The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 and RTX 3070 Ti offer exceptional performance for gaming at 1440p resolution and creative work like 3D modeling and video production.
But which is better? In this comprehensive technical deep dive, we‘ll examine every aspect of these impressive Ampere graphics cards to help you decide:
- Gaming FPS benchmarks across top titles
- Ray tracing and DLSS performance
- Creative app benchmarks from Photoshop to DaVinci Resolve
- Architecture, memory and overclocking explanations
- Thermals, noise and power draw comparisons
- Models from ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte and more
- Pricing and overall value analysis
Follow along as we investigate this GPU showdown from every angle imaginable!
Overview
The RTX 3070 launched in October 2020 as a 1440p gaming beast priced at $499. Eight months later, Nvidia released the upgraded 3070 Ti graphics card starting from $599.
On paper, the 3070 Ti ships with moderately faster specifications. But do those higher numbers actually translate into a meaningful real-world speed boost? And is it worthwhile paying ~20% more for the 3070 Ti?
We‘ll discover the answers across a gauntlet of gaming and professional benchmarks. By evaluating performance, cooling, noise, power draw and other key metrics, we can determine precisely how these GPUs compare.
Let‘s kick off with a look at what‘s under the hood…
Architectural Specifications
The GeForce RTX 3070 and 3070 Ti share the same Nvidia Ampere architecture that powers the 3000 series lineup. Ampere brought massive generational leaps in power efficiency and gaming FPS over previous 2000-series cards.
Some key innovations include:
-
Enhanced RT Cores: Ampere 2nd-gen ray tracing cores enable far faster performance in ray traced games with realistic lighting effects.
-
Upgraded Tensor Cores: 3rd-gen Tensor cores powered by deep learning excel at AI-enhanced DLSS rendering.
-
Streaming Multiprocessors: New SMs contain double the FP32 units for more shader performance.
-
Samsung 8N Process: A refined 8nm manufacturing process squeezes in more transistors while enhancing efficiency.
-
GDDR6X Memory: Cutting-edge GDDR6X RAM delivers blazing-fast bandwidth crucial for 4K gaming.
The 3070 Ti statistics reveal how Nvidia tweaked Ampere‘s architecture versus the original 3070:
| Specification | RTX 3070 | RTX 3070 Ti |
| CUDA Cores | 5888 | 6144 |
| Boost Clock | 1725 MHz | 1770 MHz |
| VRAM | 8 GB GDDR6 | 8 GB GDDR6X |
| Memory Bus | 256-bit | 256-bit |
The 3070 Ti isn‘t a major overhaul, but rather a mild tune-up. Nvidia endowed their GPU with 256 extra CUDA processing cores to enable more parallel computing power.
It also ships with cutting-edge 14 Gbps GDDR6X video memory rather than vanilla GDDR6 RAM. This provides over 35% extra memory bandwidth to feed the Ti‘s upgraded cores.
But do these modest specification bumps make a truly meaningful difference to real-world game performance? Let‘s investigate…
Gaming Frame Rates
Now for the benchmarks you actually care about – frames per second! I‘ve tested gaming results across a mixture of popular esports titles and visually stunning AAA blockbusters.
Our test system utilizes an Intel Core i9-12900K to remove CPU bottlenecks, coupled with 32 GB DDR5 at 5600 MT/s…
