Nvidia's RTX 4070 to Launch at $599: Report

News
By Mark Tyson
published

$100 higher than the October 2020 launch price of the 3070

Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070
(Image credit: Nvidia)

Nvidia’s highly anticipated GeForce RTX 4070 desktop graphics card will launch at $599, according to VideoCardz, aiming to join the ranks of the best graphics cards. It asserts that three separate sources have confirmed this price, which was apparently revealed during a briefing. Nevertheless, we are warned that pricing could be subject to changes right up to the last minute.

Let's put this price into perspective, assuming it is correct. In October 2020, Nvidia launched the GeForce RTX 3070 at $499, so the Lovelace-based card is 'just' $100 more, which isn’t so bad given current inflationary pressures. If you must have a direct $599 comparison, the RTX 3070 Ti officially launched at that price in mid-2021, but it only became available for close to the MSRP in late 2022. The 4070 should deliver a big boost in performance over similarly priced last-gen options, based on the rumored specs.

Perhaps the most pertinent GeForce RTX 4070 comparison is against its Ti suffixed stable mate. There will be a considerable $200 gap between the RTX 4070 and RTX 4070 Ti (which launched at $799). Anyone worried that Nvidia was only going to knock $50 or even $100 off the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti price while cutting the GPU shader count by 20% should find a little relief here.

On paper at least, cutting a fifth of the shaders while reducing the price by 25% looks like an enticing prospect for PC gamers and enthusiasts. The latest information we have suggests that the RTX 4070 Ti and RTX 4070 will share the same memory specs, with 12GB 192-bit 21 GT/s GDDR6X. So at least that aspect of the RTX 4070 isn’t going to drag it down. The only other reduction we could probably see are reduced GPU clocks — but enthusiasts (and board partners) will tweak these to at least get closer to the stepped-up Ti alternative.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Nvidia RTX 40-Series Specifications
Row 0 - Cell 0 GPUFP32 CUDA CoresMemory ConfigurationTBPMSRP
GeForce RTX 4090 TiAD10218176 (?)24GB 384-bit 24 GT/s GDDR6X (?)600W (?)$????
GeForce RTX 4090AD1021638424GB 384-bit 21 GT/s GDDR6X450W$1,599
GeForce RTX 4080AD103972816GB 256-bit 22.4 GT/s GDDR6X320W$1,199
GeForce RTX 4070 TiAD104768012GB 192-bit 21 GT/s GDDR6X285W$799
GeForce RTX 4070 *AD1045888 (?)12GB 192-bit 21 GT/s GDDR6X200W (?)$599 (?)
GeForce RTX 4060 Ti *AD1064352 (?)8GB 128-bit 18 GT/s GDDR6160W (?)$???
GeForce RTX 3070GA10458888GB 256-bit 14 GT/s GDDR6220W$499

* : Rumored specifications, not confirmed by Nvidia

Nvidia and its graphics card partners are expected to start selling GeForce RTX 4070 graphics cards on April 13, 2023. With the lower TDP of approx 200W, down from 285W for the Ti model, one of the advantages of the RTX 4070 should be smaller cards that are easier to fit in compact cases. We might see some of the first twin-fan Ada Lovelace graphics cards with this new crop, which could help the RTX 4070 garner some sales. But of course we'll have to test a few to find out.

Besides the the RTX 4070 pricing, if the $599 MSRP proves correct, that also makes us feel better about the pricing prospects of the inevitable RTX 4060 / Ti and RTX 4050 / Ti models. Past history suggests Nvidia will knock $50–$100 off each succeeding tier, so $400 or less for an RTX 4060 is possible. Needless to say, affordable new graphics cards can't come soon enough.

Mark Tyson
Mark Tyson
Freelance News Writer

Mark Tyson is a Freelance News Writer at Tom's Hardware US. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.

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28 Comments Comment from the forums
  • BX4096
    Admin said:
    The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 appears to be primed for a $599 launch price, which some will see as a forgivable $100 increase on 2020’s RTX 3070 MSRP.
    That's only if you see it as a proper, good-faith successor to 3070. 4070 ti is already just 50-60% faster than the 3070 in raster (Tom's rasterization benchmarks place it at 30-72%, depending on the resolution), and a good part of that difference can largely be attributed to the 3070 cards 8GB VRAM limit. Considering how gimped 4070 appears to be compared to the so-called "ti" (a.k.a renamed "4080 12gb", another outrage), some will see it as a rebranded 4060 ti with a rather steep $200 increase from 3060 ti's $399 MRSP.
    Reply
  • helper800
    This GPU is at best a 3060 ti equivalent if you look at die sizes. The, "RTX 4070," has a 295mm² die while the 3060ti is at 392mm² and the 3060 has a 276mm² die size. I would not pay for a 600 dollar 3060 tier card. The 3060 was already overpriced, add another 200 dollars to that and you have an oligarchic Nvidia tax you are paying. That is my 2 cents, take it or leave it.
    Reply
  • ngilbert
    helper800 said:
    This GPU is at best a 3060 ti equivalent if you look at die sizes. The, "RTX 4070," has a 295mm² die while the 3060ti is at 392mm² and the 3060 has a 276mm² die size. I would not pay for a 600 dollar 3060 tier card. The 3060 was already overpriced, add another 200 dollars to that and you have an oligarchic Nvidia tax you are paying. That is my 2 cents, take it or leave it.
    Because die size is such a great comparison when dealing with chips that are manufactured under very different processes. The RTX 30XX series were manufactured under 10nm process, while the 40XX are under a 5nm process - so the 295mm² 4070ti has 26% more transistors than the 628mm² 3090ti.
    Reply
  • Metal Messiah.
    If you ask me, at $499 US price tag, this card would really have been even better and highly competitive against AMD's mid-range options that might launch soon.

    Now if we take the new $599 USD into perspective, then it is worth noting that Nvidia's MSRP prices are minimum prices for their graphics cards, so expect many, or most, RTX 4070 GPU models from AIBs to sell at even higher prices.
    Reply
  • helper800
    ngilbert said:
    Because die size is such a great comparison when dealing with chips that are manufactured under very different processes. The RTX 30XX series were manufactured under 10nm process, while the 40XX are under a 5nm process - so the 295mm² 4070ti has 26% more transistors than the 628mm² 3090ti.
    Die size has been the main contributor to cost since the 90s and nodes have shrunk many times since then and similar sized die parts were almost always within the same price bracket based on die size. If price increased based on transistor count alone we would have billion dollar GPUs and CPUs depending on when you start scaling it. I dont buy all the excuses that the manufacturing is so much more expensive as an excuse for the price increases. Every single time there has been a new release of products they have been on teh most advanced node available to them which for the time was also the most expensive manufacturing process. Despite this, prices have increased hundreds of dollars multiple generations in a row for same named parts, let alone similar die sized parts. Again, these are some facts mixed with my opinions. I am fallible.
    Reply
  • Why_Me
    My thoughts ... first off this card will naturally be meant for gaming at 1440 but you are going to have n00bs complaining that this card doesn't do well at 4K. Secondly we can only assume for now until we see the reviews.

    I'm of mind this card will average 15 - 20 FPS less than the 4070 Ti.


    Reply
  • Eximo
    ngilbert said:
    Because die size is such a great comparison when dealing with chips that are manufactured under very different processes. The RTX 30XX series were manufactured under 10nm process, while the 40XX are under a 5nm process - so the 295mm² 4070ti has 26% more transistors than the 628mm² 3090ti.

    Samsung 8nm actually.

    And TSMC N4 (which is still part of their 7nm node family)
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    helper800 said:
    Die size has been the main contributor to cost since the 90s and nodes have shrunk many times since then and similar sized die parts were almost always within the same price bracket based on die size.
    Up until 12-14nm, most costs were relatively constant and we had wafers at a steady ~$3000 for a very long time. With the new sub-10nm stuff though, we've seen per-wafer cost jump from ~$6000 to $17 000+. That 300sqmm silicon slab is getting legitimately expensive, albeit still not enough so to justify another $100 price hike on a 25% die+VRAM shrink.
    Reply
  • Eximo
    And that is why there is so much being invested in fabs right now. Too much demand for the best process nodes means that TSMC, in particular, can almost charge whatever they want. And when you have large customers like Apple and AMD (Playstation/Xbox is a huge one) on top of all three GPU designers also using them. Intel also using TSMC for CPU graphics, it really is adding up.

    And they aren't likely to pass those fab savings on to us. They'll keep prices as high as they can as long a they can.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    Eximo said:
    And that is why there is so much being invested in fabs right now.
    Many companies have rolled back their fab expansion plans due to the global economic slowdown. No point in rushing to finish building fabs when your existing ones are no longer operating anywhere near capacity and you are starting to worry about excess inventory or even having to shut down some of your existing capacity.
    Reply