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Yesterday NVIDIA announced the much-anticipated GeForce RTX 30 series which is based on its Ampere architecture and built on an optimized version of Samsung’s 8nm process.
The cards have been heavily leaked over recent weeks and we knew there had been lots of claims of increased performance and we also knew that NVIDIA were going to charge some crazy prices for the top of the range RTX 3090.
However, what was not expected was that NVIDIA would claim that GeForce RTX 3070 should offer RTX 2080 Ti level performance for just $499/£470
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Performance claims
NVIDIA has claimed that the GeForce RTX 30 series biggest generational leap ever
NVIDIA claims that the new GeForce RTX 3070 is 60% faster on average than the GeForce RTX 2070. That means it is faster than the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, the previous flagship model.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 is 50% more powerful than Titan RTX!
As for the models higher up in the range – NVIDIA says the RTX 3090 is 50% more powerful than the Titan RTX, and that the card is able to deliver 60fps at 8K. Then there’s the RTX 3080, which offers double the level of performance of the RTX 2080 for the same price.
All of this sounds amazing and if true the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 will easily be the sweet spot for most gamers offering the best price to performance ratio. I don’t think many gamers feel that the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti underperforms in any game regardless of resolution and refresh rate.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 won’t beat the RTX 2080 Ti in some scenarios
There are some caveats though, the RTX 3070 won’t beat the RTX 2080 Ti in all scenarios, in particular, if you do play at 4K and want the benefits of ray tracing you may have to go higher.
For specific scenarios, the larger amount of RAM in the 2018 graphics card could handle higher resolution better. The RTX 3070 is said to support 4K gaming at 60 frames per second, but it won’t handle that rate with ray tracing on.
NVIDIA GeForce Specification Comparison
| RTX 3090 | RTX 3080 | RTX 3070 | RTX 2080 Ti | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CUDA Cores | 10496 | 8704 | 5888 | 4352 |
| Base Clock | 1.40GHz | 1.44GHz | 1.50GHz | 1.35GHz |
| Boost Clock | 1.7GHz | 1.71GHz | 1.73GHz | 1545MHz |
| Memory Clock | 19.5Gbps GDDR6X | 19Gbps GDDR6X | 16Gbps GDDR6 | 14Gbps GDDR6 |
| Memory Bus Width | 384-bit | 320-bit | 256-bit | 352-bit |
| VRAM | 24GB | 10GB | 8GB | 11GB |
| Single Precision Perf. | 35.7 TFLOPs | 29.8 TFLOPs | 20.4 TFLOPs | 13.4 TFLOPs |
| Tensor Perf. (FP16) | 285 TFLOPs | 238 TFLOPs | 163 TFLOPs | 114 TFLOPs |
| Ray Perf. | 69 TFLOPs | 58 TFLOPs | 40 TFLOPs | ? |
| TDP | 350W | 320W | 220W | 250W |
| GPU | GA102? | GA102? | GA104? | TU102 |
| Transistor Count | 28B | 28B | ? | 18.6B |
| PCIe Interface | 4.0 x16 | 4.0 x16 | 4.0 x16 | 3.0 x16 |
| Architecture | Ampere | Ampere | Ampere | Turing |
| Manufacturing Process | Samsung 8nm | Samsung 8nm | Samsung 8nm | TSMC 12nm FFN |
| Launch Date | 24th September | 17th of September | October 2020 | 20th September 2018 |
| Launch Price | MSRP: $1499/£1399 | MSRP: $699/£649 | MSRP: $499/£469 | MSRP: $999 |
Currently, we only have NVIDIA’s word on the performance, but looking at the specification, we can see that the new RTX 30 series models offer a huge bump in performance numbers with the RTX 3070 eclipsing the RTX 2080 Ti in every spec apart from the memory size.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 vs RTX 2080 Early Benchmarks
Eurogamer managed to snag some exclusive access to test the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 giving us some idea of the performance gains to be had. While this does not strictly relate to the RTX 3070 vs RTX 2080Ti it does give us some idea of the generational improvements.
The tests carried out were all done following guidelines from NVIDIA, this meant only certain games could be tested and all games were tested under 4K resolution with settings set as high as possible.
Based on this testing, NVIDIA is accurate in saying this is the biggest generational jump in years, the performance increases seen are greater than the shift between GTX 980 and GTX 1080.
| RTX 3080 vs RTX 2080 | 4K/Max Settings Perf Boost |
|---|---|
| Borderlands 3 | 81.6 |
| Doom Eternal | 84.2 |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 69.8 |
| Control | 77.6 |
| Ray Tracing: Quake 2 RTX | 92.3 |
| Ray Tracing: Control/High RT/DLSS Perf | 77.6 |
At the very least, this test appears to indicate that the GeForce RTX 3080 will offer superior performance to the RTX 2080 Ti. That is not quite the same as the RTX 3070 beating it, but still impressive nonetheless as you now have a £650 card offering the same performance as a £1000+ card has been offering for the past year or so.
My questionable maths says the RTX 2070 should offer better performance
If we look at the worst result for the RTX 2080 and assume the RTX 2070 sees the same 70% gain for Shadow of the Tomb Raider, that should, in theory, correlate with it beating the RTX 2080ti.
Looking at TweakTown, who benchmarked both the RTX 2070 and RTX 2080ti in Shadow of Tomb Raider, they managed to achieve:
- RTX 2070
- Minimum – 36fps
- Average – 42fps
- RTX 2080Ti
- Minimum – 58fps
- Average – 65fps
- RTX 3070 (assuming the FPS accurately increases by 70%)
- Minimum – 61fps
- Average – 71fps
I am not going to say that the above numbers are anywhere near accurate to what you will expect, but at the very least it looks very positive.
Price and Availability
Nvidia is launching the RTX 3070 last, perhaps to avoid eager gamers opting for this over the RTX 3080 (which is what I may end up doing). It will launch sometime in October for $499/£469, for custom cards from the likes of ASUS the prices will vary depending on the design.
The first card to launch will be the RTX 3080 on the 17th of September for $699/£649 then shortly after the RTX 3090 for an astronomical $1499/£1399
Overall – Will the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 beat the RTX 2080 Ti
Based on the specs and the initial testing and my not very scientific calculations the GeForce RTX 3070 looks like it will out perform the RTX 2080ti at least in some scenarios.
I suspect all of this will be best case scenario, NVIDIA obviously want to make the card look as good as possible, so in some games it will be better but others a little slower.
I am James, a UK-based tech enthusiast and the Editor and Owner of Mighty Gadget, which I’ve proudly run since 2007. Passionate about all things technology, my expertise spans from computers and networking to mobile, wearables, and smart home devices.
As a fitness fanatic who loves running and cycling, I also have a keen interest in fitness-related technology, and I take every opportunity to cover this niche on my blog. My diverse interests allow me to bring a unique perspective to tech blogging, merging lifestyle, fitness, and the latest tech trends.
In my academic pursuits, I earned a BSc in Information Systems Design from UCLAN, before advancing my learning with a Master’s Degree in Computing. This advanced study also included Cisco CCNA accreditation, further demonstrating my commitment to understanding and staying ahead of the technology curve.
I’m proud to share that Vuelio has consistently ranked Mighty Gadget as one of the top technology blogs in the UK. With my dedication to technology and drive to share my insights, I aim to continue providing my readers with engaging and informative content.
