By now, you’ll have learned what makes Nvidia’s new GeForce RTX 40 Series Super cards tick along. 4070 Super, 4070 Ti Super, and 4080 Super are coming to a retailer near you on January 17, January 24, and January 31, respectively. Offering more performance at either similar or better price points than non-Super cards released a little while back, there’s plenty to get excited about for the gamer upgrading from older GPUs.
Nvidia has set the standard when it comes to industrial design and appearance of coveted Founders Edition cards. This time around, RTX 4070 Super and RTX 4080 Super are getting the FE treatment, while RTX 4070 Ti is a partner-only affair, just like the non-Super generation.
First out of the starting blocks, Nvidia reworks the existing RTX 4070 FE card for the Super variant. Changes are few and far between – why mess with a winning formula? – but a peek highlights visual differences that separate models. Gone is the silver trim, replaced by an all-black surround that looks menacing and purposeful. I prefer this approach, actually, as there’s no scope for reflections caused by chassis illumination bouncing off the previous edition’s silver surround.
More RTX 4070 Ti than RTX 4070
It’s worth knowing RTX 4070 Super is a fair bit more powerful than its non-Super namesake. Nvidia ups the shader-count ante by over 20 per cent, made possible by the flexibility of the underlying AD104 silicon, spanning all the way up to RTX 4070 Ti.
With more performance comes higher power, of course, but the additional 20W above the regular RTX 4070’s 200W is no problem for the capable cooling solution that remains, as far as I can tell, unchanged between generations.
The $599 card measures 245mm x 112mm x 41mm and sources power from a single 12VHPWR cable. Club386’s original RTX 4070 review highlights restrained power and noise, and there’s good reason to think Nvidia latest Founders Edition remains decent in both respects.
If recent history is a good barometer, partner cards will have a hard time beating the combination of immense build quality, attractive aesthetics, and entry-level price. Mark your calendars for the definitive Club386 review coming January 16.
