NVIDIA RTX 4070 Super Review: The Undisputed New King of 1440p Gaming?

In the ever-escalating arms race of PC gaming hardware, there are moments of quiet revolution. These aren’t always the headline-grabbing, $2000 flagship launches that shatter performance records. More often, they are the strategic, mid-generation releases that redefine value and establish a new benchmark for the majority of gamers.

For years, that benchmark has been 1440p. It’s the undisputed sweet spot, offering a breathtaking leap in visual fidelity over 1080p without demanding the monstrous horsepower—and wallet—required for a no-compromises 4K experience. The question on every builder’s mind has been consistent: which GPU offers the definitive 1440p experience without financial ruin?

NVIDIA believes it has the answer. And it’s “Super.”

The NVIDIA RTX 4070 Super isn’t just another card on the shelf. It’s a calculated, aggressive move to conquer the mainstream enthusiast market. It arrives with more cores, a refined power profile, and a price tag designed to make both its own siblings and the competition sweat. It promises to deliver the performance of a once-premium card at a much more palatable price.

But in a market crowded with compelling options, do these promises hold up under the intense scrutiny of today’s most demanding games? We’ve spent weeks testing, benchmarking, and analyzing this GPU to deliver the ultimate verdict. This is our deep-dive RTX 4070 Super review, and we’re here to determine if it has truly earned the crown as the new 1440p gaming king.

First, What Exactly Makes a “Super” Card, Super?

Before we jump into the frames per second, it’s crucial to understand what the “Super” moniker means in NVIDIA’s 40-series lineup. This isn’t just a factory overclock. The RTX 4070 Super is a physically different, more powerful piece of silicon than the original RTX 4070.

Built on the same groundbreaking “Ada Lovelace” architecture, the key difference lies in the GPU die itself. The 4070 Super utilizes a more unlocked version of the AD104 chip, the same one found in the RTX 4070 Ti.

Let’s break down the architecture’s magic:

• CUDA Cores: These are the workhorses of the GPU, handling the bulk of the shading and processing. More cores generally mean more raw performance.
• 4th Gen Tensor Cores: The brains behind NVIDIA’s DLSS technology. These specialized AI cores are essential for Deep Learning Super Sampling, particularly the incredible Frame Generation feature in DLSS 3.
• 3rd Gen RT Cores: Dedicated hardware for processing the complex calculations of ray tracing—the technology that creates ultra-realistic lighting, shadows, and reflections.
• Shader Execution Reordering (SER): A key innovation in Ada Lovelace, SER is like an expert traffic controller for the GPU. It reorganizes rendering tasks on the fly to process them more efficiently, providing a significant boost, especially in ray-traced workloads.

The Super refresh effectively gives you a chip with more of these cores enabled, bridging the performance gap between the original 4070 and the more expensive 4070 Ti.

Unboxing and Design: The Founder’s Edition Elegance

For our review, we’re using NVIDIA’s own Founder’s Edition (FE) model. The 40-series FE cards have a distinct and, frankly, gorgeous design language. The RTX 4070 Super adopts the same compact, dual-slot form factor as the original 4070, but comes in a sleek, all-black anodized finish that looks incredibly premium.

It’s dense, heavy, and feels meticulously engineered. The flow-through cooling design, with one fan pulling air through the card and exhausting it towards the top of the case, remains highly effective and surprisingly quiet.

One point of contention for many builders is the 12VHPWR power connector. Yes, it’s still here. While the initial issues with this new standard have been largely addressed through better cable design and user education, it can be an aesthetic and logistical annoyance. NVIDIA includes an adapter in the box (which splits to two standard 8-pin PCIe connectors), but it’s bulky. Many modern power supplies now include native 12VHPWR cables, which we highly recommend for a cleaner build.

Partner cards from brands like ASUS, MSI, and Gigabyte will offer alternative designs, often with larger triple-fan coolers and traditional 8-pin connectors, giving you plenty of options.

Also read Best 850W Power Supplies

Specifications Breakdown: The Core of the Matter

Numbers on a page can seem dry, but in the world of GPUs, they tell a critical story. Let’s analyze how the 4070 Super is positioned against its closest family members.

Key Takeaways from the Specs:

Power Efficiency: With a TDP of just 220W, the 4070 Super is remarkably efficient. It delivers near-4070-Ti performance while drawing 65W less power, meaning less heat, less noise, and lower demands on your power supply.

The CUDA Core Explosion: The leap from 5,888 to 7,168 cores is a massive 22% increase. This is the single most important factor driving its performance uplift over the original 4070. It’s a genuine, substantial hardware upgrade.

Closing the Gap on the Ti: The 4070 Super has 93% of the cores of the 4070 Ti. This immediately signals that its performance will be incredibly close, making the Ti’s original $799 price point look exorbitant in retrospect.

The Memory Bus and Cache: Like its siblings, the Super uses a 192-bit memory bus, a point of criticism for some. However, NVIDIA compensates for this narrower bus with a very large 48MB L2 cache. This cache is extremely fast and reduces the need for the GPU to constantly access the slower VRAM, effectively boosting the memory performance beyond what the bus width would suggest.

Performance Benchmarks: The Moment of Truth

This is where the rubber meets the road. We put the RTX 4070 Super through a gauntlet of modern titles to see how it performs across various scenarios.

Our Test Bench:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
• Motherboard: MSI MPG B650I EDGE WIFI
• RAM: 32GB G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo DDR5 @ 6000MHz
• Storage: 2TB Samsung 990 Pro NVMe SSD
• PSU: Corsair RM850x 850W
• OS: Windows 11 Pro (Latest Updates)

All games were tested at the highest graphical presets unless otherwise noted. Results are average FPS.

1. The 1440p Rasterization Gauntlet (No Ray Tracing, No DLSS)

This is the baseline—pure, unadulterated gaming horsepower.

Game	1440p Max Settings (Avg. FPS)
Cyberpunk 2077	82 FPS
Baldur’s Gate 3 (Act 3)	125 FPS
Starfield	78 FPS
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III	165 FPS
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora	88 FPS
The Last of Us Part I	95 FPS

Analysis: The results are spectacular. The RTX 4070 Super chews through every modern title at 1440p with maxed-out settings, delivering well above the golden 60 FPS standard. For high-refresh-rate monitor owners, it’s a dream, easily pushing past 144 FPS in competitive shooters like Call of Duty. Compared to the original RTX 4070, we see a consistent 15-18% performance lead, a highly noticeable and meaningful improvement that elevates the experience from “great” to “flawless.”

2. The 1440p Ray Tracing Crucible

This is NVIDIA’s home turf. We enable full path tracing and ray tracing to see how the dedicated RT Cores hold up.

Game	1440p Max Settings + Max Ray Tracing (Avg. FPS)
Cyberpunk 2077 (RT: Overdrive)	45 FPS
Alan Wake 2 (Path Tracing)	38 FPS
Control	70 FPS
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales	90 FPS

Analysis: With the most demanding lighting simulation in gaming history, titles like Alan Wake 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 (in Overdrive mode) bring even mighty GPUs to their knees. Natively, the 4070 Super delivers a playable, cinematic framerate. But this isn’t the whole story. This is where NVIDIA’s ace in the hole comes into play.

3. The DLSS 3 Magic Wand: Frame Generation

DLSS 3 is exclusive to the RTX 40-series and is, without exaggeration, a form of technological wizardry. It uses AI to generate entirely new frames and insert them between traditionally rendered ones, massively boosting your FPS.

Let’s revisit those brutal ray tracing scenarios, but this time with DLSS 3 enabled (Quality Mode + Frame Generation).

Game (1440p, Max RT)	Native FPS	With DLSS 3 (Quality + FG)	Performance Uplift
Cyberpunk 2077 (RT: Overdrive)	45 FPS	115 FPS	+155%
Alan Wake 2 (Path Tracing)	38 FPS	105 FPS	+176%

Analysis: This is the feature that single-handedly cements the RTX 4070 Super’s claim to the throne. The performance jump is staggering. It transforms unplayably demanding graphical showcases into buttery-smooth, high-refresh-rate experiences. You can turn on all the eye candy without compromise. While AMD’s FSR is a great upscaling technology, it currently lacks a widely adopted equivalent to Frame Generation, giving NVIDIA a decisive feature advantage.

4. Stretching Its Legs: What About 4K Gaming?

While we’re crowning it the 1440p king, can it dabble in the world of 4K? Absolutely.

The RTX 4070 Super is a highly capable entry-level 4K gaming card. In many titles, you can hit 60 FPS with native rendering by dropping a few settings from Ultra to High.

However, its true 4K potential is again unlocked by DLSS. By using DLSS in “Performance” mode (which renders internally at 1080p and intelligently upscales to 4K), you can achieve fantastic results.

• Cyberpunk 2077 (4K, Ultra Settings, DLSS Performance): ~75 FPS
• Baldur’s Gate 3 (4K, Ultra Settings, DLSS Quality): ~80 FPS

For a $599 card, this is phenomenal. It provides a viable and enjoyable 4K pathway that was previously reserved for much more expensive GPUs.

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The Competitive Landscape: A Royal Rumble

A king can’t rule without challengers. Here’s how the RTX 4070 Super stacks up against its main rivals.

vs. AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT (The Value Champion)

This is the 4070 Super’s most direct competitor from Team Red. The RX 7800 XT is a fantastic GPU that offers incredible rasterization performance for its ~$499 price point. In non-ray-traced games, it often trades blows with the 4070 Super, sometimes even winning. It also boasts 16GB of VRAM to the Super’s 12GB.

• Where the RX 7800 XT wins: Raw price-to-performance in traditional games. If you’re on a strict budget and don’t care about ray tracing, it’s an amazing choice.
• Where the RTX 4070 Super wins:
  1. Ray Tracing: It’s significantly faster—often by 20-30% or more—when RT is enabled.
  2. DLSS 3: Frame Generation is a killer app that AMD cannot currently match.
  3. Power Efficiency: It runs cooler and quieter, drawing less power from the wall.
  4. Productivity: NVIDIA’s CUDA is more broadly supported in professional creative applications.

Verdict: The RX 7800 XT is the better value. The RTX 4070 Super is the better, more feature-rich product.

vs. The Sibling Rivalry (RTX 4070 & RTX 4070 Ti)

• vs. RTX 4070: The Super is about 15% faster for about a 9% ($50) price increase at MSRP. In our opinion, this is a worthy trade-off. The performance gain is more than worth the small price premium.
• vs. RTX 4070 Ti: The Super performs within a razor-thin 5-7% margin of the 4070 Ti while costing $200 less at launch. This move effectively made the 4070 Ti obsolete, which is why NVIDIA officially discontinued it. The 4070 Super offers 95% of the performance for 75% of the cost. The value proposition is undeniable.

vs. The Old Guard (RTX 3080 10GB)

Many gamers are still happily using the legendary RTX 3080. How does the 4070 Super compare for those considering an upgrade?

• Performance: The RTX 4070 Super is, on average, about 5-10% faster in pure rasterization than the RTX 3080.
• Features: This is the real story. The 4070 Super has DLSS 3 Frame Generation, which the 3080 lacks. In supported titles, this can lead to a 50-100% performance advantage.
• Power: The 4070 Super achieves this superior performance while consuming ~100W less power (220W vs 320W). It’s a testament to the efficiency of the Ada Lovelace architecture.

Verdict: For RTX 3080 owners, the 4070 Super is a compelling side-grade in rasterization but a massive upgrade in features and efficiency.

Beyond Gaming: A Creator’s Powerhouse

The RTX 4070 Super isn’t just for play. Its powerful hardware makes it an excellent choice for content creators, streamers, and 3D artists.

• Video Editing (Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve): The powerful CUDA cores and NVENC encoder accelerate rendering times and provide smooth timeline scrubbing, even with 4K footage.
• Streaming: The 8th generation NVENC encoder includes support for AV1 encoding. AV1 offers superior image quality at lower bitrates compared to H.264, meaning your stream will look cleaner to your viewers without requiring more bandwidth. This is a significant advantage for any streamer on Twitch or YouTube.
• 3D Rendering (Blender): In Blender’s Cycles renderer, the 4070 Super’s RT Cores provide a massive speedup over CPU rendering, and it handily beats AMD’s equivalent offerings.

The VRAM Question: Is 12GB Enough for 2025 and Beyond?

One of the few potential concerns for the RTX 4070 Super is its 12GB of VRAM. While 12GB is perfectly sufficient for 1440p gaming today and in the near future, some poorly optimized PC ports have shown a tendency to gobble up VRAM.

For 1440p, you will be fine in 99% of titles. Where you might brush up against the 12GB limit is in heavily modded games or if you attempt 4K gaming with maxed-out textures in the most demanding future titles. However, NVIDIA’s large L2 cache helps mitigate this by reducing VRAM traffic. For its target resolution, 12GB is a sensible and adequate amount.

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The Final Verdict: A Coronation

So, we return to the original question: Is the NVIDIA RTX 4070 Super the new 1440p gaming king?

Yes. Emphatically and without reservation.

NVIDIA has played its hand perfectly. The RTX 4070 Super corrects the pricing awkwardness of the initial 40-series launch and delivers a product that is almost perfectly balanced. It offers a substantial, tangible performance increase over its predecessor, renders its more expensive sibling obsolete, and presents a feature set—namely DLSS 3 and superior ray tracing—that its chief competitor cannot match.

It’s the GPU that lets you confidently buy a 1440p high-refresh-rate monitor, set every in-game graphical slider to “Ultra,” and just play. It demolishes today’s games and, thanks to the forward-looking power of Frame Generation, is well-equipped to handle the demanding titles of 2025.

Pros and Cons:

Who Should Buy the NVIDIA RTX 4070 Super?

• The Dedicated 1440p Gamer: This is your new default choice. It’s the card you build a high-end 1440p system around.
• Upgraders from RTX 20-series or GTX 10-series: You will experience a mind-blowing leap in performance and features. This is the upgrade you’ve been waiting for.
• Value-Conscious Performance Seekers: If you were eyeing an RTX 4070 Ti but balked at the price, this card delivers nearly identical performance for $200 less.
• The Hybrid Gamer/Creator: If you split your time between playing the latest AAA titles and working in creative apps like Blender or DaVinci Resolve, this card is an efficiency and performance monster.

Who Should Skip It?

• The Budget-First Builder: If every dollar counts and you primarily play esports titles or don’t care for ray tracing, the AMD RX 7800 XT offers better pure rasterization value for less money.
• The No-Compromise 4K Gamer: If you demand 120+ FPS at 4K native resolution with all settings maxed, you still need to look higher up the stack to the RTX 4080 Super or RTX 4090.

The NVIDIA 4070 Super is more than just a refresh; it’s a market realignment. It’s the card that brings elite-tier features to a more accessible price point, setting a new, incredibly high bar for what a mainstream enthusiast GPU should be. It is, for all intents and purposes, the new king.

FAQs about RXT 4070 Super