Sure, I do know, we’re all very enthusiastic about how highly effective Nvidia’s RTX 5090 is, and presumably many people are additionally very upset that Nvidia apparently thought seven playing cards per retailer can be sufficient inventory for launch day (word to Jensen Huang: that was a joke, please take your hitman off pace dial).
However despite the fact that it does look mighty spectacular – and as per our RTX 5080 overview, the center baby of the Blackwell era isn’t any slouch both – there’s a distinct GPU I’m actually wanting ahead to this yr, and it’s the lowest-spec desktop card Nvidia introduced at CES 2025. That’s proper, I’m speaking in regards to the RTX 5070.
Now, I’ve all the time had a comfortable spot for Nvidia’s xx70 GPUs; I rocked a GTX 970 again within the day, and I used to be a powerful supporter of the RTX 3070 when it got here out again in 2020. These playing cards usually discover the fitting steadiness between efficiency and pricing; not too costly, however nonetheless completely able to delivering a stable gaming expertise to the typical shopper. And with the RTX 5070, I believe we might be in for a deal with – not least as a result of Nvidia has seemingly carried out the unthinkable.
A pleasing shock
See, at launch, the current-gen RTX 4070 price $599 / £589 / AU$1,109. I assumed that was a reasonably truthful value on the time – actually higher worth for cash than the higher-end Lovelace GPUs, and one thing we praised it for in our overview. I used to be anticipating to see the very same price ticket for the RTX 5070, however no: Nvidia has truly lowered the listing value, bringing it all the way down to $549 / £549 (round AU$880).
I’m actually not exaggerating once I say that that is nuts. Clearly, we don’t have efficiency figures for the RTX 5070 but, so there’s each risk Nvidia does screw the pooch on this one, however let’s be trustworthy: this card will seemingly sit someplace between the RTX 4070 and RTX 4080, with $50 / £40 shaved off the value tag in addition. That’s nice!
That’s not all, both; I’m simply speaking about my uncooked efficiency expectations right here, however that’s with out even factoring in Multi Body Technology, which mixed with DLSS 4 and Reflex 2 offers a critical efficiency enhance for RTX 5000 GPUs with out most of the drawbacks seen in earlier iterations of Nvidia’s upscaling and frame-gen tech. Entry to those instruments – which may be retroactively improved by Nvidia – is a key successful issue for the 5070.
With that price ticket, the RTX 5070 has real potential to be the brand new 1440p gaming king – or perhaps a fairly priced 4K card, as soon as we see how nicely DLSS 4 and MFG truly carry out on a extra reasonably priced Blackwell card. Personally, I’ve excessive expectations… don’t let me down, Nvidia.