Nvidia's RTX 70 Series, Ranked: From the 2070 to the 5070

[Steve]

We compare six years of Nvidia's RTX 70 series, from the 2070 to the new 5070, to see whether the latest card truly moves forward or simply holds the line in performance and value.

Read the full article here.

Nvidia's RTX 70 Series, Ranked: From the 2070 to the 5070

 

[j4ni1]

"When the latest upscaling techniques are not available, GeForce continues to hold a clear advantage because DLSS 2 and 3 are far superior to FSR 2 and 3 at the resolutions likely to be used with these products, especially 1440p."

I correct it for you: when the latest upscaling technologies are not available then you use OptiScaler to upgrade the game to the newest one.

"In the end, the RTX 5070 and RX 9070 are very evenly matched. "

Not really. The RX 9070 is superior both in performance and VRAM. Bringing path tracing into the discussion with 5070 is ignoring the fact that its not well suited for path tracing, it lack performance and to a lesser extent VRAM to provide a good experience.

 

[James321]

Best to upgrade every 3rd or 4th generation from the current one you have.

Anything less than 100% or twice as fast as the current GPU you have, don't really feel like an upgrade.

 

[Beerfloat]

Ok I'm convinced. Based on these results I'll skip the 2070 and buy the 5070. Thanks!

 

[GoldenGoat]

I would like to see a similar article about laptop versions.

 

[fadingfool]

1070 for the win - over double the RAM of the previous 970 3.5GB (we're not counting the 512KB of slow RAM) and with a laptop version that was also as powerful.

 

[Daniel Sims]

What's frustrating about the RTX 5070 is that its VRAM is the main thing holding users back from being able to catch a glimpse of what's possible with path tracing. Sections of Indiana Jones and Cyberpunk are playable at certain settings with path tracing enabled, but the GPU constantly feels as if it is barely hanging on.

Outside of that context, the 5070 might remain useful for a long time, but it keeps you thinking about what could have been...

 

[CMP01]

1070 for the win - over double the RAM of the previous 970 3.5GB (we're not counting the 512KB of slow RAM) and with a laptop version that was also as powerful.

This.

For reasons too long to get into here I actually followed up a desktop (i7 6700K, 1070, 16Gb @ 25601080) with a gaming laptop (i7 8750H, 1070, 16Gb @ 1080p) that was every bit as performant bar peak temps. Never had a gaming laptop match up as well to desktop specs before or since, though tbf I've never bought into any laptop over xx70 tier on the GPU side. Then again, the laptop was bought for me by a gf when I hadn't and wasn't able to use that desktop for a long period.

Now, that 970 4Gb wasn't even great by the time I was planning to build by 2015 for a first desktop in a decade. That was before the 3.5+ thing became widespread and vexing knowledge. It was actually the Radeon 380-390X series with their 8Gb that piqued my interest at the time before I ended up having to stick with laptops another gen with a i7 4720HQ/970m 3Gb one that easily traded blows with a PS4 (which I'd had but tired of due to missing certain PC exclusives)

 

[ScottSoapbox]

You forgot the 770 which was great!

…Then I got too busy for gaming until the 2070 which struggled with RT in Control so I upgraded to the 3070.

Covid led to an overpriced 3080 that paid for itself mining. Which then spoiled me on high frame rates. And now I’m glad I snagged a 5080 when it dipped below MSRP as the next period of GPU madness now looms.

 

[jpvalverde85]

Looking for a cheap used 4070 for a 1080p high fps gaming rig doesnt look farfetched!

 

[Lowhangingfruit]

Ok I'm convinced. Based on these results I'll skip the 2070 and buy the 5070. Thanks!

From a quick search on ebay it seems you can get the 2070 for less than $150. With some deeper searching I wouldn't be surprised if you could find one for $100.

That's a pretty good price for a card that can play every game out there with reasonably high settings.

If you're doing a budget build, I'd say go for it. And in 2 years upgrade to the 3070.

 

[CapNemo72]

2070 -> 4070 : double performance
3070 -> 5070 : NOT double performance

 

[Cynical]

Where are the Ti card ranks? My 4070Ti is better than a 5070.

 

[F1jones]

Best to upgrade every 3rd or 4th generation from the current one you have.

Anything less than 100% or twice as fast as the current GPU you have, don't really feel like an upgrade.

I swapped from just a 5060 ti 16 GB to a 5070. Sure feels like an upgrade to me.

 

[James321]

I swapped from just a 5060 ti 16 GB to a 5070. Sure feels like an upgrade to me.

30% increase in performance is hardly worthy of an upgrade. Not going to waste money to get only a few fps increase. I have upgraded from AMD 6600XT to 5070TI, which is a much bigger jump and sometimes wonder if it was a waste of money.

Each to his own I guess as long as you enjoy it, then who cares. Enjoy...

 

[RaXelliX]

30% increase in performance is hardly worthy of an upgrade. Not going to waste money to get only a few fps increase. I have upgraded from AMD 6600XT to 5070TI, which is a much bigger jump and sometimes wonder if it was a waste of money.

Each to his own I guess as long as you enjoy it, then who cares. Enjoy...

Plus he lost 4GB of VRAM with that emm "upgrade".

I completely agree with you. I upgraded from 2080 Ti (roughly RX 6800 perf) to 9070 XT.

79% according to TPU performance chart. At least I gained 5GB of VRAM and got the card at the same price I bought the used 2080 Ti for (9070 XT is brand new). Plus the new card consumes less power and runs cooler.
And I can avoid the dreaded abomination 12pin power connector for 4 years more.

Even so I too sometimes wonder if it was worth it.
I supposed with everything only predicted to get more expensive I can whether the storm.

 

[Nintenboy01]

Well they couldn't have given the 5070 16GB VRAM due to its 192-bit bus. Our only hope is the 5070 Super with 18GB which may end up canceled.

 

[longjohn119]

Where are the Ti card ranks? My 4070Ti is better than a 5070.

I have a 4070 Ti too and IMO it's way underrated ...... Better than 3090 performance at half the cost and uses 40% less electricity

 

[faster]

I love the article! Mot gonna lie, kind of disappointed the 1070 wasn't in there. If you do the 80 series, include the ti's and the 1080ti, the most iconic graphics card ever made.