The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 looks to offer great performance at a low price. When compared to the 'ferocious' 3090 the differences are huge, but there are other factors to consider, such as the price. With Nvidia's new lineup, exceptionally powerful GPUs no longer have to be way more expensive than entire consoles.
The latest Ampere architecture offers a ton of improvements over the last-generation Turing GPUs. Nvidia's demonstration of the RTX 30 series shows that they perform over four times faster than GPUs utilizing its Turing architecture. What the company considers as its “greatest generational leap” has also helped pave the way for cheaper GPUs, such as the GeForce RTX 3070, that even outclass previous generation flagship models.
The question now is, how does Nvidia's cheapest Ampere-based GPU compare to its most expensively option? The RTX 30 series specs shows a considerable disparity between the RTX 3090's 24GB VRAM, which is three times more than the 3070's 8GB capacity. The RTX 3070 is also not using Micron's ultra-fast GDDR6X memory found in both he 3090 and 3080 series. However, it's still capable of 1440p and 4K gaming, just not to the same level that the 3090 can achieve. The monstrous RTX 3090 is the only one in the current lineup that's capable of rendering graphics at 8K resolution, while being able to maintain a smooth 60 frames per second in the process.
RTX 3070 & 3090: Pros & Cons
The RTX 3070's performance and overall package is more competitive when it goes toe-to-toe with the flagship 3080. When it comes to performance, the RTX 3070 is no match for the beefy 3090. However, the price difference between the two is substantial with the 3070 priced at $499, compared to the $1499 cost of the RTX 3090. Furthermore, the 3070's architecture is still built to handle next-generation games, so the 3090's ludicrous graphics-processing power is unneeded for most consumers, unless 8K gaming is a top priority.
The RTX 3090 with its more advanced internals is due to go on sale September 24, which means it will be available to buy before the 3070, as those looking to pick up the more price-friendly alternative will have to wait until October. Regardless of which model consumers get, it's worth noting that that all of the RTX 30 series come with next-gen technologies, such as ray tracing, low latency solutions like Nvidia Reflex, and can pretty much handle most games at max settings. Furthermore, the price, value and performance ratio of Nvidia's RTX 30 series highlights why the next-generation of GPUs matter now more than ever.
Source: Nvidia