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Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 tested: How well does it run games?

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 strikes a beautiful balance between price and performance

Unboxing the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 was one of the most exciting parts of building my PC. While I’m a neophyte PC builder, I do know that a graphics processing unit (GPU, or graphics card) is the focal point of any gaming rig.

Nvidia has released a whole line of RTX 30-series GPUs, but I've had my eye on the 3070 from the start. While this card isn’t quite as powerful as the flagship RTX 3080 or top-of-the-line RTX 3090 , it’s also relatively affordable at $500. The 3080 costs $700; the 3090 costs a staggering $1,500.

While there’s something to be said for the RTX 3060 Ti ($400) as well, the RTX 3070 is, in theory, the perfect GPU for mid-range builds, attached to mid-range monitors.

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Initially, I encountered some issues with the Tom’s Guide test rig , preventing me from putting the 3070 through its paces back when the GPU debuted. Now that everything’s ironed out, though, I was eager to dive into some of my favorite games and see how the 3070 handled them. As we don’t currently have the infrastructure to benchmark the 3070 directly against other cards, consider these instead my extended impressions. This is what it’s like to game on an RTX 3070. 

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070: Graphics and frame rate 

I tested the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 the same way I would test a gaming PC or peripheral: by running four demanding games, and observing the results. However, I realized early on that not all of my hardware could keep pace with Nvidia’s powerful new GPU.

Briefly: I have a beautiful Samsung QHD monitor. The only issue is that it’s old – 11 years old, to be exact. I’ve never seen the need to replace it, partially because it’s still higher-res than many of the best gaming monitors available today, and partially because up until recently, I was running a PC with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 950 GPU.

(If you think that dates me, consider that I originally built the darn thing with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 295. A representative from Nvidia once complained that he’d send me a new card himself if I didn’t upgrade soon.)

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The first thing I noticed about the RTX 3070, then, was that it could push the frame rate in QHD games through the roof. My monitor maxes out at 60 frames per second, but using Nvidia’s software, I was still able to see how many frames the 3070 could render in the games I was playing. Final Fantasy XIV often exceeded 100 frames per second, even in fairly crowded cities. The incredibly demanding Baldur’s Gate III also exceeded 100 frames per second, even with boiling lava, cackling imps, clanking swords and pulsating walls all firing simultaneously.

That’s to say nothing of the visuals themselves, which were absolutely gorgeous. From the fine details in the city streets of Ul’dah in FFXIV, to my dwarven warrior’s flowing, braided hair in BGIII, the RTX 3070 introduced me to a level of detail I could never have expected from my old GPU.

A common refrain among PC gamers is that PCs have much prettier graphics than consoles, even in the same resolution range. The RTX 3070 is living (or at least inanimate) proof of that. Even locked to QHD resolutions and 60 frames per second, the level of detail in Doom Eternal exceeded what I’ve come to expect on consoles – even upscaled experiences on the Xbox Series X and PS5. The deep reds and browns, the crispness of enemy models and especially the fluidity of every gory kill added a new level of immersion to this fast-paced shooter.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070: Ray tracing 

Of course, the hallmark feature of the RTX 30-series is its inclusion of ray tracing technology. (Some previous Nvidia cards had this as well, but ray tracing is finally starting to go mainstream, both among component manufacturers and game developers.) As someone who had never seen ray tracing in action in a PC game before, the difference is striking – if you know where to look for it.

First, to address a fair criticism: Ray racing is simply not available in a lot of games right now. In fact, Nvidia cards support ray tracing for only about a dozen PC games at present. There are utilities available to approximate the effect , but if you simply want to install an RTX 3070 card, boot up a game, flip a switch and see some fancy lighting effects, your options are currently limited.

Still, I did have access to one game with ray tracing support: Remedy’s ambitious action/adventure game Control. The very first level in Control is a spectacular place to observe ray tracing in action, as protagonist Jesse wanders through a series of dimly lit hallways. I started the game with ray tracing enabled, and didn’t entirely see what the fuss was all about. The gradations between light and dark were very subtle, granted, and the lighting looked a lot more realistic than I was used to. But I didn’t see how this could have an impact on moment-to-moment gameplay, or overall immersion.

Then, I replayed the first level with ray tracing turned off, and the difference was striking. Dark hallways were still dark, and bright rooms were still bright. There was still ambient light in shadowed locations. But the level of detail, particularly on reflections, was just not the same. With ray tracing turned on, a glass window reflected onto a black floor with different levels of light for each location on the glass; with ray tracing turned off, the same window’s reflection looked like a white blur.

It’s admittedly the kind of thing you’ll brush past during the course of a normal playthrough – but add together a lot of “brush past” details, and suddenly, you’re talking about an entire level. Ray tracing adds a subtle but striking level of detail across a variety of dark environments, and I don’t doubt that it could turn a good-looking game into a great one.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070: Outlook 

There are two things to keep in mind about the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070. First, we’ve just begun to plumb its depths, and at present, we can’t even run it through any significant benchmark tests. As such, I’m confident in saying that it looks great and runs well – but I couldn’t make that promise for anyone’s setup except my own. And even though the four games I tested it with are demanding, they’re hardly the only four games out there. Over time, we’ll have a better idea of how the RTX 3070 handles whatever comes its way.

Second, even if the RTX 3070 sounds like a perfect fit for your gaming PC, it’s nearly impossible to find one at the moment. Like Sony and Microsoft, Nvidia is suffering from significant supply shortages, and your path to a new GPU may be paved with lotteries, scalpers or simply a lot of waiting. Right now, your best bet may be to buy the RTX 3070 as part of a pre-built machine – although that arguably destroys the price advantage you’d achieve from buying a standalone component.

In any case, if you can track one down, the RTX 3070 appears to be a beautiful GPU, and not nearly as expensive as these things come. Once we can put it through a series of more rigorous tests, we will.

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom's Guide, overseeing the site's coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and technology. After hours, you can find him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi. 

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It's happening: You can grab an RTX 3070 for just $550 right now

Not quite MSRP territory, but that's really not too far off now.

Gigabyte Gaming OC GeForce RTX 3070 | 8GB GDDR6 | 1,815MHz Core Clock | $599.99 $549.99 at Newegg (save $50) Not only is this an RTX 3070 at something close to its MSRP, but it's also an overclocked model sporting a triple fan design. The overclock may be slight, but it'll help push that frame rate to the max, even when you've got every setting turned up as high as it'll go at 1440p and 4K. It's a big old card, so make sure you've got space in your case, and have the power to drive it—650W is the recommended minimum. Use the code VGAGBET246 to save that $50.

We're almost there. Soon, hopefully very soon, we're going to be able to look back on this generation of graphics cards and not be bitter about it. Prices are nearing normal levels again, and not just on the cards that no one actually wants to buy. No, the good cards of this generation are starting to enter reasonable price territory. Unheard of.

The RTX 3070 highlighted above is a great case in point. With the $50 promo code ( VGAGBET246 ), you're looking at $550 for the triple-fan card from Gigabyte . The fact that this is a factory overclocked card that rumbles along at 1.815GHz as opposed to the 1.73GHz of the Founder's Edition, means you're actually getting pretty decent value for money. And for reference, the Nvidia FE card should in theory cost $500, you know if you could actually buy one from Nvidia.

So what makes this RTX 3070 the card we'd recommend right now? Well for starters it's a really very good graphics card, earning a 90% score when we reviewed it back on release in October 2020. If you're looking for a graphics card that can handle 1440p and 4K gaming with ease, even with the ray tracing pretties turned up, then there's plenty to love here—it nails that value/performance proposition better than most.

Unlike its bigger more performant siblings, it's also not so expensive that buying one now is likely to bite you in the ass later on. I mean it isn't cheap, and there is a good chance that the RTX 4070 or equivalent will outperform it when released later this year. But such a card could cost notably more than this, $600-$700 maybe? And potentially come out that little bit later than the flagship card.

Plus, at this price, it isn't quite the same as dropping $800+ on a card that you absolutely know will be trounced before the holiday season starts, when the next-gen GPUs emerge. You're still taking something of a risk, of course, but at least here you're getting a card that can play everything you can throw at it isn't breaking the bank in the process. This is pretty much as high as I'd recommend you should go right now though.

Alternatively, if you're looking to save a bit more cash, then there are plenty of deals out there on various SKUs of the RTX 3060 Ti—an incredible card for 1440p gaming that can handle some 4K action too. Indeed when doing the morning scour for decent deals, it was the reductions on this excellent GPU that caught my eye first. From the $499 price of the Asus Dual over on Amazon to this $489 Asus TUF Gaming card over on Newegg . 

Gigabyte Eagle OC GeForce RTX 3060 Ti | 8GB GDDR6 | 1,695MHz Core Clock | $599.99 $479.99 at Newegg (save $120) This dual-fan RTX 3060 Ti from Gigabyte is a bit expensive at its MSRP, but reduced down to $480 is a seriously tempting option. The chiller is quiet and cool running and affords a slight boost in clock speed up to 1,695MHz over the reference card's 1,665Mhz. You're looking at great performance in games at 1440p and below, and even 4K isn't out of the question with some tweaking. Use code VGAGBET239 at the checkout to save $70.

The best deal I've found for the RTX 3060 Ti though is the dual-fan Gigabyte Eagle OC above, which with the $70 promo code is down to $480 right now . That's a $120 saving on this particular card's MSRP, although still $80 over the standard-clocked card, but this is faster and still a great option. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that the RTX 3070 has seen such healthy reductions as well, this would easily be our deal of the day.

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Alan has been writing about PC tech since before 3D graphics cards existed, and still vividly recalls having to fight with MS-DOS just to get games to load. He fondly remembers the killer combo of a Matrox Millenium and 3dfx Voodoo, and seeing Lara Croft in 3D for the first time. He's very glad hardware has advanced as much as it has though, and is particularly happy when putting the latest M.2 NVMe SSDs, AMD processors, and laptops through their paces. He has a long-lasting Magic: The Gathering obsession but limits this to MTG Arena these days.

Galax's single-slot RTX 4060 Ti is out in the wild, though sadly it appears to be a little tempestuous

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MINISFORUM NUCX I7 Mini Gaming PC Intel Core i7 11800H 32GB DDR4 1TB SSD NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mini Desktop Computer, 1 X HDMI & 1 X Thunderbolt 4,3X USB3.2, Wi-Fi 6, BT5.2

About this item.

• 【Powerful Processor】 MINISFORUM NUCXI7 mini PC is powered by Intel Core i7-11800H processor with 8 cores/16 threads, up to 4.6 GHz and 24 MB cache. Pre-installed Windows 11 Pro to provide faster response time and responsive multithreaded response. High performance with low power consumption. Lifetime technical support and 2 years warranty with 7/24 service.
• 【Mini Gaming PC】 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mini PC features NVIDIA Ampere architecture with 5120 CUDA cores, 8GB high-speed GDDR6 memory, and GeForce RTX30 series with 2nd Generation RT cores for better ray tracing performance. The 3-generation cores accelerate your games while delivering ultra HD image quality. This lets you crank up the settings and resolution for an even better visual experience. The new SM multi-cell stream processor and high-speed video memory help you play games that require high performance at 1080P.
• 【2 * M.2 SSD Slots】NUCX I7 is equipped with 2 M.2 2280 SSD slots, installed with 1TB M.2 PCIe SSD. PCIe4.0 slot supports installation of older generation NGFF SATA solid-state drives or NVMe PCle4.0 solid-state drives, very convenient and space-saving. Dual-channel DDR4 32GB RAM (2 x 16GB) effectively increases data transfer speed and can be upgraded to 64GB.
• 【Thunderbolt 4】NUCX I7 supports HDMI 2.1 (8K@60Hz) and Thunderbolt 4 (8K@60Hz). Supports a maximum transfer speed of 32 Gbps. ultra-thin body With HDMI x 1, Thunderbolt 4 x 1, 3 USB3.2 Type-A, 3.5mm combo jack x 1, RJ45 2.5G x 1, SD card slot x 1, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2.
• 【Efficient Heat Dissipation】 NUCX I7 is Specially designed for CPUs with heat pipes, only two fans and liquid metal cooling system. Efficient heat dissipation can be achieved. In addition, due to the large cooling module, the back of the machine is equipped with more than 1300 honeycomb cooling holes to further reduce the machine temperature and enable perfect power release.
• Resolution : 1920 x 1080
• System ram type : gddr4

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MINISFORUM NUCX Mini PC RTX 3070 Gaming Performance Review

PowerTech Reviews ☑️

Product Description

Features of Our NUCXI7 Mini PC

• Intel Corei7-11800H Processor, 8 Cores/16 Threads (24M Cache, up to 4.60 GHz)
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070(GDDR6 8GB)
• 32GB DDR4 Dual channel (SODIMM Slots×2, up to 64GB)
• M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe SSD(up to 2TB)
• M.2 2280 1TB SSD Slot (Support NGFF SATA or NVMe PCIe4.0)
• M.2 2230 WIFI Support (Wi-Fi， BlueTooth)

MINISFORUM NUCXI7 is a premium thin and light Mini PC for high-performance gaming

NUCXI7 with Powerful Processor and Graphics

11th Gen Intel Core i7 processor (24MB Cache, up to 4.6 GHz, 8 cores) delivers powerful and high-speed performance for uninterrupted gameplay.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX

The RTX 3070 graphics cards are powered by Ampere—NVIDIA’s 2nd gen RTX architecture. Get incredible performance with enhanced Ray Tracing Cores and Tensor Cores, new streaming multiprocessors, and high-speed G6 memory. Get a performance boost with NVIDIA DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling). AI-specialized Tensor Cores on GeForce RTX GPUs give your games a speed boost with uncompromised image quality. This lets you crank up the settings and resolution for an even better visual experience.

More Powerful Cooling System Design

5 heat pipes+Dual smart fan+Liquid metal cooling system.

The excellent heat dissipation design enables the PC to maintain relatively low noise during daily operation, with thickened copper tubes and more than 1300 heat dissipation holes, it provides more efficient export of the heat of CPU and GPU to significantly improve heat dissipation efficiency. it provides a more efficient export of the heat of CPU and GPU to significantly improve heat dissipation efficiency.

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