Digital Foundry — RTX 4070 Super vs PS5: How Much Faster/Better Are Today's Mid-Range GPUs?

[Gamernyc78]

While it's obviously useful to base our reviews on the numbers (Mason), I also think we should look at what this class of GPU is doing more holistically. The bottom line is that developers are targeting PlayStation 5 as the foundational basis of the new games they are creating and when you stack up what the 70-class GPUs from Nvidia are delivering, it's highly compelling.

To put some numbers to this, we decided to benchmark the RTX 4070 Super against the PS5 - something's that not altogether easy to do in a world of frame-rate caps and dynamic resolution scaling. In Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty expansion, we found a spot in the Dogtown market where PS5 couldn't sustain 30fps in its RT mode. In matched settings, 4070 Super offered a 2.21x performance multiplier, rising to 2.3x when FSR2 quality mode was swapped out for its DLSS equivalent. That rose to 3.2x in frame-rate terms when DLSS 3 frame generation kicked in.

Alan Wake 2's quality mode? A 2.17x performance increase in matched settings on the RTX 4070 Super, rising to 2.31x when FSR2 balanced upscaling is again swapped out with the DLSS equivalent. And yes, it's another DLSS 3 game, meaning a 3.1x frame-rate increase over the PS5. In effect, the 4070 Super offers over twice the performance of the PS5 in these games, while DLSS increases both quality and performance.

Results will vary according to the game and the quality of the port, mind you. A Plague Tale: Requiem delivered a 1.96x like-for-like increase, very similar with DLSS quality mode. Frame-gen is available there too, and our test scene offered up a 2.5x increase in frame-rate over the console - so still a big improvement to performance even if you don't consider frame-gen a performance increase.

Naughty Dog/Iron Galaxy's lacklustre port of The Last of Us Part 1 is underwhelming, however, with a mere 36 percent increase (!) in performance over the PS5 operating in fidelity mode. DLSS is the crutch required to offer a game-changing boost to frame-rate - 4K quality mode delivering a 96 percent boost to console performance. Sometimes, not all of the console-level optimisations to make the most of the GPU make their way over to PC - async compute utilisation (or lack of it) apparently causing the problems on this problematic port.

I've discussed console comparisons and yes, optimised settings based on PS5 go a long way from turning what's dubbed a 1440p card into a proper 4K contender. After all, what we're effectively seeing in these comparisons is that 30/40fps quality modes on PlayStation 5 translate into excellent 60fps experiences... or higher. However, we're still talking about circa RTX 3090 level capabilities here, meaning that the RTX 4070 Super will happily run Cyberpunk 2077 in RT Overdrive mode or Alan Wake 2 with path-tracing. This card is still very well-placed in offering up enough raw horsepower to give you access to the absolute cutting-edge - though at that point, optimised settings become even more important.
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Page 7 | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Super review: more frames for less money

Nvidia's RTX 4070 Super gets the full Digital Foundry review treatment, looking at performance, power efficiency, RT, upscaling and more.

www.eurogamer.net

*Credit thick thighs on gaf

 

[Sircaw]

Humm
these things cost like 800 bucks in the UK. not exactly cheap.

 

[Gamernyc78]

Humm
these things cost like 800 bucks in the UK. not exactly cheap.

No and a PC with one will definitely cost more than a PS5.

 

[Nhomnhom]

These guys are obsessed with these nonsensical comparison to try and discredit the PS5.

PS5 is by far the console that held up best against PC. Four year in and we are still getting mostly 60fps games with great IQ. GPUs are still pretty expensive as well and its taking multiple years between new releases.

 

[Muddasar]

600 pound mid range card without any other components against a 500 pound plug and play console.

Fair comparison.

 

[Thirty7ven]

They always pick PS5 for PC comparisons even though Series X is their boy toy.

These guys are fanboy trolls. Hope Sony keeps giving them shit late for reviews.

 

[Systemshock2023]

They changed that ridiculous title. How the heck were they calling a 4070 super a mid range card?

When folks are able to take the console zealot/warrior glasses off it's possible to understand it's an interesting exercise to see how much power a Pro console should have to be worth the while. You want 2xperformance from the base model at least.

Nobody is damaging your precious PS5,she is fine hush now

 

[Gamernyc78]

They changed that ridiculous title. How the heck were they calling a 4070 super a mid range card?

I think it's an interesting exercise to understand how much power a Pro console should have to be worth the while. You want 2xperformance at least.

Ive seen other places like engadget also call it mid range.

 

[Systemshock2023]

Ive seen other places like engadget also call it mid range.

They are just following Jen Tsun Huang guidelines to a T: 350 USD cards are "budget" 600/700 USD are mid range and 1k+ is the high end. Also might include other catchphrases such as "12GB VRAM is enough for 600 USD in 2024" "128 bit bus is fine" "the more you buy the more you save" and my favourite "in no way shape or form the 4060 is actually a 4050"

 

[Shmunter]

No biggie, just highlights why a Pro is desirable for the discerning console man

 

[Gamernyc78]

No biggie, just highlights why a Pro is desirable for the discerning console man

Also how much more you have to spend to get something better than ps5 performance.

 

[feiozzo]

They changed that ridiculous title. How the heck were they calling a 4070 super a mid range card?

When folks are able to take the console zealot/warrior glasses off it's possible to understand it's an interesting exercise to see how much power a Pro console should have to be worth the while. You want 2xperformance from the base model at least.

Nobody is damaging your precious PS5,she is fine hush now

what was the title before?

 

[feiozzo]

the gpu alone is more expensive than a ps5
PC's graphics and performance seduce me, but the price is out of my league

 

[Systemshock2023]

what was the title before?

Think they only changed it on the thumbnail... PS5 vs a MID RANGE GPU. These guys and youtubers that get stuff for free are making people lose grasp on what budget, mid range, high end and bleeding edge HW is.

 

[Entropi]

A $1500 PC is considered mid-range these days? Yikes

 

[ethomaz]

Mid-range GPU is $400 max.
Over $500 is high-end GPU.
Anything over $800 is enthusiasts.

But it is nice to see PS5 being compared to today high end GPU even after 3 years passed.

 

[Entropi]

Mid-range GPU is $400 max.
Over $500 is high-end GPU.
Anything over $800 is enthusiasts.

But it is nice to see PS5 being compared to today high end GPU even after 3 years passed.

Yeah, PS5 stills holds it’s ground against $1000 PCs in its 4th year. It’s pretty amazing.

 

[Dr Bass]

The fact a much more expensive pc can perform better is absolutely no secret.

I still play on consoles because of the game selection and convenience/value.

It’s not a hard concept.

 

[historia]

4070 is mid-range, are these fuckers retarded?

 

[Shmunter]

Seeing lots of knockback about what midrange constitutes….

If 4000 is current Gen with 4050, 4060, 4070, 4080, 4090 then 4070 range falls squarely in the mid. What am I missing?