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Nvidia RTX 3090 vs RTX 4070 Ti Super: Which is the best gaming GPU?

The Nvidia RTX 3090 and RTX 4070 Ti Super are some of the fastest GPUs in the market. The 70-class card, ironically, is faster than the last-gen flagship, according to theoretical numbers. This is quite the jump, given the 3090 was way faster than the 20-series flagship, the 2080 Ti when it launched. The RTX 3070 beat the Turing card back in 2020 and we are seeing history repeat this generation as well.

In this article, we have compared the on-paper specs and framerates achieved by either card in some of the latest video games.


Both Nvidia RTX 3090 and RTX 4070 Ti Super are capable gaming GPUs

The Nvidia RTX 3090 was launched as the last-gen flagship (Image via Hyperscalers)
The Nvidia RTX 3090 was launched as the last-gen flagship (Image via Hyperscalers)

The 3090 and 4070 Ti Super are based on quite different architectures. While the fundamentals have remained the same, the newer 40 series card is powered by the Ada Lovelace architecture, which brings better ray tracing, slightly improved rasterization, and improved efficiency. Moreover, you also get DLSS 3 with frame generation.


Specs comparison

In terms of on-paper specs, the RTX 3090 might seem like a beefed-up card. It is based on the flagship GA102 graphics chip, which is larger than the AD103 powering the 4070 Ti Super. Although the last-gen card packs higher counts in almost every metric, including CUDA, RT, TMUs, ROPs, and Tensor cores, each of those cores is weaker than its Ada Lovelace counterpart.

Where the 4070 Ti Super is a downgrade is VRAM. While the last-gen card packs 24 GB of memory based on a 384-bit bus, totaling almost 1 TB/s bandwidth, the newer 4070 Ti Super only packs 16 GB of 256-bit GDDR6X memory. It has a total bandwidth of about 640 GB/s.

That said, anything over 500 GB/s is more than enough for running all modern video games at 4K. The new 4070 won't be limited due to this downgrade.

The detailed specs sheet of the cards is as follows:


Nvidia RTX 3090Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti Super
Graphics processorGA102
AD103
CUDA cores10,4968,448
RT cores8238
VRAM size24 GB16 GB
VRAM type384-bit GDDR6X 19.5 Gbps256-bit GDDR6X 21 Gbps
Power draw350W285W
Price$1,269$799

The RTX 3090 was launched at $1,599 while the 4070 Ti Super costs only half as much: $799. Although the last-gen card has been discounted, it still costs a hefty $1,269. The 40 series card, although quite costly, is way more practical.

Read more: Nvidia RTX 4060 vs RTX 3060 vs RTX 2060


Performance comparison

The Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti Super is a powerful 1440p and 4K gaming GPU (Image via Amazon)
The Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti Super is a powerful 1440p and 4K gaming GPU (Image via Amazon)

The gaming performance of GPUs is the real deal. In this metric, the 4070 Ti Super is massively more capable. Theoretically, you can expect about 12% more framerates in the latest titles.

Below is a comparison of framerates achieved by either card. We sourced these numbers from the YouTube channel Testing Games.

Nvidia RTX 3090Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti Super
Avatar Frontiers of Pandora57 FPS67 FPS (+17.54%)
Hogwarts Legacy69 FPS77 FPS (+11.59%)
Hellblade 2: Senua's Saga85 FPS98 FPS (+16.47%)
Cyberpunk 207779 FPS90 FPS (+13.92%)
Resident Evil 4116 FPS135 FPS (+16.38%)
Horizon Forbidden West90 FPS102 FPS (+13.33%)
Forza Horizon 5111 FPS147 FPS (+32.43%)
Ghost of Tsushima73 FPS84 FPS (+15.07%)
Alan Wake 258 FPS70 FPS (+20.69%)
Starfield65 FPS77 FPS (+18.46%)

On average, the RTX 4070 Ti Super comes off as 17.58% faster than the 3090. This is a massive leap, especially given that pricing has nearly halved with the 70-class card.


Nvidia RTX 3090 vs RTX 4070 Ti Super: Final verdict

While both the RTX 3090 and the RTX 4070 Ti Super are quite capable of running the latest video games, the newer GPU comes off as the clear winner. The GPU supports DLSS 3 with frame generation, which should future-proof your card beyond its designed lifespan. Moreover, in terms of raw rendering prowess, the card is faster than the last-gen flagship across all video games.


Check out other GPU comparisons from Sportskeeda:

  • Nvidia RTX 4070 vs AMD RX 7700 XT
  • Nvidia RTX 4070 vs RTX 3080
  • Radeon RX 7900 GRE vs RTX 4070 Super

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