White revelation in the test: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Aero OC 12G – 19

White revelation in the test: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Aero OC 12G – 19
White revelation in the test: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Aero OC 12G – 19
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The embargo on test results ends today. The RTX 4070 Ti in the Aero design from Gigabyte stands out from the offer not only in appearance. The new architecture of Ada Lovelace means a significant improvement in features and equipment compared to the previous generation RTX 30, the oversized cooler is a guarantee of good operating characteristics, and the price is also significantly more favorable than that of the RTX 4080 or RTX 4090, although everyone would probably imagine a few thousand less .

Conclusion

I think that the criticism of the RTX 40 series was somewhat self-inflicted by Nvidia, and it’s more of a psychological problem – if they had moved the model marking up a model, the new GeForces would certainly have been better received. Few people would be upset that the 12GB RTX 4080 sells for 22 thousand and the 16GB RTX 4080 Ti sells for thirty-five, at most they would curse that it brings a lower performance increase than the previous generation.

GeForce RTX 4070 Ti prices start at twenty-two thousand. We should again have several models from different manufacturers listed at a recommended price. The non-overclocked RTX 4070 Ti Eagle will be in the position of basic models at the recommended price, the OC version should be $25, i.e. roughly seven hundred more expensive. Considering that the performance is often only a few percent below the RTX 3090 Ti, this is not exactly a bad price. The price/performance ratio is significantly better than the previous RTX 40 or the RTX 3090 and RTX 3090 Ti.

The tested card from Gigabyte is, unfortunately, positioned higher in the menu, which means a worse price/performance ratio. And what’s worse, it will still probably rank among the cheaper ones. I’m afraid that prices around 29,000 for premium models will not be an exception either. What the producers do not add, the traders bump into the prices. The only help is not to buy cards for similar money. The problem is that even for models with absurdly high markups, there are still enough people who buy them. And if it sells for that money, you will have a hard time explaining to someone that they have to sell it cheaper.

What will certainly not be met with understanding by customers is targeting a 1440p resolution for a card whose price starts at twenty-two thousand. In this price category, it used to be customary to advertise products as solutions for 4K. On the other hand, monitor refresh rates have moved on since then, and while a few years ago 4K at 60Hz was considered too much of a luxury for gaming, today some people turn their noses up at 60Hz monitors.

Especially for the owners of all those ultra-wide gaming panels with 144 or 165 Hz, a card with similar performance is ideal, which does not always have enough power for 4K, but is usually too powerful for classic 1080p or 2560 × 1440 points at 60 Hz.

It’s enough even for 4K

However, when you run through the results of partial tests, you will find that even at that 4K resolution you can play current games without any problems. Only in the coming months and years with the arrival of games with more demanding ray tracing will it age faster than the RTX 4080 or RTX 4090.

Compared to the RTX 3090 Ti, DLSS 3 and SER (shader execution reordering) will help it, at least in some new games. Which reminds me of the unfortunate claim from the presentation about up to three times the performance against the RTX 3090 Ti, which David Jiránek mentioned in the news. Of course, this only threatens in extreme cases, because you can get similar increases only in situations that the new generation of GeForce fits perfectly, which is ray tracing more demanding than in the games mentioned so far and the use of new functions and optimizations for the RTX 40. And it’s still a comparison apples and pears – it was a result with DLSS 3 image generation, which the RTX 3090 Ti does not support.

When comparing the 16GB RTX 4080 and the 20GB Radeon RX 7900 XT, we could argue about how much the extra 4GB of memory will improve in practice and when the benefit of 20GB cards versus 16GB cards will be known, when comparing 12GB and 20GB cards there is already a risk that in in the foreseeable future, you will encounter lower performance or the need to set lower texture quality for some games, especially if you don’t give up even 4K. In the case of basic models, it can be justified by a lower price, the problem will be with premium versions with the price of cheap Radeon RX 7900 XT or, God forbid, higher. At the same price, it’s really hard to find reasons to prefer GeForce.

However, the tested card from Gigabyte should still be several thousand cheaper, especially compared to similarly equipped non-reference Radeon RX 7900 XTs. It has a slightly lower performance and does not offer exactly the features of premium models – in a few hours we will look at the Strix RTX 4070 Ti, which is again absurdly good, but received an even more absurd price tag.

And I’m really sorry that I don’t prefer Eagle in the test, because it doesn’t look like Gigabyte saves on cooling either, and its operating characteristics wouldn’t be much worse with well-set regulation. Then it would be easier to say if the two and a half thousand extra for a cooler that is a few centimeters longer and a more attractive design is worth it. Purely from the photos, I would guess that it does not correspond to the added value that the higher model offers.

It doesn’t stand out so much in the photos, what an Aero revelation it is when you see the snow-white radiator in person. The cover has a simple and clean design, and the card looks much more luxurious and elegant than its black sister shining with all colors. It stands out from the market and I’m sure that will be the reason why many people will reach for it. This is also the reason why I preferred it to the test of the Gaming OC version. You simply have to buy something like this for white glass cabinets, classic gray or black graphics will get lost in them.

A huge cooler and relatively low consumption make the card significantly quieter than most cards in the current offer across all performance segments. It’s not that it’s inaudible or you won’t know it in a quiet setup, but fans at around 1500-1600rpm are well below what’s typical of all the cheaper models you’ll find in most gaming rigs .

It only occasionally happened that when the load was started, the fans reached above 2000 rpm for a second, i.e. the values ​​at which they run in powerful mode. You can see it in the graph from the boost test in Metro Exodus, where there is such a peak at the fifth progress.

On the other hand, I would not really recommend the standard default mode for higher performance. From the comparison of operating characteristics, it is clear that it will not help much to make the already low temperatures of the chip even lower, clocks will literally only improve by units of megahertz, the difference in performance is at the level of tenths of a frame per second, and the increase in noise is enormous.

It will probably be the same with the black Gaming OC variant, which we will look at after the next cards. So far, it looks like the difference will be more cosmetic (literally – in the cooler cover, addressable RGB LEDs and other little things).

I can’t say that I would find it advantageous to pay more than two thousand for a larger cooler, but I am already worried that many models that offer more for less or the same money will not be on the market for at least some time after the launch. If you ask any of the manufacturers why the surcharge is so high compared to the basic models, when the added value is not visible in the design, they automatically answer that they do not make money on the basic models. Nvidia, on the other hand, claims that the margins are sufficient even for basic models. And now choose who smokes more.

The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti itself is a noticeable improvement over the previous generation and offers high performance at a price that will already be acceptable for many gamers. In terms of price/performance ratio, it is much better than RTX 4080 or RTX 4090.

For the more expensive RTX 4070 Ti Aero, it is true that it will be more advantageous than the premium models, and especially when using ray tracing, it still offers a better price/performance ratio than most powerful models of the previous generation, which is why I can recommend its purchase and give it at least a bronze award. And if over time the surcharge against Eagle shrinks to some twelve hundred, you can easily get silver instead.

Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Aero OC 12G
PROS CONS
Performance close to RTX 3090 Ti Worse price/performance ratio against a significant surcharge compared to the RTX 4070 Ti Eagle
Efficiency and consumption against the previous generation It is not completely silent at minimum revs
A powerful cooler with a large reserve Weak shift in terms of price/performance ratio
Excellent operating characteristics in silent mode 12 GB of memory
Support DLSS 2.x, DLSS 3
Slightly quieter coils than average cards
Approximate price with VAT: CZK 24,500

Despite the high surcharge, the RTX 4070 Ti Aero OC 12G ranks among the cheaper models, but it also offers operating characteristics that significantly exceed most graphics cards in the offer. Even among older models, it offers an interesting price/performance ratio, but the surcharge is higher than it should be, which is why it only receives a bronze award.

PCTuning bronze award

The article is in Czech

Tags: White revelation test Gigabyte GeForce RTX Aero #12G

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