Palit GeForce RTX 4070 DUAL review (Page 31)

Palit GeForce RTX 4070 DUAL review

Graphics cards 1049 Page 31 of 31 Published 2023-04-12 14:59 by Hilbert Hagedoorn

Final words and conclusion

Final words

Guru3D has received PALIT's Dual OC value board series for review, test and evaluate this product. Unlike other manufacturers who mostly send their premium products for review, we value the chance to offer our readers a balanced perspective, from top-tier offerings to more affordable options. Regarding the PALIT Dual, we found little to criticize, except for the fan casing, which is very thin plastic. The plastic shell feels flimsy and can easily bend if you apply pressure on the top side with just one finger. Nonetheless, given its value proposition, it's understandable that the product has a plastic shell and only two fans. While the acoustics are average, the temperatures remain within acceptable levels. In terms of performance, the PALIT Dual offers baseline performance, although not by a significant margin. However, with a simple manual tweak, users can easily achieve an additional 5% performance. NVIDIA has released the GeForce RTX 4070, the latest addition to the ADA product line. With its more affordable price point, this graphics card is now within reach for many end-users. Although NVIDIA heavily promotes the DLSS technology as a game-changer, we hope they won't overlook the importance of raw rasterizer shader performance in future products. The GeForce RTX 4070 boasts a powerful architecture, advanced ray tracing capabilities, and enhanced DLSS technology, significantly improving its performance over its predecessors. However, its performance can fluctuate in less CPU-bound situations, and it may be a bit slower in DX11 yet faster in DX12. Compared to Radeon Series 6000/7000, the RTX 4070's ray tracing performance is faster overall, showing notable advancements in this field. Moreover, with the DLSS3+ Frame generation technology, the GPU can create miracles in games that support it.

Performance

You've seen the numbers, and we've already let the cat out of the bag. It all comes down to gaming performance and, of course, rendering quality. Yes, the RTX 4070 provides more value for the money than seen from the 4080. We're approaching raw performance levels enabling gaming at 4K resolution, but the reality is that this is a WQHD-targeted card. Most enthusiast gamers play at UWHD, QHD, or UHD monitor resolutions, so this feels quite balanced. When comparing the GeForce RTX 4070 with AMD's offerings, it is worth noting that the Nvidia GPU struggles to keep up with the Radeon RX 7900 XT by a good margin in favour of AMD. However, the card still has a lot of positive aspects. For instance, DLSS (3) and ray tracing features perform exceptionally well, and currently, AMD is not able to match Nvidia in this regard.

The old rasterizer engine breaks right through the previous limit of extreme performance. The RTX 40 series now has a new generation of Ray tracing and Tensor cores that are more powerful. So, do not let the specific RT and Tensor core counts fool you; it's all about how much performance one unit offers. Since they are close to the shader engine, they have become more efficient, which shows. Tensor cores are harder to measure, but from what we have seen, everything seems to be in good shape, as DLSS3 shows exciting values.

Overall, the GeForce RTX 4070 makes sense at resolutions as low as 2K 2560x1440, and sometimes up to 4K (3840x2160). NVIDIA proclaims this as a 100+ FPS WQHD card, with which we concur.

Cooling & noise levels

Under heavy full load, the card tested uses about ~195 Watts (average). This Wattage is directly related to how much heat the GPU, which sits inside a closed case, gives off. The model in this review boasts a two-slot cooler that performed exceptionally well during our tests, effectively cooling the card's components. Furthermore, the card's fan stop mode is entirely silent in 2D applications. For acoustics, we reached 38 DBa, which is noticeable but acceptable in acoustics levels by today's standard. Expect the card to get close to 65-70°C when stressed in a closed chassis. This value can differ depending on how well air moves through your chassis. FLIR imaging doesn't show anything alarming. Also, keep in mind that if you go for a custom card from a board partner, the power consumption levels will likely be higher due to increased TGPs and stuff like RGB and liquid cooling pumps.

Energy consumption

We touched the topic in the previous chapter; the power draw under intensive gaming for GeForce RTX 4070 is quite okay. We measured it close to the 190 Watt range (TBP). This is the tradeoff for a bit more bite in performance for this graphics card model in particular. Gaming wise, that number will fluctuate a bit; however, 185 Watt will do in no time. We expect the board partner cards to show higher numbers as they get more TGP allowance. When looking at TGP we write down an average power consumption of 185 (TGP) at Ultra HD based on the reference test. The card's TDP of 185 (see below) was measured over five games. The RTX 4070 comes with a converter that allows turning 8-pin PCIe power connectors into a single 12-plus-four-pin 12VHPWR. However, many board partner cards will still have the traditional 8-pin header on board.

Coil whine

Any GeForce RTX 4070 can exhibit coil squeal. It's just a matter of how much exactly. Well, it's at a level you can hear when you hit high framerates. In a closed chassis, that noise would fade away in the background. For this particular card we've not been able to notice it.

Pricing

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 has a price tag of $599, which many gamers may find steep for a graphics card. Comparatively, that's still more expensive than a modern console, which can be a turnoff for budget-conscious gamers. Also remember that premium AIB card designs come with an additional cost. Unfortunately, in Europe, the price range is even higher, ranging from 700-800 EUR. Despite this, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is one of the more advanced and complete graphics cards available, offering high-quality performance and a range of impressive features that justify the price.

Tweaking

The card tweaks reasonably. You do not receive a power limiter in Watts, however it still tweaked well. You get extra perf on the card's default power budget. The clock frequency can take a good +150~200 MHz extra. Apply it, and you'll see the GPU boost clock hovering at the 2900~3000 MHz domain (frequencies vary per game title as they are dynamic). The memory could be tweaked to 23 Gbps, so all these are excellent values that brought ~5% additional performance on challenging GPU situations, measured from reference performance.

Conclusion

The Palit DUAL edition GeForce RTX 4070 can be an excellent choice for those needing Wide Quad HD performance while keeping the prices reasonable. This card provides WQHD capability and operates silently and boasts an impressive cooling system, making it a visually appealing option. Additionally, you can enhance the card's impressive performance by taking advantage of the games supporting DLSS(3). It has to be stated, though, the founder edition card is the better one. It offers roughly the same performance but remains the more silent product. And aesthetics do matter; you'll probably agree with me on that. The RTX 4070 graphics card offers impressive performance and visual quality and improved power efficiency and thermals, making it an eco-friendly option. It effortlessly handles high-resolution gaming and complex creative workflows with HDMI 2.1 support and increased VRAM capacity (12GB). When choosing between the RTX 4070 and Radeon RX 6800 (XT), it's important to consider factors such as raytracing performance and DLSS3, which the RTX 4070 excels at. A bit newer, the Radeon RX 7900 XT offers faster rasterizer engine performance with an additional L3 cache, making it a strong(er) contender for the RTX 4070. The RTX 4070 is priced $200 lower, so perhaps offers more value for money. Performance wise, depending on where you measure, you can compare the card with RTX 3080 / 3080 Ti performance levels. Overall, the RTX 4070 series edition is an attractive option for those looking for a visually appealing graphics card for their white-themed build. This graphics card has plenty of oomph up-to even Ultra HD gaming (especially with DLSS3 / Frame generation enabled) with the option for a mild overclock. Overall, the Palit DUAL edition GeForce RTX 4070 is an interesting card recommended, especially if prices remain competitive. But when it comes to choices, it'll have difficulty outselling the founder edition.