Nvidia RTX 5070 Reveiw: A Worthy Competitor to the RTX 4090?

 The RTX 5070 is finally out in the market, and gamers and enthusiasts alike are eager to see if it can deliver on Nvidia's bold claims. It is marketed as a high-performance, mid-range GPU that can deliver RTX 4090-level gaming performance with the budget of a mid-range GPU. Now that the GPU is out, the benchmarks have started rolling in, so stick around to find out if Nvidia delivers on its promise.

In this article, we will dive deep into its performance, specifications, DLSS 4 impact, and whether it’s worth the price.



5070 Specifications

  • CUDA Cores: 6,144

  • VRAM: 12GB GDDR7

  • Memory Bus: 192-bit

  • Base Clock Speed: 2.1 GHz

  • Boost Clock Speed: 2.6 GHz

  • TDP: 250W

  • MSRP: $549

The RTX 5070 is built on Nvidia's all new Blackwell architecture, along with upgrades on the previous upscaling technology offering DLSS 4 with Multi-Frame Generation.
After taking a note of the hardware specifications, it is clear to everyone that the RTX 5070 is a major upgrade from the RTX 4070 Super, but does it compare to RTX 4090, let's find out!

Image credit: Nvidia

This is an infographic by Nvidia about the benchmark comparisons of RTX 4070 Super and RTX 5070. The green bars represent the RTX 5070 and the grey bars representing the 4070. As you can see, there is quite a significant difference in the performance levels of both the GPUs.



Benchmarks
Nvidia claims that the 5070 can give the performance of a 4090 with a fraction of the cost. We have already seen the benchmark comparison between the 4070 Super and the 5070, now let us compare the 1440p and 4K gaming performance between the RTX 4090 and the RTX 5070.


1440p Gaming performance
Game RTX 5070 (DLSS4) RTX 4090 (Native)
Cyberpunk 2077 120 FPS 110 FPS
Starfield 90 FPS 160 FPS
Call of Duty: MW3 130 FPS 210 FPS
Hogwarts Legacy 100 FPS 175 FPS
Fortnite (Performance Mode) 280 FPS 350 FPS

As you can clearly see, the benchmarks are far from justifying the performance of RTX 4090. This is particularly true when DLSS is enabled; once you disable it, the performance of RTX 5070 declines significantly.


4K Gaming Performance
Game RTX 5070 (DLSS 4) RTX 4090 (Native)
Alan Wake 2 70 FPS 140 FPS
Baldur’s Gate 3 85 FPS 165 FPS
Red Dead Redemption 2 75 FPS 155 FPS
Assassin’s Creed Mirage 95 FPS 185 FPS

At 4K resolution the RTX 5070 struggles a bit in comparison to the RTX 4090. It is also noticeable that the RTX 4090 is 50% more powerful than the RTX 5070. This is due to its smaller 192-bit memory bus and only 12GB VRAM.

While the RTX 5070 performs well at 4K resolution, it is solely due to DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation, and it would struggle to manage such an intense load in native 4K resolution compared to the 4090.



DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation
One of the biggest selling point of the RTX 50 series GPUs is DLSS 4, which features the all-new Multi-frame Generation. It is a step up from the previous gen DLSS 3 Frame Generation (we have discussed this topic in detail in another article here). To explain in simple terms, Multi Frame Generation is an AI driven feature that generates 3 additional frames for every 1 GPU rendered frame, essentially tripling the Frame Rates. But this is just on paper as it performs as well as the previous generation DLSS 3.0 Frame Generation.
Higher Frame Rates do come with some downsides too; like:
  • Input lag: For fast paced Esports and FPS games like Valorant and CS2, it is recommended not to use DLSS as it increases input lag, causing you to miss your shots, this is mostly for serious Esports players, and it may not affect casual gameplay. If you cannot get sufficient frames, try turning your graphics down a notch.
  • Visual Noise & Blackening: There is a slight but noticeable visual noise and blackening around edges and colorful areas. This is the result of DLSS 4 after turning on Multi Frame Generation on max settings.


Workload Comparison
For the average gamer, DLSS 4 can "kind of" bridge the gap between the RTX 5070 and RTX 4090, however, in workload environments like data centres, AI acceleration, 3D modeling and graphics designing, etc, the RTX 5070 can fall short in terms of handling workload in comparison to the RTX 4090, making it not a great choice for creator and artists.

Here is a gist of the comparison between the two GPUs:

Blender Cycles
  • RTX 5070: Renders the test in 180 seconds.
  • RTX 4090: Renders the same test in just 70 seconds.

DaVinci Resolve 4K Editing Test
  • RTX 5070: Struggles with multi layered color grading tasks.
  • RTX 4090: Smooth playback, no stutter or lag even with multiple effects.
In conclusion, the RTX 5070 can handle some workloads, but the RTX 4090 easily outperforms it. So, if you need a GPU for heavy workloads, go with the RTX 4090.


Power and Thermal Efficiency
Power and Thermal efficiency plays a major role in making or breaking a GPU. Below is given the power requirement for both the GPUs: 

GPU Power Requirement
RTX 5070 250 W
RTX 4090 450 W

The RTX 4090 consumes way more power than the RTX 5070, resulting in increased bills, lower PSU (Power Supply Unit) requirements (750 W for the 5070 vs 1000 W for the 4090), more heat generation, making it unsuitable for smaller cases. Whereas the RTX 5070 is great for smaller, budget builds with less energy consumption and heat generation.


Pricing, Performance and Competition 
The RTX 5070 starts at $549, it is three times/3X cheaper than the RTX 4090 and hence justifies such performance. Here are more GPUs in a similar price and performance range


GPU Price VRAM Performance (1440p Avg FPS)
RTX 5070 $549 12GB GDDR7 115 FPS
RTX 4070 Super $599 12GB GDDR6X 105 FPS
RTX 5070 Ti $749 16GB GDDR7 135 FPS
RX 7800 XT $499 16 GDDR6 110 FPS

Apart from the RTX 5070 Ti, the price to performance ratio is very aggressive, with, in my opinion, the RX 7800 XT being the one of them all. It has more VRAM than all the others while also being the cheapest out of them all. It is also giving the same performance with any upscaling, so that's a plus.


Conclusion
The RTX 5070 is a great GPU, being able to run AAA games with, I wouldn't particularly say ease, but yes it can run them with 60+ frame rate in 1440p and 4K only when you turn on DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation only. However, it does not compare to the RTX 4090 in any aspect, not even when you turn on DLSS 4. Though, in some cases it might be the best GPU, here is why you should and should not buy the RTX 5070.

Why RTX 5070?
  • A great choice for budget builds.
  • Mostly good for high quality gaming and intermediate to some high level and heavy graphics processing.
  • Buy the RTX 5070 only if you do not mind the supposed 'fake frames' from DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation, and the latency created by it.

Why Not?
  • If you are into serious Esports and competitive games, and want no input lag to make every shot count.
  • The RTX 5070 cannot handle heavy workloads like Blender and multilayered 4K video editing as well as the RTX 4090, so if you need to make big and graphically intense projects, go with the RTX 4090.
  • If you do not want to use DLSS 4 due to its janky generation factors, and want to play native 4K resolution, then you know what's the right choice for you


Well, that's it for this article. If there is any topic or news you would like me to cover, leave it in the comments. This takes a lot of time and effort, so consider following the blog. I hope you enjoyed reading this article and have gained something knowledgeable and/or profitable.


Thank You.

Have a Great Day :)

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