080p.

The game is now actually enabled with ray tracing, but the performance is boosted by 150% over 1080p. The 4070 RTX offers the most significant upgrade, where ray tracing is now seen multiple times in modern titles.

It is unlikely that any changes will occur soon, and currently the FSR only officially supports upscaling of the game. The question of whether or not it will provide aid without compromising the 4K resolution still remains. Meanwhile, the RTX 4070 performed at faster speeds of 97% for 1440p and 95% for 1080p. However, it only provides a near-unplayable performance at 1440p and a 60 fps experience at 1080p. On the other hand, the RTX 2070 is playable at 1080p using the maximum visual preset with ray tracing disabled in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

The RTX 4070 provides a 166% increase in performance at 1080p, rendering the RTX 2070 insufficient in these test conditions. The primary concern lies not in processing power, but rather in the 8GB VRAM buffer. It is advisable to use medium settings, as switching to high will be effective at 1080p but not at 1440p. The ultra-quality settings utilized for testing are not compatible with the RTX 2070, although it is still capable of running games on this graphics card. The RTX 2070 is capable of running The Last of Us Part I.

Performance Summary

Beginning with the 1080p information, it is now time to evaluate the performance of these two graphics processing units (GPUs) in relation to all the games that were examined. After examining both scenarios with and without ray tracing (RT) enabled, we have analyzed nearly twelve out of the forty games that were tested.

Interestingly, when tested across all game configurations, it was found that the 4070 RTX offers a significant performance boost of 100% on average compared to the 2070 at 1080p. Owners can expect a massive upgrade in performance when purchasing a 4070 RTX. Furthermore, it is worth noting that exceptions to this trend are limited to CPU-bound games like Offensive: Global Strike-Counter.

The 4070 experienced a significant increase of 610%, resulting in the exclusion of The Callisto Protocol’s ray tracing performance due to the insufficient capabilities of the 2070 in this context. In actuality, it was 112% swifter, but on average, it achieved a 102% improvement at 1440p. The overall outcome remains quite similar.

The 2070 was unable to deliver a playable performance, even struggling. On the other hand, the 4070 was able to deliver a highly playable performance with maximum graphical fidelity, and it was much faster at 1440p than any other case.