Review of the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Founders Edition.

ZAH Computers Tech Editorial

ZAH Computers Hardware Research Desk

The new GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, particularly in its founder edition from NVIDIA, is certainly more budget-friendly compared to the release from the previous week, although it does not boast lightning-fast speeds. This graphics card is positioned between the performance levels of the 3070 and 3080, closely competing with the Radeon RX 6800 and 6800 XT. There is no denying this fact. The current market situation has been peculiar and even troubling, especially regarding computer components, with issues such as silicon shortages, cryptocurrency mining, and scalpers affecting availability. The situation has been quite frustrating for consumers for an extended period, and it is unlikely to improve in the near future. Many individuals are resorting to intense competition to secure a reasonably priced graphics card, often encountering prices that are up to three times the manufacturer's suggested retail price. Inquiries have arisen regarding the rationale behind our continued reviews of graphic cards that are currently unavailable. The explanation is straightforward: when these products do become accessible, it is essential to have comprehensive information regarding their performance to facilitate an informed purchasing decision. NVIDIA remains committed to its strategy, enforcing hash-rate limitations on consumer-grade GPUs and consistently releasing refresh products as planned. Recently, we observed the introduction of a refresh product that fills the gap between the GeForce RTX 3080 and 3090, namely the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. Additionally, NVIDIA is set to expand the Ampere lineup with another Ti variant, the 3070 Ti, which is making its debut. This graphics card boasts an impressive shader core count of 6144 units and is equipped with 8GB of GDDR6X memory operating at a speed of 19 Gbps. While the VRAM capacity may appear somewhat limited, it is expected to deliver exceptional performance, potentially exceeding expectations. It is noteworthy that NVIDIA introduced its Ampere GPU series less than a year ago, specifically in September 2020. Just prior to the announcements, the specifications for the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, 3070, 3080, and 3090 underwent a significant change, with the shader core count unexpectedly doubling from initial projections, a crucial development in light of the increasingly competitive landscape. NVIDIA's GPUs are manufactured using an 8nm process technology developed by Samsung, which is an advancement over their previous 10nm process; currently, extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography is not utilized in the production. The latest announcements include the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and 3070 Ti, expanding the Ampere desktop product lineup for consumers to include the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8GB, 3070 8GB GDDR6, RTX 3070 Ti 8GB, RTX 3080 10GB, RTX 3080 Ti 12GB, and RTX 3090. The focus of today's evaluation is an 8GB GDDR6X high-end model. Similar to the 3070, the 3070 Ti is built upon the established GA104 GPU from NVIDIA, but it features a transition from GDDR6 to GDDR6X memory. This graphics card boasts an effective total of 6144 activated shader processors, which represents an increase of 256 shader cores compared to the 5888 found in the previous RTX 3070 model. NVIDIA has introduced a price increase of 100 USD for this updated version, resulting in a somewhat staggering price of 599 USD for this Founders Edition product. The question remains: is it worth the investment?