ada lovelace – BabelTechReviews

GeForce 528.24 Driver Performance Analysis

Rodrigo González — Sun, 29 Jan 2023 02:18:26 +0000

This driver performance analysis showcases the performance of an ASUS TUF GAMING RTX 4070 Ti OC EDITION (Ada Lovelace architecture) and a Gigabyte AORUS RTX 3080 MASTER (Ampere architecture) with 17 PC games using the latest GeForce 528.24 Game Ready driver. We compare this GeForce driver versus our previously recommended driver 528.02 with both cards, and we perform all tests on the same game version & OS build.

Our AORUS RTX 3080 MASTER, rev. 1.0 (Ampere GPU micro-architecture).

Our testing platform is a recent install of Windows 11 64-bit Pro Edition, an i9-12900K with stock clocks, an ASUS PRIME Z690-P D4 motherboard, and 32GB of T-FORCE XTREEM ARGB WHITE DDR4 3600MHz. The games tested, settings and hardware are identical except for the GPUs and the drivers we compare.

Our ASUS TUF GAMING RTX 4070 Ti OC EDITION (Ada Lovelace GPU micro-architecture).

Benching Methodology

Test Configuration – Hardware

12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900K (Hyper-Threading/Turbo boost on; stock settings)
ASUS PRIME Z690-P D4 motherboard (Intel Z690 chipset, v.2212 BIOS)
T-FORCE XTREEM ARGB WHITE 32GB DDR4 (2×16GB, dual-channel at 3600 MHz CL14 XMP), supplied by TeamGroup
ASUS TUF GAMING GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC EDITION 12GB, stock clocks
Gigabyte AORUS GeForce RTX 3080 MASTER 10GB (rev. 1.0); v.F4 VBIOS, stock clocks
1 x Samsung 500GB SSD 960 EVO NVMe M.2
2 x WD Blue 1TB SATA SSD
1 x TeamGroup MP33 M.2 PCIe 1TB SSD
Corsair RM850x, 850W 80PLUS Gold power supply unit
ASUS TUF Gaming VG289Q 28″ IPS UltraHD (3840×2160) 60Hz 5ms FreeSync Monitor for testing games at 2160p resolution.
ASUS ROG Swift PG279Q 27″ IPS QuadHD (2560 x 1440) 165Hz 4ms G-Sync Monitor for testing games at 1440p resolution.

Test Configuration – Software

Nvidia GeForce 528.02 and 528.24 drivers; ‘Prefer maximum performance’ (on a per-game profile basis); Shader Cache Size ‘Unlimited’ (globally); fixed refresh rate (globally).
We enable Resizable BAR.
‘V-Sync application controlled’ in the control panel; V-Sync off in-game.
We note and specify the display resolution and the main in-game display, graphics, AA, and scaling settings in the performance summary charts.
Windows 11 64-bit Pro edition, latest updates v22H2, High-performance power plan, HAGS & Game Mode are enabled, Game DVR & Game Bar features off, Control Flow Guard (CFG) off on a per-game basis, Hypervisor and Virtualization-based security are disabled.
We do not install GIGABYTE or ASUS tools.
Latest DirectX
All 17 games are patched to their latest versions at the time of publication.
3DMark suite and UNIGINE Superposition benchmark, the latest version
Basemark GPU benchmark, v.1.2.3
UNIGINE Superposition, v.1.1
CapFrameX (CX); the latest version
RivaTuner Statistics Server (RTSS); the latest version
FrameView; the latest version
Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU), the latest version; always uninstall drivers using DDU in safe mode, clean, and restart.
ISLC (Purge Standby List) before each benchmark.

GeForce Driver Suite-related

We use DCH Game Ready drivers.
The display driver is installed.
We install the latest version of PhysX.

Hybrid & Non-Synthetic Tests-related

Single run per test.

Game Benchmarks-related

We use the corresponding built-in or custom benchmark sequence.

Frametimes Capture & Analysis tool-related

We use CapFrameX for capturing frametimes and analyzing the relevant performance numbers obtained from each recorded built-in or custom benchmark sequence.
We use FrameView for capturing purposes only when DLSS 3 is enabled for maximum reliability.
We always perform consecutive runs until detecting three usable runs (no outliers) that can be aggregated by CapFrameX using the following method:
- Aggregate excluding outliers:
  - Outlier metric: Third, P0.2 (0.2% FPS percentile).
  - Outlier percentage: 3% (the % the FPS of an entry can differ from the median of all entries before counting as an outlier).
We compare and evaluate the results and aggregated records in terms of percentages of gain/loss and set the following thresholds to consider a % value as significant (not within the margin of error) for our benchmarking purposes:
- Score/FPS Avg > 3% when valuing hybrid and non-synthetic benchmarks;
- FPS Avg > 3% when evaluating raw performance;
- P1 > 3% when evaluating frame time consistency; after applying our custom formula

{[(LowPercentileFPS_2 / AvgFPS_2) / (LowPercentileFPS_1 / AvgFPS_1)] – 1} x 100

Benchmark Suite: 17 PC Games, 4 Hybrid & 3 Non-Synthetic Tests

PC Games

DX11 Games

Days Gone (DX11)
God of War (DX11)
Total War: Warhammer III (DX11)

DX12 Games

A Plague Tale: Requiem (DX12)
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla (DX12)
Call of Duty: Vanguard (DX12)
Cyberpunk 2077 v.1.61 (DX12)
F1 2021 (DX12)
Far Cry 6 (DX12)
Forza Horizon 5 (DX12)
Hitman 3 (DX12)
Horizon Zero Dawn (DX12)
Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition (DX12)
The Callisto Protocol (DX12)

Vulkan Games

DOOM Eternal (VK)
Quake 2 RTX (VK; v.1.6.0)
Wolfenstein: Youngblood (VK)

**Hybrid Tests (3DMark)**

DirectX Raytracing feature test
Fire Strike Ultra
Port Royal
Time Spy Extreme

Non-Synthetic Tests

Basemark GPU
GPUScore: Relic of Life
UNIGINE Superposition

Nvidia Control Panel settings

Here are the global Nvidia Control Panel settings:

Nvidia Control Panel Global 3D Settings (AORUS RTX 3080 MASTER & TUF GAMING RTX 4070 Ti OC).

The value ‘Prefer maximum performance’ for the power management mode setting is set on a per-game or program profile basis via Manage 3D Settings > Program settings tab.

GeForce 528.24 Game Ready WHQL Drivers

This latest GeForce Game Ready 528.24 driver was released on January 24 primarily for the release of Dead Space (Remake) and Forspoken, which feature Nvidia DLSS technology. It also brings optimized support for the new DLSS 3 games, including Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Hitman 3, and Deliver Us Mars.

Dead Space (Remake/2023) in-game screenshot (by BTR)

The download links for the latest GeForce 528.24 drivers can be found here. The release notes are here as a downloadable pdf file. Here are the release highlights from Nvidia’s website:

This new Game Ready Driver provides the best day-0 gaming experience for the latest new games supporting NVIDIA DLSS 3 technology including Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Hitman 3, and Deliver Us Mars. Additionally, this Game Ready Driver supports the launch of titles supporting NVIDIA DLSS technology including Dead Space and Forspoken.

Fixed Bugs

- Adobe Premiere Pro, Photoshop, and Lightroom instability with 528.02 [3940086]
- Adobe Photoshop 24.1 application instability with 528.02 when using GeForce Experience [3940488]
- Adobe Premiere Pro: ProRes RAW files appear completely black when previewing [3924753]
- Autodesk Alias: Expected transparent window appears opaque [3891620]
- OctaneBench 2020 fails intermittently due to render engine failure [3880988]

The GeForce 528.24 Driver Performance – Summary Charts with 17 Games

Below are the summary charts of our selection of 17 games plus four hybrid and three non-synthetic benchmarks. We chart our games’ driver performance progression from version 528.02 to 528.24 using the AORUS RTX 3080 MASTER and the TUF RTX 4070 Ti OC.

You can see the list of graphics settings on the performance data tables, and we run each built-in or custom game benchmark’s sequence at 3840×2160 or 2560×1440, as specified on the charts.

Results give average framerates, and higher is better. We display the low FPS percentile (P1) below the corresponding averages in italics and a slightly smaller font. We use CapFrameX to record frametimes over time and to visualize and convert them into their corresponding average FPS and P1 FPS percentiles values.

There are also columns showing percentages of gain/loss in raw performance (average FPS) and, when applicable, in frame time consistency or stability between the different driver versions. We applied the following custom formula to calculate the stability gains or losses:

{[(LowPercentileFPS_2 / AvgFPS_2) / (LowPercentileFPS_1 / AvgFPS_1)] – 1} x 100

We mark significant performance changes (higher than 3%) in bold and use purple for the significant improvements or orange font for regressions.

GeForce 528.24 Driver Performance Charts

Hybrid Benchmark Results

Non-Synthetic Benchmark Results

DirectX 11 Game Performance Results

DirectX 12 Game Performance Results

Vulkan Game Performance Results

DirectX Raytracing Game Benchmark Results

Vulkan Raytracing Game Performance Results

Notes on GeForce 528.24 Driver Performance

From the charts, we see no significant differences in graphics performance between drivers for the hybrid and non-synthetic tests using our RTX 4070 Ti and RTX 3080.

For the game benchmarks, although most games show no significant differences when we move to 528.24 drivers from the 528.02 driver version using both GPUs, we see a noteworthy improvement in Doom Eternal (Vulkan Ray Pipeline API) in terms of raw performance.

Also, based on our testing, we found that the significant performance differences in Hitman 3 (DX12 & DXR) and The Callisto Protocol (DX12 & DXR) are not driver-related but game-related due to their latest title updates.

Disclaimer

Please be aware that the following results, notes, and the corresponding driver recommendation are valid for similar Ada Lovelace and Ampere gaming rigs on Windows 11 v22H2. Although our GeForce driver recommendation can still be handy or suitable for Turing gamers, their representativeness, applicability, and usefulness on different NVIDIA GPU architectures, testing benches, and MS Windows versions may vary.

Conclusion

Based on our previous results and findings, we recommend Ada Lovelace and Ampere users update to 528.24 drivers. Overall, although its raw performance and smoothness or frametimes consistency are on par with our previously recommended driver 528.02 using both Nvidia GPU architectures, we see a significant gain in raw performance in Doom Eternal (Vulkan Ray Pipeline API) using both Nvidia GPU architectures.

From a qualitative point of view, there are also important reasons that make it advisable to upgrade to version 528.24. These reasons include its higher level of driver bug fixes, the optimizations for the latest games, and support for the latest Nvidia technologies.

Let’s Play!

*******

Rodrigo González (aka RodroG) is the current BTR lead reviewer and an enthusiast gamer. He is especially interested in shooter games, open-world role-playing games, and software and hardware benchmarking. He is the author of the Nvidia WHQL Driver Performance Benchmarks Series and founder and moderator of the r/allbenchmarks community on Reddit.

GeForce 528.02 Driver Performance Analysis

Rodrigo González — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 02:53:17 +0000

GeForce 528.02 Driver Performance Analysis – 17 games benchmarked using an RTX 4070 Ti and 3080

This driver performance analysis showcases the performance of an ASUS TUF GAMING RTX 4070 Ti OC EDITION (Ada Lovelace architecture) and a Gigabyte AORUS RTX 3080 MASTER (Ampere architecture) with 17 PC games using the latest GeForce 528.02 Game Ready driver. This time, we can only compare this GeForce driver versus the previous Game Ready driver 527.56 with the RTX 3080 and set our RTX 4070 Ti performance baseline using the latest driver for future analyses. We perform all tests on the same game version & OS build.

Our ASUS TUF GAMING RTX 4070 Ti OC EDITION (Ada Lovelace GPU micro-architecture).

Our AORUS RTX 3080 MASTER, rev. 1.0 (Ampere GPU micro-architecture).

Benching Methodology

Test Configuration – Hardware

12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900K (Hyper-Threading/Turbo boost on; stock settings)
ASUS PRIME Z690-P D4 motherboard (Intel Z690 chipset, v.1008 BIOS)
T-FORCE XTREEM ARGB WHITE 32GB DDR4 (2×16GB, dual-channel at 3600 MHz CL14 XMP), supplied by TeamGroup
ASUS TUF GAMING GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC EDITION 12GB, stock clocks
Gigabyte AORUS GeForce RTX 3080 MASTER 10GB (rev. 1.0); v.F4 VBIOS, stock clocks
1 x Samsung 500GB SSD 960 EVO NVMe M.2
2 x WD Blue 1TB SATA SSD
1 x TeamGroup MP33 M.2 PCIe 1TB SSD
Corsair RM850x, 850W 80PLUS Gold power supply unit
ASUS TUF Gaming VG289Q 28? IPS UltraHD (3840×2160) 60Hz 5ms FreeSync Monitor for testing games at 2160p resolution.
ASUS ROG Swift PG279Q 27? IPS QuadHD (2560 x 1440) 165Hz 4ms G-Sync Monitor for testing games at 1440p resolution.

Test Configuration – Software

Nvidia GeForce 527.56 and 528.02 drivers; ‘Prefer maximum performance’ (on a per-game profile basis); Shader Cache Size ‘Unlimited’ (globally); fixed refresh rate (globally).
We enable Resizable BAR.
‘V-Sync application controlled’ in the control panel; V-Sync off in-game.
We note and specify the display resolution and the main in-game display, graphics, AA, and scaling settings in the performance summary charts.
Windows 11 64-bit Pro edition, latest updates v22H2, High-performance power plan, HAGS & Game Mode are enabled, Game DVR & Game Bar features off, Control Flow Guard (CFG) off on a per-game basis, Hypervisor and Virtualization-based security are disabled.
We do not install GIGABYTE or ASUS tools.
Latest DirectX
All 17 games are patched to their latest versions at the time of publication.
3DMark suite and UNIGINE Superposition benchmark, the latest version
Basemark GPU benchmark, v.1.2.3
UNIGINE Superposition, v.1.1
CapFrameX (CX); the latest version
RivaTuner Statistics Server (RTSS); the latest version
FrameView; the latest version
Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU), the latest version; always uninstall drivers using DDU in safe mode, clean, and restart.
ISLC (Purge Standby List) before each benchmark.

GeForce Driver Suite-related

We use DCH Game Ready drivers.
The display driver is installed.
We install the latest version of PhysX.

Hybrid & Non-Synthetic Tests-related

Single run per test.

Game Benchmarks-related

We use the corresponding built-in or custom benchmark sequence.

Frametimes Capture & Analysis tool-related

We use CapFrameX for capturing frametimes and analyzing the relevant performance numbers obtained from each recorded built-in or custom benchmark sequence.
We use FrameView for capturing purposes only when DLSS 3 is enabled for maximum reliability.
We always perform consecutive runs until detecting three usable runs (no outliers) that can be aggregated by CapFrameX using the following method:
- Aggregate excluding outliers:
  - Outlier metric: Third, P0.2 (0.2% FPS percentile).
  - Outlier percentage: 3% (the % the FPS of an entry can differ from the median of all entries before counting as an outlier).
We compare and evaluate the results and aggregated records in terms of percentages of gain/loss and set the following thresholds to consider a % value as significant (not within the margin of error) for our benchmarking purposes:
- - Score/FPS Avg > 3% when valuing hybrid and non-synthetic benchmarks;
  - FPS Avg > 3% when evaluating raw performance;
  - P1 > 3% when evaluating frame time consistency; after applying our custom formula

{[(LowPercentileFPS_2 / AvgFPS_2) / (LowPercentileFPS_1 / AvgFPS_1)] – 1} x 100

Benchmark Suite: 17 PC Games, 4 Hybrid & 3 Non-Synthetic Tests

PC Games

DX11 Games

Days Gone (DX11)
God of War (DX11)
Total War: Warhammer III (DX11)

DX12 Games

A Plague Tale: Requiem (DX12)
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla (DX12)
Call of Duty: Vanguard (DX12)
Cyberpunk 2077 v.1.61 (DX12)
F1 2021 (DX12)
Far Cry 6 (DX12)
Forza Horizon 5 (DX12)
Hitman 3 (DX12)
Horizon Zero Dawn (DX12)
Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition (DX12)
The Callisto Protocol (DX12)

Vulkan Games

DOOM Eternal (VK)
Quake 2 RTX (VK; v.1.6.0)
Wolfenstein: Youngblood (VK)

**Hybrid Tests (3DMark)**

DirectX Raytracing feature test
Fire Strike Ultra
Port Royal
Time Spy Extreme

Non-Synthetic Tests

Basemark GPU
GPUScore: Relic of Life
UNIGINE Superposition

Nvidia Control Panel settings

Here are the global Nvidia Control Panel settings:

Nvidia Control Panel Global 3D Settings (AORUS RTX 3080 MASTER & TUF GAMING RTX 4070 Ti OC).

The value ‘Prefer maximum performance’ for the power management mode setting is set on a per-game or program profile basis via Manage 3D Settings > Program settings tab.

GeForce 528.02 Game Ready WHQL Drivers

This latest GeForce Game Ready 528.02 driver was released on January 5 primarily for the launch of RTX 4070 Ti GPUs. It also brings optimized support for Nvidia DLSS 3 technology in Conqueror’s Blade and Dakar Desert Rally.

The download links for the latest GeForce 528.02 drivers can be found here. The release notes are here as a downloadable pdf file. Here are the release highlights from Nvidia’s website:

This new Game Ready Driver provides the best day-0 gaming experience for the latest new games supporting NVIDIA DLSS 3 technology, including Conqueror’s Blade and Dakar Desert Rally.

Gaming Technology

- - Introduces support for the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti

Source: Nvidia

The GeForce 528.02 Driver Performance – Summary Charts with 17 Games

Below are the summary charts of our selection of 17 games plus four hybrid and three non-synthetic benchmarks. We chart our games’ driver performance progression from version 527.56 to 528.02 using the AORUS RTX 3080 MASTER and our gaming driver performance baseline for the RTX 4070 Ti GPU.

You can see the list of graphics settings on the performance data tables, and we run each built-in or custom game benchmark’s sequence at 3840×2160 or 2560×1440, as specified on the charts.

{[(LowPercentileFPS_2 / AvgFPS_2) / (LowPercentileFPS_1 / AvgFPS_1)] – 1} x 100

We mark significant performance changes (higher than 3%) in bold and use purple for the significant improvements or orange font for regressions.

GeForce 528.02 Driver Performance Charts

Hybrid Benchmark Results

Non-Synthetic Benchmark Results

DirectX 11 Game Performance Results

DirectX 12 Game Performance Results

Vulkan Game Performance Results

DirectX Raytracing Game Benchmark Results

Vulkan Raytracing Game Performance Results

Notes on GeForce 528.02 Driver Performance

From the charts, we see no significant differences in graphics performance between drivers for the hybrid and non-synthetic tests using our RTX 3080.

For the game benchmarks, although most games show no significant differences when we move to 528.02 drivers from the 527.56 driver version using our RTX 3080 GPU, we see a notable improvement (approximately a +8%) in The Callisto Protocol (DX12, no ray tracing) in terms of frame time consistency.

Our testing also shows that the 528.02 driver delivers approximately the same performance as the pre-RTX 4070 Ti launch 527.62 press drivers, including the significant frametime stability gain in The Callisto Protocol (DX12, no ray tracing). So, we also consider it would probably be a recommended GeForce Game-Ready driver version for Ada Lovelace users.

Disclaimer

Please be aware that the following results, notes, and the corresponding driver recommendation are valid for similar Ada Lovelace and Ampere gaming rigs on Windows 11 v22H2. Although our GeForce driver recommendation can still be handy or suitable for Turing gamers, their representativeness, applicability, and usefulness on different NVIDIA GPU architectures, testing benches, and MS Windows versions may vary.

Conclusion

Based on our previous results and findings, we recommend Ada Lovelace and Ampere users update to 528.02 drivers. Overall, although its raw performance and smoothness or frametimes consistency are on par with both the previous driver 527.56 using our RTX 3080 and press driver 527.62 with the RTX 4070 Ti, we see a substantial performance gain in frame time stability in The Callisto Protocol (DX12, no ray tracing) using both NVIDIA GPU architectures.

From a qualitative point of view, there are also important reasons that make it advisable to upgrade to version 528.02. These reasons include its higher level of driver bug fixes, optimized support for the latest Nvidia technologies, and support for the RTX 4070 Ti GPU.

Let’s Play!

*******

RTX 4070 Ti TUF GAMING OC Edition Review

Rodrigo González — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 22:53:15 +0000

The $849.99 TUF GAMING RTX 4070 Ti OC Edition Gaming Performance

We recently received an ASUS TUF GAMING RTX 4070 Ti OC Edition 12GB from Nvidia and we have been testing it for the past ten days by using 19 PC games plus hybrid and non-synthetic benchmarks. This time, there will be no production nor distribution of Founder Edition models for its RTX 4070 Ti GPU (AD104) by Nvidia, and AIBs will be the only ones assembling and distributing custom models of this Ada Lovelace GPU. Although these GPUs arrive with multiple new features, including DLSS 3, this review will focus mainly on testing raw performance, not upscaling.

Our Plan

Nvidia touted the RTX 4070 Ti as a card delivering an outstanding efficient performance that can be up to 3x faster than the RTX 3090 Ti in specific games which offers a tremendous upgrade for GTX 1080 Ti or RTX 2080 users. Although for this review, we have not been able to use those same Pascal, Turing, and Ampere GPUs, we have been able to compare our RTX 4070 Ti versus an RTX 3080 (Ampere micro-architecture, 2nd RTX generation) and RTX 2080 Ti (Turing micro-architecture, 1st RTX generation).

We think comparing the RTX 4070 Ti’s performance against two iconic cards from Nvidia’s previous two RTX generations of GPUs may be worth it for Turing or Ampere users considering an upgrade to Ada Lovelace.

The RTX 4070 Ti features 7680 CUDA Cores, 40 Shader TFLOPS, 93 RT-TFLOPS, 641 Tensor FLOPS, and 12GB of GDDR6X memory, so we will see how it performs and compare with raster games and ray-tracing/DLSS games. We will focus on RTX 4070 Ti raw performance as well as consider whether the new RTX 4070 Ti TUF GAMING OC Edition at $850 delivers a good value as an upgrade from the RTX 3080 that launched at $700 MSRP two years ago and from the RTX 2080 Ti which launched at $1000 MSRP four years ago.

Features & Specifications

Key Features from ASUS

Dedicated 3rd generation ray tracing cores (60)
Dedicated 4th generation Tensor cores (240)
NVIDIA DLSS 3 support
Game Ready and Nvidia Studio drivers
Nvidia GeForce Experience
Nvidia Broadcast
Nvidia G-Sync
Nvidia GPU Boost
PCI Express Gen 4
Microsoft DirectX 12 Ultimate support
Support for Vulkan RT APIs, Vulkan 1.3, and OpenGL 4.6
HDCP 2.3 support
DisplayPort 1.4a support: up to 4K at 240Hz or 8K at 60Hz with DSC, HDR
HDMI 2.1a support: up to 4K 240Hz or 8K 60Hz with DSC, Gaming VRR, HDR

Specifications

Nvidia’s MSRP price for RTX 4070 Ti GPUs is $799, and ASUS’s price for the RTX 4070 Ti TUF GAMING OC Edition is $849.99. This is approximately $50 over Nvidia’s MSRP price for a quality well-cooled tri-fan custom model with a factory GPU overclock of 120 MHz over the Nvidia reference 2610MHz boost clock.

Graphics Card Information provided by GPU-Z (Performance VBIOS mode).

According to GPU-Z, the RTX 4070 Ti TUF GAMING OC has the same default GPU clock of 2310MHz and boost GPU clock of 2730MHz – 120MHz higher than the reference – using both VBIOS modes, so the only difference between VBIOS modes is the fan curve.

We will show GPU-Z data and test the card using the Performance VBIOS mode only, as the factory overclock doesn’t change between VBIOS modes, and the card is silent under full-load when in Performance Mode, so it is not worth having higher GPU temperatures with slightly worse performance.

Below is the advanced general information on the RTX 4070 Ti TUF GAMING OC reported by the GPU-Z tool.

Advanced General Information, provided by GPU-Z (Performance VBIOS mode).

NVIDIA BIOS Information, provided by GPU-Z (Performance VBIOS Mode)

As you can see from the GPU-Z screenshots above, you can even increase both power and temperature limits to some degree, so there is still some room for GPU overclocking, but not very high or extreme, at least without taking other risky modding procedures.

The Test Bed

We benchmark with CapFrameX and FrameView tools on a recent install of Windows 11 Pro Edition 22H2, at 2560×1440 and 3840×2160, using an Intel Core i9-12900K with stock clocks and 32GB of T-FORCE XTREEM ARGB WHITE DDR4 3600MHz memory on an ASUS PRIME Z690-P D4 motherboard. All games and benchmarks are the latest versions, and we use the latest GeForce Game-Ready 527.62 press drivers for games and hybrid and non-synthetic tests. The games tested, display driver, settings, and hardware are identical except for the GPUs we compare.

Let’s see the unboxing and take a closer look at this graphics card.

A Closer Look at the ASUS TUF GAMING RTX 4070 Ti OC Edition 12GB

Packaging

The box cover highlights the graphics card image, adding the TUF GAMING logo, the GeForce RTX GPU name, and references to AURA SYNC, OC Edition, 12GB of GDDR6X memory, and DLSS3, ray tracing, Reflex, and Studio.

The back of the case touts the strengths of this model in terms of cooling, durability, aesthetics, and ASUS software. It also includes a list of key features like its dedicated ray tracing and tensor cores, PCI-E Gen 4, Display Port 1.4a, HDMI 2.1a, and HDCP 2.3, and support for DirectX 12 Ultimate, DLSS 3, and G-Sync.

However, on the back of the box, there is no mention of the minimum system requirements. Only a QR code that leads to a table of recommended PSUs is added. The minimum system requirements are only shown on one lateral side of the cover and only mention the need for a 1*16-pin supplementary power connector.

Accessories

We open the box and note there are parts for a card stand. The card stand is height adjustable, and its thinner upper part can also be separated and become a small screwdriver for card disassembling purposes. Also, the card stand has a rubber band at one end, and the support base has a magnet to fix the card stand inside the chassis.

ASUS includes a PCIe Gen5 power cable adapter to two PCI-E 8-pin cables to connect the RTX 4070 Ti TUF GAMING OC to most PSUs. While the power connector adapter requires two Molex wires from the PSU to operate, newer PSUs may offer the new PCIe Gen5 single cable connector instead of massive double cabling. They also include a Velcro cable management strap with TUF GAMING branding.

Above, you can see the card stand fully assembled. Some may not feel the need to use the card stand, given how relatively heavy the 4070 Ti TUF GAMING OC is. However, for safety and given the little volume it occupies inside the case, we think it is a worthwhile addition.

Also, you will find a small detachable black cardboard box, which includes the quick start guide, the warranty card, the certificate of reliability, the graphics card holder manual, an ASUS promotional detachable cardboard holder for your mobile phone, and a collectible card advertising this model.

The Card

The RTX 4070 Ti TUF GAMING OC is a large tri-fan and three-slot graphics card with sober aesthetics and solid and quality design.

Turning it over, we see a sturdy metal backplate featuring the TUF and GeForce RTX logos and branding.

Heat pipes and heatsink fins cover the entire PCB, and there is a switch to choose between the Performance and Quiet VBIOS modes. We didn’t bother using the Quiet VBIOS mode as the card is silent anyway, and the factory overclock is the same, but it is good to have in case a flash procedure fails.

The IO panel connectors are 3 DisplayPorts and 2 HDMI connections.

Below is the other card end.

Plugged in & Inside the case

The RTX 4070 Ti TUF GAMING OC looks beautiful inside a case. We liked that only the TUF logo has RGB lighting to match our RGB-lite gaming rig.

The specifications look promising, and the card, itself, looks solid and quality.

Next is our testing configuration, methodology, and more.

Test Configuration

Benching Methodology

Test Configuration – Hardware

12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900K (Hyper-Threading/Turbo boost on; stock settings)
ASUS PRIME Z690-P D4 motherboard (Intel Z690 chipset, v.1008 BIOS)
T-FORCE XTREEM ARGB WHITE 32GB DDR4 (2×16GB, dual-channel at 3600 MHz CL14 XMP), supplied by TeamGroup
ASUS TUF GAMING GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC Edition 12GB, stock clocks; supplied by Nvidia
Gigabyte AORUS GeForce RTX 3080 MASTER 10GB (rev. 1.0); v.F4 VBIOS, stock clocks
EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti BLACK EDITION GAMING 11GB, stock clocks
1 x Samsung 500GB SSD 960 EVO NVMe M.2
2 x WD Blue 1TB SATA SSD
1 x TeamGroup MP33 M.2 PCIe 1TB SSD
Corsair RM850x, 850W 80PLUS Gold power supply unit
ASUS TUF Gaming VG289Q 28? IPS UltraHD (3840×2160) 60Hz 5ms FreeSync Monitor for testing games at 2160p resolution.
ASUS ROG Swift PG279Q 27? IPS QuadHD (2560 x 1440) 165Hz 4ms G-Sync Monitor for testing games at 1440p resolution.

Test Configuration – Software

NVIDIA GeForce 527.62 press drivers; ‘Prefer maximum performance’ (on a per-game profile basis); Shader Cache Size ‘Unlimited’ (globally); fixed refresh rate (globally).
We enable Resizable BAR (disabled with RTX 2080 Ti due to the lack of full support).
‘V-Sync application controlled’ in the control panel; V-Sync off in-game.
We note and specify the main in-game display, graphics, AA, and scaling settings in the performance summary charts.
Windows 11 64-bit Pro edition, latest updates v22H2, High-performance power plan, HAGS & Game Mode are enabled, Game DVR & Game Bar features off, Control Flow Guard (CFG) off on a per-game basis, Hypervisor and Virtualization-based security are disabled.
We do not install GIGABYTE or ASUS tools.
Latest DirectX
All 19 games are patched to their latest versions at the time of publication.
3DMark suite and UNIGINE Superposition benchmark, the latest version
Basemark GPU benchmark, v.1.2.3
UNIGINE Superposition, v.1.1
CapFrameX (CX), the latest version
RivaTuner Statistics Server (RTSS), the latest version
FrameView, the latest version
Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU), the latest version; always uninstall drivers using DDU in safe mode, clean, and restart.
ISLC (Purge Standby List) before each benchmark.

GeForce Driver Suite-related

We use DCH Game Ready drivers.
The display driver is installed.
We install the latest version of PhysX.

Hybrid & Non-Synthetic Tests-related

Single run per test.

Game Benchmarks-related

We use the corresponding built-in or custom benchmark sequence.

Frametimes Capture & Analysis tool-related

We use CapFrameX for capturing frametimes and analyzing the relevant performance numbers obtained from each recorded built-in or custom benchmark sequence.
We use FrameView for capturing purposes only when DLSS 3 is enabled for maximum reliability.
We always perform consecutive runs until detecting three usable runs (no outliers) that can be aggregated by CapFrameX using the following method:
- Aggregate excluding outliers:
  - Outlier metric: Third, P0.2 (0.2% FPS percentile).
  - Outlier percentage: 3% (the % the FPS of an entry can differ from the median of all entries before counting as an outlier).
We compare and evaluate the results and aggregated records in terms of percentages of gain/loss and set the following thresholds to consider a % value as significant (not within the margin of error) for our benchmarking purposes:
- Score/Avg FPS > 3% when valuing hybrid and non-synthetic benchmarks;
- Avg FPS > 3% when evaluating raw performance.

Benchmark Suite: 19 Games, 6 Hybrid & 3 Non-Synthetic Tests

PC Games

DX11 Games

Days Gone (DX11)
God of War (DX11)
Total War: Warhammer III (DX11)

DX12 Games

A Plague Tale: Requiem (DX12)
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla (DX12)
Call of Duty: Vanguard (DX12)
Cyberpunk 2077 v.1.61 (DX12)
F1 2021 (DX12)
Far Cry 6 (DX12)
Forza Horizon 5 (DX12)
Hitman 3 (DX12)
Horizon Zero Dawn (DX12)
Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition (DX12)
Spider-Man: Remastered (DX12)
The Callisto Protocol (DX12)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt v.4.00 (DX12)

Vulkan Games

DOOM Eternal (VK)
Quake 2 RTX (VK; v.1.6.0)
Wolfenstein: Youngblood (VK)

Synthetic Tests

AIDA64 GPGPU benchmarks
Blender 3.4.0 benchmark
Geekbench 5
Sandra 2021 GPGPU Benchmarks

**Hybrid Tests (3DMark)**

DirectX Raytracing feature test
Fire Strike Extreme
Fire Strike Ultra
Port Royal
Time Spy
Time Spy Extreme

Non-Synthetic Tests

Basemark GPU
GPUScore: Relic of Life
UNIGINE Superposition

NVIDIA Control Panel settings

Here are the global NVIDIA Control Panel settings:

NVIDIA Control Panel Global 3D Settings (RTX 4070 Ti TUF GAMING OC & AORUS RTX 3080 MASTER).

NVIDIA Control Panel Global 3D Settings (EVGA RTX 2080 Ti Black).

Noise, Temperatures, and Power Consumption

Unfortunately, we did not have time to check out the overclocking potential, but temperatures were slightly higher than the AORUS RTX 3080 MASTER. So BTR plans to follow this review up with a VR review – conducted by Mark Poppin, BTR’s PC VR specialist – and an overclocking and creative and pro apps performance analysis – done by the author of the current article.

The RTX 4070 Ti TUF GAMING OC is quiet, and its fans never spin up, even under a heavy or full load, to be irritating or noticeable. It is as silent as the AORUS RTX 3080 MASTER. This model also supports a 0RPM fan mode on idle or light load conditions.

This card is factory clocked 120MHz higher than the reference version at 2610MHz using both BIOS modes. According to its specifications, the RTX 4070 Ti TUF GAMING OC boost can clock up to 2730MHz out of the box. From our testing, we generally see it boosting even higher and typically settling in 2820MHz with peaks above 2850MHz under full or heavy load conditions.

Below is our thermal and approximate power consumption analysis on idle (Windows desktop, no user interactions) and full-load (UNIGINE Superposition Stress Test, 2160p resolution, highest settings, 10 minutes).

Idle conditions

Idle temperatures & power consumption metrics, provided by GPU-Z (Performance VBIOS mode)

On idle conditions, we see a maximum GPU clock of 210MHz, a Memory Clock of 50.6MHz max, a GPU temperature of 23 Celsius degrees (room temp at 19 Celsius degrees) max, an average board power draw of approximately 9.0W, average power consumption of 3%, and a maximum GPU voltage of 0.88V.

Full-load conditions

Full-load temperatures & power consumption metrics, provided by GPU-Z (Performance VBIOS mode)

Under full-load conditions, the RTX 4070 Ti TUF GAMING OC peaked at a maximum clock of 2880MHz, but after some minutes running the Superposition stress test, it slowed down progressively, step by step, and stabilized at 2820MHz when GPU temp stays in the mid-60s C. Also, the maximum memory clock was 1312.7MHz, the GPU peaked at 65.50 Celsius degrees max (room temp at 21 Celsius degrees), the approximate board power draw was 272.8W max, a maximum power consumption peak of 95.7%, and the GPU voltage reached a maximum of 1.10V.

Finally, the reported PerfCap reason (performance limited by different factors) during our full-load GPU stress test was either the intended VBIOS power or reliability limits.

So taking into account all the above, we consider that our ASUS TUF GAMING RTX 4070 Ti OC Edition sample works great and as intended in terms of frequencies, noise level, temperature, and power consumption. Overall the RTX 4070 Ti TUF GAMING OC is quiet, well-cooled, and power efficient.

Let’s head to the performance charts to compare the graphics performance of the RTX 4070 Ti TUF GAMING OC with two other graphics cards; an RTX 3080, based on the Ampere architecture, and an RTX 2080 Ti, based on the Turing architecture.