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.
* : 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.
