Similar to its predecessors in the xx70 series, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 occupies a balanced position, offering substantial performance at a price point lower than Nvidia’s top-tier models. It effectively bridges the gap between value and performance within the Turing graphics card lineup. While the GeForce RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti provide exceptional performance, the RTX 2070 is the model that offers greater value for the majority of consumers.
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 offers a reduction in price while maintaining a significant portion of its ray-tracing performance. Our testing of the GPU confirms this assertion. Additionally, overclockers will find opportunities to extract additional power from this Turing architecture GPU.
Despite the introduction of AMD’s Navi and Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 2070 Super, along with the upcoming launch of the RTX 3070, which offers superior performance at a lower price point, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 remains a viable option for consideration, provided it is available. In fact, retailers that continue to offer this card are likely to reduce its price further following the unveiling of the RTX 3000 series at the company’s event on September 1.
The Nvidia RTX 2070 is not only visually appealing as the most affordable RTX graphics card available at present, but it also features a remarkable transistor count. In terms of specifications, this GPU surpasses its immediate predecessor, the GeForce GTX 1070, by offering 20% additional CUDA cores and GDDR6 video memory that operates at a speed of 6Gbps faster.
When compared to the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti and GTX 1080, Nvidia’s latest mid-range graphics card features a reduced number of stream processors and texture units.
This model is equipped with a markedly reduced number of Ray Tracing (RT) cores and AI-driven Tensor cores in comparison to the other offerings within the Nvidia Turing series. Nevertheless, due to the absence of practical ray tracing or deep learning super-sampling (DLSS) benchmarks at the time of the evaluation, the performance of this GPU with Nvidia’s latest graphical technologies remained uncertain.
A further disappointment is that the Nvidia RTX 2070 lacks support for multi-GPU configurations via SLI. While Nvidia has launched a significantly enhanced NVLink Bridge connector with its Turing architecture, the RTX 2070 does not incorporate this advanced connector. Therefore, if you intend to establish a multi-GPU arrangement, you will need to invest in a more premium graphics card from Nvidia.
The recent graphics cards from Nvidia have demonstrated impressive capabilities in 4K gaming; however, the performance of the Nvidia RTX 2070 in this area was not anticipated.
Utilizing our GeForce RTX 2070 test bench, we successfully achieved frame rates of approximately 70 fps for Strange Brigade and 60 fps for Forza Horizon 4. Destiny 2 presented some challenges; however, the frame rates still fell within a playable range of 40 to 70 fps.
Engaging in gaming at QHD (2,560 x 1,440) resolution consistently maintained frame rates near 120fps. In contrast, gaming at FHD with the RTX 2070 exhibited significant fluctuations, ranging from 120 to 220fps.
In our synthetic benchmarks, the Nvidia RTX 2070 significantly outperforms the GeForce GTX 1070, GTX 1070 TI, and GTX 1080. Remarkably, the only contender that poses a challenge to Nvidia’s latest mid-range GPU, apart from the GeForce RTX 2080, is the AMD Radeon Vega RX 64.
Regrettably, the gaming performance did not meet expectations. While the Nvidia RTX 2070 consistently provides double-digit frame rate improvements compared to the GTX 1070 and GTX 1070 Ti, other GPUs that surpass these models, such as the RX Vega 64 and Vega 56, yield nearly equivalent results.
This represents a significant contrast to the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and RTX 2080, which provided remarkable enhancements in performance, surpassing the Nvidia Titan XP. Both of Nvidia’s premium Turing models were highly sought after due to their status as the most powerful graphics processing units available.
The Nvidia RTX 2070 is a remarkably capable graphics card that makes 4K gaming accessible to mid-range options. Nevertheless, with a price, it is challenging to categorize this GPU as budget-friendly, particularly since the specific model we evaluated is priced even higher. The positive aspect is that once the AMD Navi and Nvidia Super RTX series are released, a reduction in prices for these cards is anticipated.
The justification for an upgrade is also contingent upon the graphics card from which one is upgrading. Analyzing our data, it appears that users currently utilizing a Nvidia 1070 Ti or superior will not experience a significant enhancement in frame rates after investing in this GPU. Conversely, individuals using AMD Vega graphics cards have no compelling reason to switch brands at this time.
The Nvidia RTX 2070 primarily distinguishes itself through its ray tracing and DLSS capabilities. In fact, there are several compelling reasons to consider postponing the purchase of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 at this time.
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