It's time for something super, the GeForce RTX 3070 gets the Titanium treatment with the release of the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. The Ampere GPU is built upon the foundation set by Turing. Termed as its biggest generational leap, the NVIDIA Ampere GPUs excel compared to previous generations at everything.
The Ampere lineup offers faster shader performance, faster ray tracing performance, and faster AI performance. Built on a brand new process node and featuring an architecture designed from the ground up, Ampere is a killer product with lots of numbers to talk about.
The fundamental of Ampere was to take everything NVIDIA learned with its Turing architecture and not only refine it but to use its DNA to form a product in a completely new performance category. Tall claims were made by NVIDIA when they introduced its Ampere lineup earlier this month & we will be finding out whether NVIDIA hit all the ticks with its Ampere architecture as this review will be your guiding path to see what makes Ampere and how it performs against its predecessors.
Now NVIDIA is taking things one step ahead with the launch of its GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and GeForce RTX 3070 Ti graphics cards that are designed to compete with the Radeon RX 6900 & RX 6800 series graphics cards.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series Gaming Graphics Cards - The Biggest GPU Performance Leap in Recent History
Turing wasn't just any graphics core, it was the graphics core that was to become the foundation of future GPUs. The future is realized now with next-generation consoles going deep in talks about ray tracing and AI-assisted super-sampling techniques. NVIDIA had a head start with Turing and its Ampere generation will only do things infinitely times better.
The Ampere GPU does many traditional things that we would expect from a GPU, but at the same time, also breaks the barrier when it comes to untraditional GPU operations. Just to sum up some features:
- New Streaming Multiprocessor (SM)
- New Turing Tensor Cores
- New Real-Time Ray Tracing Acceleration
- New Shading Enhancements
- New Deep Learning Features For Graphics & Inference
- New GDDR6X High-Performance Memory Subsystem
- New 2nd Generation NVLINK Interconnect
- New HDMI 2.1 Display Engine & Next-Gen NVENC/NVDEC
The technologies mentioned above are some of the main building blocks of the Ampere GPU, but there's more within the graphics core itself which we will talk about in detail so let's get started.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series Pricing Per Segment
NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 30 series is made up of a diverse portfolio of graphics cards. The lineup starts at the GeForce RTX 3060 with an MSRP of $329 US and goes all the way up to higher-end configurations starting at $499 US for the GeForce RTX 3070, $599 US for the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, $699 US for the GeForce RTX 3080, $1199 US for the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and $1499 US for the GeForce RTX 3090. NVIDIA themselves call the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti the flagship graphics card and not the GeForce RTX 3090.
The RTX 3080 & RTX 3070 are both priced well and in line with their predecessors but the GeForce RTX 3090 goes all out with a price of $1499 US. Even the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti has seen a price hike compared to the MSRP of the RTX 2080 Ti ($999 US vs $1199 US). NVIDIA calls the GeForce RTX 3090 the "BFGPU" and as per the terminology, it seems like this is a new marketing name for the Titan graphics card. It is likely that we could see a Titan-based card under the Quadro branding with faster specs out of the box but the GeForce RTX 3090 is purely a gaming graphics card first with all the horsepower for intense professional and workstation workloads.
With that said, the GeForce RTX 3080 replaces the RTX 2080 SUPER at the same price point and the GeForce RTX 3070 replaces the GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER at the same price point. Given this trend, we might see the more mainstream variants cost just as much as their RTX 20 SUPER series cards but with a higher performance out of the box.
NVIDIA GeForce GPU Segment/Tier Prices
Graphics Segment | 2023-2024 | 2022-2023 | 2021-2022 | 2020-2021 | 2019-2020 | 2018-2019 | 2017-2018 | 2016-2017 | 2014-2016 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Titan Tier | GeForce RTX 4090 | GeForce RTX 4090 | GeForce RTX 3090 Ti GeForce RTX 3090 | GeForce RTX 3090 | Titan RTX (Turing) | Titan V (Volta) | Titan Xp (Pascal) | Titan X (Pascal) | Titan X (Maxwell) |
Price | $1599 US | $1599 US | $1999 US $1499 US | $1499 US | $2499 US | $2999 US | $1199 US | $1199 US | $999 US |
Ultra Enthusiast Tier | GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER | GeForce RTX 4080 | GeForce RTX 3080 Ti | GeForce RTX 3080 Ti | GeForce RTX 2080 Ti | GeForce RTX 2080 Ti | GeForce GTX 1080 Ti | GeForce GTX 980 Ti | GeForce GTX 980 Ti |
Price | $999 US | $1199 US | $1199 US | $1199 US | $999 US | $999 US | $699 US | $649 US | $649 US |
Enthusiast Tier | GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER | GeForce RTX 4070 Ti | GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB | GeForce RTX 3080 10 GB | GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER | GeForce RTX 2080 | GeForce GTX 1080 | GeForce GTX 1080 | GeForce GTX 980 |
Price | $799 US | $799 US | $799 US | $699 US | $699 US | $699 US | $549 US | $549 US | $549 US |
High-End Tier | GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER GeForce RTX 4070 | GeForce RTX 4070 GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB | GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GeForce RTX 3070 | GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GeForce RTX 3070 | GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER | GeForce RTX 2070 | GeForce GTX 1070 | GeForce GTX 1070 | GeForce GTX 970 |
Price | $599 $549 | $599 US $499 US | $599 $499 | $599 $499 | $499 US | $499 US | $379 US | $379 US | $329 US |
Mainstream Tier | GeForce RTX 4060 Ti GeForce RTX 4060 | GeForce RTX 4060 Ti GeForce RTX 4060 | GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB | GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB | GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER GeForce RTX 2060 GeForce GTX 1660 Ti GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER GeForce GTX 1660 | GeForce GTX 1060 | GeForce GTX 1060 | GeForce GTX 1060 | GeForce GTX 960 |
Price | $449 $299 | $399 US $299 US | $399 US $329 US | $399 US $329 US | $399 US $349 US $279 US $229 US $219 US | $249 US | $249 US | $249 US | $199 US |
Entry Tier | RTX 3050 8 GB RTX 3050 6 GB | RTX 3050 | RTX 3050 | GTX 1650 SUPER GTX 1650 | GTX 1650 SUPER GTX 1650 | GTX 1050 Ti GTX 1050 | GTX 1050 Ti GTX 1050 | GTX 950 | GTX 750 Ti GTX 750 |
Price | $229 $179 | $249 US | $249 US | $159 US $149 US | $159 US $149 US | $139 US $109 US | $139 US $109 US | $149 US | $149 US $119 US |
In addition to the specs/price update, NVIDIA's RTX technologies are being widely adopted by major game engines and APIs such as Microsoft's DirectX (DXR), Vulkan, Unreal Engine, Unity, and Frostbite. While there were only three RTX titles around the launch of the RTX 20 series cards, NVIDIA now has at least 28 titles that utilize their RTX feature set to offer real-time ray tracing with more coming soon.
In addition to that, with the upcoming consoles confirmed to feature ray tracing, developers can also make use of the RTX technology to fine-tune future games for the GeForce RTX hardware. Currently, NVIDIA has 13 game engines that are leveraging their RTX technologies for use in their upcoming and existing games while both Vulkan and DirectX 12 Ultimate APIs are part of the RTX ecosystem on the PC platform.
So for this review, I will be taking a look at NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3070 Ti graphics card which comes in at the MSRP (if you're lucky) of $599.99 US.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Graphics Card
After the launch of AMD's Radeon RX 6800 series, the GeForce RTX 3070 fell below the RX 6800 in terms of raster performance. While it did keep the lead with RTX and DLSS titles, NVIDIA decided that it was time to fully outpace the Radeon RX 6800 with a new Ti offering. The answer is the RTX 3070 Ti.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is designed to be a 1440p gaming solution and as such, it rocks the full GA104 GPU core based on Samsung's 8nm process node. The GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is a bigger upgrade over its non-Ti brother than the RTX 3080 Ti, offering both increase cores and a faster VRAM configuration. Following are the specifications.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Graphics Card Specifications
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti on the other hand is going to feature the GA104-400-A1 GPU. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti will utilize the PG141-SKU10 board. The Ampere GPU will feature 6144 CUDA cores or 48 SMs. These are 4% more CUDA cores than the GeForce RTX 3070 & around 30% lower cores than the GeForce RTX 3080. The card features clock speeds of 1580 MHz base & 1770 MHz boost.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti will also feature 8 GB GDDR6X memory and what's important here is the fact that NVIDIA is utilizing the higher-grade GDDR6X chips rather than the standard GDDR6 modules featured on the existing GeForce RTX 3070 graphics card. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti will end up close to the RTX 3080 with a TGP of 290W considering the increased cores & the newer memory modules. The card will retain a 256-bit bus interface and pin speeds will be rated at 19 Gbps like the GeForce RTX 3080 and the RTX 3080 Ti.
The GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is expected to launch by the start of June for an MSRP of around $599 US. As for design, the graphics card is rocking a slightly updated Founders Edition cooler. The standard RTX 3070 comes with a single 8-pin connector while the RTX 3070 Ti rocks a 12-pin micro-fit power interface and also a brand new PCB design which is similar to the irregular PCB designs featured on the RTX 3080, RTX 3080 Ti, and RTX 3090.
The graphics card also features a flow-through design vs the dual-fan cooler on the non-Ti variant. Display outputs include the standard 1 HDMI 2.1 & triple DP 2.0 interfaces. The card will officially be launching on 10th June.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Product Gallery & PCB Shots:
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series 'Ampere' Graphics Card Specifications:
Graphics Card Name | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GPU Name | Ampere GA107 | Ampere GA107 | Ampere GA106-300 | Ampere GA104-200 | Ampere GA104-300 | Ampere GA104-400 | Ampere GA102-200 | Ampere GA102-225 | Ampere GA102-300 |
Process Node | Samsung 8nm | Samsung 8nm | Samsung 8nm | Samsung 8nm | Samsung 8nm | Samsung 8nm | Samsung 8nm | Samsung 8nm | Samsung 8nm |
Die Size | TBA | TBA | TBA | 395.2mm2 | 395.2mm2 | 395.2mm2 | 628.4mm2 | 628.4mm2 | 628.4mm2 |
Transistors | TBA | TBA | TBA | 17.4 Billion | 17.4 Billion | 17.4 Billion | 28 Billion | 28 Billion | 28 Billion |
CUDA Cores | 2048? | 2560? | 3584 | 4864 | 5888 | 6144 | 8704 | 10240 | 10496 |
TMUs / ROPs | 64 / 40 | 80 / 48 | 112 / 64 | 152 / 80 | 184 / 96 | 192/ 96 | 272 / 96 | 320 / 112 | 328 / 112 |
Tensor / RT Cores | 64 / 16 | 80 / 20 | 112 / 28 | 152 / 38 | 184 / 46 | 192/ 48 | 272 / 68 | 320 / 80 | 328 / 82 |
Base Clock | TBA | TBA | 1320 MHz | 1410 MHz | 1500 MHz | 1575 MHz | 1440 MHz | 1365 MHz | 1400 MHz |
Boost Clock | TBA | TBA | 1780 MHz | 1665 MHz | 1730 MHz | 1770 MHz | 1710 MHz | 1665 MHz | 1700 MHz |
FP32 Compute | TBA | TBA | 12.7 TFLOPs | 16.2 TFLOPs | 20 TFLOPs | 22 TFLOPs | 30 TFLOPs | 34 TFLOPs | 36 TFLOPs |
RT TFLOPs | TBA | TBA | 25.4 TFLOPs | 32.4 TFLOPs | 40 TFLOPs | 42 TFLOPs | 58 TFLOPs | 67 TFLOPs | 69 TFLOPs |
Tensor-TOPs | TBA | TBA | 101 TOPs | 129.6 TOPs | 163 TOPs | 174 TOPs | 238 TOPs | 273 TOPs | 285 TOPs |
Memory Capacity | 4 GB GDDR6? | 4 GB GDDR6? | 12 GB GDDR6 | 8 GB GDDR6 | 8 GB GDDR6 | 8 GB GDDR6X | 10 GB GDDR6X | 12 GB GDDR6X | 24 GB GDDR6X |
Memory Bus | 128-bit | 128-bit | 192-bit | 256-bit | 256-bit | 256-bit | 320-bit | 384-bit | 384-bit |
Memory Speed | TBA | TBA | 15 Gbps | 14 Gbps | 14 Gbps | 19 Gbps | 19 Gbps | 19 Gbps | 19.5 Gbps |
Bandwidth | TBA | TBA | 360 Gbps | 448 Gbps | 448 Gbps | 608 Gbps | 760 Gbps | 912 Gbps | 936 Gbps |
TGP | ~75W | ~100W | 170W | 200W | 220W | 290W | 320W | 350W | 350W |
Price (MSRP / FE) | $149? | $199? | $329 | $399 US | $499 US | $599 US | $699 US | $1199 | $1499 US |
Launch (Availability) | 2021? | 2021? | February 2021 | December 2020 | 29th October 2020 | 10th June 2021 | 17th September 2020 | 3rd June 2021 | 24th September 2020 |
In case you want to read our full NVIDIA Ampere GPU architecture deep dive and GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition review, head over to this link.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series 'Ampere' Graphics Card Specifications:
Graphics Card Name | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GPU Name | Ampere GA107 | Ampere GA107 | Ampere GA106-300 | Ampere GA104-200 | Ampere GA104-300 | Ampere GA104-400 | Ampere GA102-200 | Ampere GA102-225 | Ampere GA102-300 |
Process Node | Samsung 8nm | Samsung 8nm | Samsung 8nm | Samsung 8nm | Samsung 8nm | Samsung 8nm | Samsung 8nm | Samsung 8nm | Samsung 8nm |
Die Size | TBA | TBA | TBA | 395.2mm2 | 395.2mm2 | 395.2mm2 | 628.4mm2 | 628.4mm2 | 628.4mm2 |
Transistors | TBA | TBA | TBA | 17.4 Billion | 17.4 Billion | 17.4 Billion | 28 Billion | 28 Billion | 28 Billion |
CUDA Cores | 2048? | 2560? | 3584 | 4864 | 5888 | 6144 | 8704 | 10240 | 10496 |
TMUs / ROPs | 64 / 40 | 80 / 48 | 112 / 64 | 152 / 80 | 184 / 96 | 192/ 96 | 272 / 96 | 320 / 112 | 328 / 112 |
Tensor / RT Cores | 64 / 16 | 80 / 20 | 112 / 28 | 152 / 38 | 184 / 46 | 192/ 48 | 272 / 68 | 320 / 80 | 328 / 82 |
Base Clock | TBA | TBA | 1320 MHz | 1410 MHz | 1500 MHz | 1575 MHz | 1440 MHz | 1365 MHz | 1400 MHz |
Boost Clock | TBA | TBA | 1780 MHz | 1665 MHz | 1730 MHz | 1770 MHz | 1710 MHz | 1665 MHz | 1700 MHz |
FP32 Compute | TBA | TBA | 12.7 TFLOPs | 16.2 TFLOPs | 20 TFLOPs | 22 TFLOPs | 30 TFLOPs | 34 TFLOPs | 36 TFLOPs |
RT TFLOPs | TBA | TBA | 25.4 TFLOPs | 32.4 TFLOPs | 40 TFLOPs | 42 TFLOPs | 58 TFLOPs | 67 TFLOPs | 69 TFLOPs |
Tensor-TOPs | TBA | TBA | 101 TOPs | 129.6 TOPs | 163 TOPs | 174 TOPs | 238 TOPs | 273 TOPs | 285 TOPs |
Memory Capacity | 4 GB GDDR6? | 4 GB GDDR6? | 12 GB GDDR6 | 8 GB GDDR6 | 8 GB GDDR6 | 8 GB GDDR6X | 10 GB GDDR6X | 12 GB GDDR6X | 24 GB GDDR6X |
Memory Bus | 128-bit | 128-bit | 192-bit | 256-bit | 256-bit | 256-bit | 320-bit | 384-bit | 384-bit |
Memory Speed | TBA | TBA | 15 Gbps | 14 Gbps | 14 Gbps | 19 Gbps | 19 Gbps | 19 Gbps | 19.5 Gbps |
Bandwidth | TBA | TBA | 360 Gbps | 448 Gbps | 448 Gbps | 608 Gbps | 760 Gbps | 912 Gbps | 936 Gbps |
TGP | ~75W | ~100W | 170W | 200W | 220W | 290W | 320W | 350W | 350W |
Price (MSRP / FE) | $149? | $199? | $329 | $399 US | $499 US | $599 US | $699 US | $1199 | $1499 US |
Launch (Availability) | 2021? | 2021? | February 2021 | December 2020 | 29th October 2020 | 10th June 2021 | 17th September 2020 | 3rd June 2021 | 24th September 2020 |
In case you want to read our full NVIDIA Ampere GPU architecture deep dive and GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition review, head over to this link.