Revisiting Nvidia's midrange GPUs over the years: Battling the RTX 5070 against the 4070, 3070, and 2070 in an immersive gaming comparison battle
In the world of high-performance graphics cards, Nvidia's RTX series continues to dominate. Let's take a closer look at how the RTX 2070, 3070, 4070, and 5070 stack up against each other, especially in 1080p and 4K resolutions.
Starting with Overwatch 2, the RTX 5070 shines, running at a blistering 275.2 FPS in 4K, compared to the 99.3 FPS on the RTX 2070. However, the mid-range segment today rewards more than just brute-force scaling. Intelligent architecture, efficient memory handling, and AI-assisted frame generation are key factors that set the RTX 5070 apart.
The RTX 5070 also consumes an average power of 231W, a significant increase from the RTX 2070's 171W. But if money is no object, there's no reason not to pick the 5070, as it provides peak throughput for most scenarios, albeit with diminishing practical returns.
In more forgiving rasterized titles like Overwatch 2 and Diablo II: Resurrected, the latest cards push into the 300-380 FPS range at 1080p. On the other hand, Cyberpunk 2077 at ultra settings with ray tracing and FSR Balanced, the RTX 4070 delivers 27.8 FPS, while the RTX 5070 manages 32.0 FPS.
The 4K benchmarks reveal a different story because this is where the GPUs stretch their legs and the performance hierarchy comes into sharper focus. For instance, in Cyberpunk 2077, the RTX 5070 peaks at 61.3 FPS with ray tracing and DLSS Balanced, while the RTX 2070 averages 12.9 FPS.
The RTX 4070, released in April 2023, exemplifies the principle of prioritizing intelligent architecture, efficient memory handling, and AI-assisted frame generation. It offers significant improvements over its Turing-based predecessor, all while maintaining a balance between performance, efficiency, and thermal management.
For a more granular understanding of the differences, ComputerBase.de offers great, interactive charts. Their testing provides insights that make the bigger picture clear. For a detailed understanding, it is recommended to check out ComputerBase.de's coverage.
In games like Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Horizon: Forbidden West, the performance gap between the RTX 4070 and RTX 5070 is more pronounced, with the 5070 delivering 119.2 FPS and 91.1 FPS respectively, compared to the 4070's 92.6 FPS and 31.6 FPS.
Oblivion Remastered, a game with ray-traced workloads, climbs from 24.9 FPS on the RTX 2070 to 63.3 FPS on the RTX 5070. The RTX 4070, with its intelligent architecture, manages to bridge this gap, delivering a more balanced performance.
In conclusion, while the RTX 5070 offers impressive performance, the RTX 4070 provides a better balance for most users, offering significant improvements over its Turing-based predecessor, all while maintaining a balance between performance, efficiency, and thermal management. For a comprehensive look at the differences, be sure to check out ComputerBase.de's coverage.
