Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti review: a next-gen GPU that's worth the asking price?

Ray tracing plus image reconstruction: Nvidia DLSS vs AMD FSR2

Review by Richard Leadbetter Technology Editor, Digital Foundry

Published on Jan. 4, 2023

Raw ray tracing performance is one thing, but the truth is that RT is usually used in combination with image reconstruction technology for a better balance of visual features and performance. This page seeks to show how these GPUs compare with both technologies in play, with the same (or very close) base resolutions engaged. It's not factoring in image quality - where Nvidia enjoys a noticeable advantage - and neither are we considering overall support, where DLSS is supported on more games. Here, we're just looking at raw performance.

Once again, if you're jumping straight to this page without looking at prior results, we should stress that our benchmarking system offers a number of ways to get to the data you want, the presentation varying according to the device you're using. You'll get a basic overview of our findings on mobile, with metadata from the video capture of each GPU being translated into simple bar charts with average frame-rate and lowest one per cent measurements for easy comparisons.

On a desktop-class browser, you'll get the full-fat DF experience with embedded YouTube videos of each test scene and live performance metrics. Play the video, and you'll see exactly how each card handled the scene as it progresses. Below the real-time metrics is an interactive bar chart, which you can mouse over to see different measurements and click to switch between actual frame-rates and percentage differences. All the data here is derived from video captured directly from each GPU, ensuring an accurate replay of real performance.

Cyberpunk 2077

CD Projekt RED's epic received FSR2 support in its recent 1.61 update, making it an excellent candidate for inclusion in our RT/reconstruction line-up. Ultra RT settings in this game at native resolutions - especially 4K - deliver highly depressed performance, so DLSS and FSR2 are definitely the way to go if you're looking to enjoy RT features here. Lower base resolutions resolve many of the RT bottlenecks this game has, even on a card as mighty as the RTX 4090.

Looking at the RTX 4070 Ti, there's still a sizeable and impressive 25 percentage point lead for the new card over the RTX 3080 - again likely down to its more limited memory pool. It also retains a sizeable lead over RDNA 3, outpacing the RX 7900 XT by almost 22 percent, while also handily beating the RX 7900 XTX. Performance differentials against the higher-end RTX 4000 models are depressed a little (par for the course with lower base resolutions) but once again, it's the comparison with the highest-end Ampere cards that holds some interest - again, we're extremely close to RTX 3090 Ti performance to the point where RTX 4070 Ti basically delivers 98 percent of the older card's throughput.

CYBERPUNK 2077, ULTRA RT, DX12, DLSS VS FSR2

Dying Light 2

Developer Techland may well have pivoted to multi-platform development but in common with many Eastern European studios, we know that their hearts still lie with PC gaming - hence the incredible range of RT features added for this platform when the consoles only received RT shadows and ambient occlusion. The developers pushed the boat out to the point where if you want to experience 4K at 60fps with all features enabled, you're looking at image reconstruction to get the job done.

We found that RDNA 3 performed fairly well here, though its frame-rate averages are skewed up by content in the test sequence with a lot of the skybox in view. Even so, once again the RTX 4070 Ti pulls ahead of the RX 7900 XT by around 10 percent, and the XTX only holds a marginal advantage over the new Nvidia card. Performance differentials against RTX 3080 are impressive - in the region of 28 percent.

Similar to Cyberpunk 2077, performance differentials against the other Ada Lovelace cards are compressed a little thanks to image reconstruction working from a lower base resolution - 4080 is around 22 percent faster, while 4090 manages 64 percent. In this test, we found the 4070 Ti to pull slightly ahead of the RTX 3090 Ti, but it's very, very close to margin of error.

DYING LIGHT 2, ULTRA RT, DX12, DLSS VS FSR2

Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered

Nixxes has established itself as a top tier developer over the years and its recent ports of Marvel's Spider-Man and Spider-Man: Miles Morales demonstrate that Sony knows a good buy when it sees one. We like this title because of its wide support for all upscaling solutions and even DLSS 3 frame generation. Compared to RTX 3080, the upscaled DLSS rendition of Marvel's Spider-Man yields a 16 percent increase, though interestingly this is where we see RX 7900 XT actually pull ahead - a rare sight in an RT title.

Looking at the Nvidia heavy-hitters, the RTX 4070 Ti isn't quite as stable in terms of frame-times as the RTX 3090 Ti, but it does manage to match its average performance level. We're hitting CPU limits on this one, which is where DLSS 3 comes in. However, without frame generation active, RTX 4080 only has a 17 point lead, rising to just short of 30 percent with a 4090. We'd expect these differentials to space out if a higher DLSS quality level were used - all of the Ada Lovelace cards can support 4K60 minimum even on DLSS quality mode.