This is my 11th review of a GeForce RTX 4070, I've previously reviewed models from all the other major brands. Launched back in April, the RTX 4070 is the smaller brother to the RTX 4070 Ti, for $200 less. Under the hood, the RTX 4070 is very similar to the RTX 4070 Ti. Both cards are based on the NVIDIA AD104 graphics processor and feature 12 GB GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit wide memory bus. Of course you're getting all of NVIDIA's GeForce 40 series goodies, like DLSS 3 Frame Generation and improved ray tracing cores. What is different is the number of cores in the GPU—the RTX 4070 has 5,888 cores, which is a pretty hefty 30% difference to the 7,680 cores on RTX 4070 Ti. Clock speeds are lower, too, the RTX 4070 Ti had a rated boost of up to 2610 MHz, whereas the non-Ti is rated for 2475 MHz.

The Zotac GeForce RTX 4070 AMP Airo Trio is a factory-overclocked custom-design variant selling at $640. It runs at a rated boost clock of 2535 MHz, which is a 2.4% increase over the NVIDIA Founders Edition clocks of 2475 MHz. Zotac is also including adjustable RGB lighting and a triple-slot, triple-fan thermal solution.

Averaged over the 25 games in our test suite, at 1440p resolution, the Zotac RTX 4070 AMP Airo Trio comes out 1% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX 4070 FE, which is pretty slim for a factory overclocked RTX 4070, but the other models I've tested aren't doing much better either. Compared to last generation's RTX 3070, the performance uplift is 28%—a relatively small gen-over-gen gain (RTX 4090: +61%, RTX 4080: +50%, RTX 4070 Ti: +46%). It is still a substantial improvement, especially when you consider other factors like DLSS 3 and efficiency. Compared to AMD's offerings, the RTX 4070 matches than the Radeon RX 6800 XT, and is close behind the RX 6900 XT. AMD hasn't released any competitor to the RTX 4070 yet, their latest release the Radeon RX 7600 is an entry-level card that's roughly half as fast as the RTX 4070. There's some rumors that a RX 7800 is launching soon, it's long overdue.

These performance numbers make GeForce RTX 4070 an excellent choice for gaming at 1440p. Even smooth 4K is in reach in most titles, especially if you're willing to enable upscaling technologies like FSR or DLSS 2, or DLSS 3 Frame Generation. Just like the RTX 4070 Ti, I've noticed that RTX 4070 does a little bit worse at 4K than at 1440p relative to our other comparison cards. It seems the smaller L2 cache and 192-bit memory bus hold the 4070 series cards back slightly at that resolution.

Just like on other NVIDIA cards, ray tracing performance is better than on AMD's offerings, because NVIDIA is executing more operations in dedicated hardware, and they have had a one GPU generation head start. While the performance differences are not night-and-day, they are still noteworthy. For example, the Radeon RX 6800 XT matches the RTX 4070 in pure rasterization workloads, but falls behind over 20% with ray tracing enabled. While RX 7900 XT offered 30% higher FPS with RT off, turning RT on makes that gap shrink to just 4%. Everybody agrees that ray tracing is the future, they just disagree on how fast it will become an essential part of gaming. If you're in the "RTX on" camp, then NVIDIA's GeForce graphics cards will give you higher framerates than AMD's offerings.

Another important selling point is that NVIDIA's GeForce 40 Series graphics cards support DLSS 3 Frame Generation. The algorithm takes two frames, measures how things have moved in those two frames and calculates an intermediate frame in which these things moved only half the distance. While this approach is definitely not problem-free, especially when pixel-peeping at stills or slowed down video, in real-time it's nearly impossible to notice any difference. As you run at higher FPS and resolution it becomes even more difficult, because the deltas between each frame are getting smaller and smaller. Being able to double your FPS is a huge capability, because it means you can enable ray tracing for free, or game at higher resolutions. Of course you are limited to games with DLSS 3 support, of which there are currently around 40, mostly AAA titles, but not every title will support it. AMD doesn't have anything similar, they announced that FSR 3 exists last year and since then we haven't seen a single demo, with no updates at Computex either.

There has been a lot of discussion about VRAM sizes recently. While I agree that 16 GB would be better, I disagree with people who say that 12 GB is already too small, or obsolete. There are a few (badly coded) games out there that use a ton of VRAM, especially at 4K, but the vast majority of titles won't even get close to such VRAM usage numbers. In our whole updated test suite not a single game saw a meaningful performance hit with 12 GB, not even at 4K—and RTX 4070 is fundamentally a 1440p card. You'll also have to consider that making a 16 GB card isn't just "let's add another 4 GB memory chip," but you also need to put additional signal traces on the PCB, and widen the memory controller inside the GPU, so that it can talk to all these chips in parallel. I don't think anyone would be willing to pay $700 for a 16 GB RTX 4070, would you? On the other hand, AMD does offer 16 GB VRAM on the Radeon RX 6800 XT and 6900 XT, which could make them an option for those who want to focus on VRAM future-proofing.

Zotac's AMP Edition is clearly a more premium design than the various MSRP cards out there. The noise levels are excellent, just 29 dBA is almost whisper-quiet, even with the factory overclock—very impressive. Temperatures are good, too, with only 64°C, the card runs cool at all times. While there's other RTX 4070 models that are even quieter, the differences are small, especially subjectively. especially when you have other noise sources in the room. Zotac does not include a dual BIOS on their card, and I don't think it's needed anyway. Rather they picked great fan settings by default. Our apples-to-apples cooler test confirms that the Zotac cooler is considerably more powerful than the thermal solution on the Founders Edition, but compared to other premium custom designs it sits roughly in the middle of the pack. This shows that you don't need a super-powerful cooler just to build a quiet card. Good, balanced, fan settings are more important. Just like all other recent graphics card releases, the Zotac RTX 4070 AMP Airo will stop its fans in idle, desktop work, internet browsing and light gaming.

Being able to run at these speeds with a relatively compact cooling solution is an amazing feat, thanks to the stunning energy efficiency of NVIDIA's Ada architecture. With just 200 W, the power supply requirements are minimal, any beige OEM PSU will be able to drive the RTX 4070 just fine, so upgraders can just plop in a new graphics card and they're good to go. Performance per watt is among the best we've ever seen, slightly better than RTX 4070 Ti and Radeon RX 7900 XTX; same as RTX 4060 Ti, only the RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 are even more energy-efficient. Like most other cards tested, the Zotac AMP Airo runs at a default power limit of 200 W. On the other hand, Zotac does give you the largest manual adjustment range of the whole market—up to 240 W, which will make the card interesting for more advanced overclockers.

Just like the NVIDIA FE, Zotac is using a 16-pin power input, an adapter is included. Considering that an 8-pin (plus the PCIe slot) only provides up to 225 W of power, it makes sense to use the 16-pin. I think people are sufficiency educated now that they need to properly plug it in, so no complaints from me.

Zotac's GeForce RTX 4070 AMP Airo is currently listed for $640, which is $40 higher than the NVIDIA MSRP, or +6.7%. The factory overclock is good for just 1%, so the performance gains alone can't justify the expense. You definitely get a better cooler than on most MSRP cards, but there's also cards like the ASUS Dual ($600) and MSI Ventus ($610) that deliver a low-noise gaming experience without any serious compromises.

I feel like I could see myself spending $20-$30 more for the AMP Airo due to the more premium design and aesthetics, especially if I want RGB lighting. A premium of $40 is a bit on the high side, but on the other hand, losing sleep over $10 makes no sense when you're ready to spend $600 in the first place. NVIDIA's $600 base price point is alright, given the current GPU pricing landscape—it's definitely not exciting or tempting people to upgrade. There's a lot of alternatives available, especially if you're willing to shop in last-generation. For example, the RTX 3080 is down to $500 now, with very similar performance levels in both RT and raster. The Radeon RX 6800 XT goes for $500, too, but falls behind in ray tracing. The same is true for Radeon RX 6900 XT, which offers a bit better raster performance, for $580, but RT runs considerably better on the 4070. NVIDIA's ace in the pocket is DLSS 3, which is a game-changer that's exclusive to the GeForce 40 series, and the excellent energy efficiency. Spending $200 more for an $800 RTX 4070 Ti is out of reach for people shopping with a $600 budget, just like Radeon RX 7900 XT, which is discounted to $760 now—tempting, especially if you want to focus on raster performance.

NVIDIA knows these numbers, too, and that's exactly why the RTX 4070 is positioned like that. It's a solid choice in its segment no doubt, with good performance and impressive efficiency. Given these high hardware prices I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of PC gamers start considering the various game consoles. Microsoft's Xbox Series S sells for $300, the Sony PS5 Digital for $400 - less than most graphics cards. Both will give you a first-class gaming experience without shader compilation stutters and other PC port troubles. Gaming at 4K works well, and ray tracing is included in most titles. No doubt, the visual quality will be lower than on a high-end gaming PC, but it'll be good enough for a lot of people who just want to enjoy their games and feel like they are getting priced out of the PC gaming market.