Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti FE im Test : Test |CUP | Specs |Config

With the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3070 is getting a mini performance upgrade that goes hand in hand with a TDP increased from 220 to 290 watts and the associated disadvantages. The test, including a 220 watt comparison, shows that if the bearings were full, this configuration would have a very difficult time.

GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is followed by GeForce RTX 3070 Ti

Nvidia is expanding the ampere portfolio that is barely available on the market, or only available at exorbitant prices. It started a week ago with the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti (test) and thus a high-end product that features significantly more shader units, 2 GB more memory and the TGP of the GeForce RTX 3090 (test) from the GeForce RTX 3080 (test) was able to sell without disputing the flagship’s exclusivity. But the Ti lacks its 24 GB of memory.

Nvidia sees the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti as the new gaming flagship and, despite the name, is moving the GeForce RTX 3090 even more into the content creator corner. For gamers, getting hold of the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is still not easy, because the surcharge for the 3080 is very high at almost 500 euros in the price list and you will still not get a graphics memory that is definitely large enough for the coming years. Nonetheless, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti remains an – albeit very expensive – alternative to the price-performance champion RTX 3080 and it would be even if all graphics cards were available at RRP.

The GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, which will be available from tomorrow, June 10, looks different, as the test will show.

The technology of the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti in detail

The GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is the second and probably the last new amp model and, like the larger Ti variant, uses the new ETH mining brake and Resizable BAR ex works – the GeForce RTX 3070 required a firmware update for rBAR. But what else is different?

With GDDR6X and GA104 on steroids

Nvidia left it with the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti with the GA104 GPU of the GeForce RTX 3070, but pushed the chip to the maximum in every respect. In this case, all 48 SMs are activated on the 393 mm² GPU, which results in 6,144 shader units, the basic variant had 2 SMs less. The theoretical computing power increases by 4 percent with the same clock rate – that is not much, but the GA104 simply does not offer more execution units.

That’s why there is also a bit more in terms of clock rates. Nvidia calls the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti a base clock of 1,575 MHz and an average turbo of 1,770 MHz, so that the official clock of the new graphics card is 45 MHz higher – that’s another 3 percent more.

This was no longer possible in the TDP corset of the GeForce RTX 3070. Instead of 220 watts, the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti offers 70 watts more and thus 290 watts. That is only 30 watts below the TDP of the GeForce RTX 3080.

In addition to more execution units that clock higher, the immense surcharge also takes into account another innovation: Nvidia no longer installs classic GDDR6 on the GeForce RTX 3070, but GDDR6X memory, which according to all findings requires more energy, but also clocks significantly higher.

It works with 9,500 instead of 7,000 MHz on the new graphics card, with the same memory interface (256 bits, GA104 does not offer more), the memory bandwidth is 36 percent higher. There was a choice of 256-bit 8 GB and 16 GB storage volumes, Nvidia opted for 8 GB – so this Ti does not have more storage than the GeForce RTX 3070.

In terms of GPU and memory volume, GeForce RTX 3070 Ti and GeForce RTX 3070 are much closer than GeForce RTX 3080 and GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, there is a bigger difference in memory bandwidth. The new Ti should only be able to set itself apart from the non-Ti if it was previously a very limiting factor.

100 euros surcharge for the GeForce RTX 3070

In terms of price, it does it: Nvidia sets the RRP at 619 euros, so the surcharge for the normal version is exactly 100 euros. The graphics card will be available from Nvidia and its German partner NBB from June 10th. Like the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti a week ago, it should be sold out before many interested parties have even been presented with the option to buy – this certainly also applies to the presumably massively more expensive custom designs.

ComputerBase uses Nvidia’s own Founders Edition to clarify whether the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is worth the extra charge in the price list and whether the product can compete with AMD’s Radeon RX 6800.

Die GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Founders Edition im Detail

The FE is not only of interest in view of the graphics card hidden under the cooler, but also because of the cooling system. Because Nvidia has given the Ti a cooling system that has not yet been used.

To date, Nvidia had three different Founders Edition coolers in its portfolio for the Ampere generation. The smallest version for GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE and GeForce RTX 3070 FE, a medium version for GeForce RTX 3080 FE and GeForce RTX 3080 Ti FE, as well as a large version that is currently used exclusively for the GeForce RTX 3090 FE – the GeForce RTX 3060 is not available as an FE.

A fourth FE cooler for the 3070 Ti

With the new graphics card, a fourth design is surprisingly added. The fourth Founders Edition cooler of the Ampere generation also joins the series, in terms of both visual and material quality, no Nvidia is currently ahead of anything. Even the most expensive custom models cannot keep up.

The cooling principle of the FE cooler of the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti FE, on the other hand, no longer corresponds to the traditional one as on the RTX 3070 FE, but is based on the unusual operation of the larger FE coolers for GeForce RTX 3080 (Ti) and GeForce RTX 3090 Fan positioned on two sides – just less material is used. The design, in turn, is based on the cooler of the GeForce RTX 3070.

At 27 cm, the entire graphics card is one and a half centimeters shorter than the GeForce RTX 3080 (Ti) FE, with the dual-slot cooler ensuring the length. Because the PCB is significantly shorter, this is what makes the cooling concept possible.

Its axial fan, with a diameter of 85 mm, sits on top of the graphics card when it is installed, in order to suck in the cool air from below from the housing through the fins, where the PCB has just come to an end. The second 85 mm fan, on the other hand, sits at the bottom and at the other end to blow the air onto the vapor chamber. The fans are as big as the old cooler or the cooler of the 3080 FE, with the shorter length and 1,185 g (200 g less than the 3080 FE) but less material is used under the hood. The fans remain on the Windows desktop for silent operation.

2 × 8-pin for a maximum of 320 watts

Of course, Nvidia sticks to its own specifications with the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. Accordingly, the average boost is 1,770 MHz, while the 8 GB GDDR6 memory is controlled at 9,500 MHz. The TDP is 290 watts and can be manually increased to 320 watts. Accordingly, two eight-pin power plugs are required to operate the graphics card, which Nvidia implements on the graphics card with the specially developed 12-pin connector. This is also placed centrally on the side of the new cooling design, so that the power cable or the supplied adapter is always clearly visible when installed and also blocks the GeForce RTX lettering. That doesn’t match the otherwise excellent optics at all.

The GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Founders Edition offers three DisplayPort 1.4 connections with DSC compression and one HDMI 2.1.

On the next page: clock rates, benchmarks (FHD, WQHD & Ultra HD) and ray tracing