How does Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti compare to the RTX 3090? DLSS, specs, and more explained

The RTX 4070 Ti is Nvidia's latest addition to the Ada Lovelace-based RTX 40 series lineup. It is a renamed version of the RTX 4080 12 GB that was relaunched back in October 2022.

The Lovelace series boasts massive performance uplifts over the RTX 30 lineup. Thus, it is no surprise that many gamers compare it to the last-gen 90-class BFGPU.

The 4070 Ti is a massive pixel pusher. The card is mainly targeted toward 1440p gaming, like its last-gen counterparts. However, the GPU can run almost all video games in 4K. It comes with new technologies like DLSS 3 that massively boost the framerate of video games.

Thus, many gamers are considering it over the RTX 3090. However, a few more points, including the competition, should be considered before finalizing this GPU.

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The RTX 4070 Ti is a great video card, but it does not live up to the other options in the market

The 4070 Ti is quite shabby on paper. It is a massively cut-down version of the much more expensive RTX 4080 16 GB. Thus, selling it with the same name would have been a massacre for Team Green.

Comparing the specs of the RTX 4070 Ti and the RTX 3090 would be unfair, to say the least. This is because these GPUs are based on completely different architectures. The newer video cards come with more powerful CUDA cores, next-generation RT cores, and Tensor cores. Thus, with a lesser core count, an RTX 40 series card can outperform a last-gen GPU.

However, to paint a rough idea, the specs of the two cards are listed below.

	Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti	Nvidia RTX 3090
CUDA core count	7,680	10,496
Tensor cores	240	328
RT cores	80	82
Base clock	2,310 MHz	1,395 MHz
Boost clock	2,610 MHz	1,695 MHz
VRAM	12 GB GDDR6X	24 GB GDDR6X
VRAM bus width	192 bit	384 bit
Total board power (TBP)	285 W	350 W
Price	$799+	$999+

Buy the RTX 4070 Ti from Amazon here

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Benchmarks and in-game performance differences

Nvidia reportedly used DLSS 3, Team Green's temporal upscaling formula, for the relative performance charts. The latest iteration of DLSS combines frame generation and AI upscaling to multiply the framerate the card can push in a video game.

However, in terms of rasterization performance, which is a more realistic test while comparing cross-gen cards, the GPU's true power comes to the surface. Thus, despite Nvidia's false marketing claims, which suggested that the 4070 Ti would be almost three times faster than the 3090 Ti, reviews have shown that it is barely faster than the original 3090 from two years ago.

Overall, the RTX 4070 Ti is slightly faster than the 3090 across every video game and benchmark. According to TechPowerUp's GPU computing power aggregate, the card is around 3% faster than the flagship entry from 2020.

Buy the RTX 3090 from Amazon here

The newer GPU achieves these numbers while being around $100 to $150 less expensive than the 3090 and more power efficient. While the 3090 can draw up to 350W while delivering peak performance, the RTX 4070 Ti's created TDP is 285W.

These reasons are enough to poach the RTX 3090 as a recommendation for gamers who want to build a gaming PC today.

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The competition has better options than the 4070 Ti

The competition, AMD's RX 7000 series, has some more lucrative options. The RX 7900 XT outperforms the RTX 4070 Ti by a solid 9-10%, depending on the video game it is being tested in.

The card shares an $800 price tag with the 4070 Ti, and multiple models are available at this price tag. Thus, it is a recommendation for Nvidia's latest launch.

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Conclusion

Overall, the RTX 4070 Ti is a solid video card and makes more sense than the last-gen RTX 3090. However, when pitched against the competition, its value proposition falls apart.

The 7900 XT has some caveats, like poor ray tracing performance and less stable drivers. However, it is a massive pixel pusher that pulls ahead of Green Camp's latest offering.