Ever because the introduction of the GTX 470 greater than a decade in the past, the xx70 card has been one thing of a regular for PC gaming, the go-to tier of efficiency that gained’t wreck your finances for greater than a month or so. But with graphics card costs climbing ever increased, is that also the case? PCWorld’s Keith May took it upon himself to reply that query, testing and evaluating the enhancements within the final 4 generations of playing cards: the GTX 1070 (2016), RTX 2070 (2018), RTX 3070 (2020), and RTX 4070 (right freakin’ now).

Using a few of our common gaming benchmarks throughout 4 generations of playing cards reveals a reasonably regular and predictable delta for efficiency, even in some older video games with out the good thing about extra trendy graphics optimization strategies. There are just a few exceptions, like Modern Warfare 2, however usually you’ll see the efficiency curve enhance with every card.

But since leap from GTX to RTX, Nvidia has been boasting much less tangible enhancements like assist for ray tracing and DLSS, and used a few of these claims to justify the will increase in pricing. Are they price it? Running by means of Cybeprunk’s benchmark on the RTX 2070, 3070, 4070, and 4070 with ray tracing and DLSS turned on, you’ll be able to see a gradual enchancment in framerates thanks to those graphical shortcuts. The leap is even increased once you allow the improved DLSS 3, unique to the RTX 40 collection. You can see related jumps when enabling the new Overdrive Mode with path tracing.

And do these jumps in efficiency justify the relative enhance in value? For reference, the GTX 1070 launched at a retail value of $380 in 2016, whereas a brand new RTX 4070 will run you $600 in the present day. (The Zotac card used on this comparability is $670.) That’s a large leap, even accounting for inflation… nevertheless it’s additionally the identical value because the RTX 2070Founders Edition, after a short drop final era. Kieth concludes that the RTX 4070 is a predictable and justifiable enchancment in efficiency, particularly with the addition of DLSS 3, nevertheless it’s nothing to get too enthusiastic about.