If you’ve ever wished to purchase a brand new graphics card for taking part in games at 2560×1440, there’s actually by no means been a greater time to purchase one. There are simply so a lot of them! Nvidia’s RTX 2060 already does a reasonably high-quality job of it – a lot in order that it’s at the moment my prime advice for the best graphics card you should buy proper now – and there’s additionally the even cheaper GTX 1660 Ti, AMD’s Radeon RX Vega 56 and Vega 64 playing cards, too, and in lower than every week we’ll have AMD’s new Radeon RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT Navi playing cards to choose from as properly. And, in fact, there’s the RTX 2070, which is even higher than the RTX 2060 at 1440p gaming however can also be fairly costly.
Enter Nvidia’s RTX 2070 Super card – an excellent quicker model of the RTX 2070 for a similar-ish type of value. Coming in at £475 / $499 at time of writing, the RTX 2070 Super guarantees nippier ray tracing efficiency and much more oomph than a GTX 1080 Ti for lower than 5 hundred huge ones. Is it actually as tremendous because it sounds, although? Here’s wot I believe.
As you could have already seen in my Nvidia RTX Super primer, the RTX 2070 Super is type of just like the Ti equal of the RTX 2070, but additionally not fairly. The indisputable fact that Nvidia’s priced it just about the identical as the unique RTX 2070 card makes it really feel, to me a minimum of, most likely extra like what the RTX 2070 ought to have been when it first launched on the finish of 2018.That is, a fully flawless 1440p card that may take a good stab at doing all its titular actual time ray tracing gubbins whereas additionally providing a good 4K expertise on the identical time (albeit with out the ray tracing).
Indeed, check out its super-fied specs and it doesn’t really feel like an enormous quantity has actually modified – a minimum of not in comparison with the soar between the RTX 2060 and the RTX 2060 Super, anyway. The RTX 2070 Super nonetheless has 8GB of GDDR6 reminiscence clocked at 14 Gbps, for instance, and it’s nonetheless obtained a 256-bit reminiscence interface which means it could actually churn via knowledge at 448GB/s. It does, admittedly, have fairly a bit extra CUDA cores (2560 vs 2304), what with it being primarily based on the RTX 2080’s extra upmarket TU104 GPU fairly than the TU106 GPU of its non-Super sibling, and it has a quicker base and enhance clock velocity as properly (1605 – 1770MHz vs 1410 – 1620MHz. It’s additionally obtained extra Tensor doodads to assist with its ray tracing chops, however evidently, it nonetheless doesn’t really feel fairly as particular because the RTX 2060 Super.
There’s additionally the truth that AMD are about to launch their Radeon RX 5700 XT in simply a few days time, which can also be supposed to supply superior RTX 2070 efficiency for even much less cash at $449 (UK pricing TBC). We’ll have to attend till Sunday July 7 to see the way it actually stacks up in opposition to each the RTX 2070 and this Super variant, however one factor is definite – there has by no means been such sizzling competitors to fill this explicit graphics area of interest.
I believe a part of the rationale why I’m barely much less enthused concerning the RTX 2070 Super than I’m the RTX 2060 Super is the truth that I’ve solely been capable of evaluate it in opposition to one of many best RTX 2070 playing cards you may at the moment purchase. Nvidia by no means despatched me the Founders Edition of the RTX 2070 when it first got here out on the finish of final 12 months, so I’ve solely ever had Zotac’s actually fairly nippy AMP Extreme version to take a look at for testing – and judging by the AMP Extreme’s superior efficiency in my huge RTX 2080 Ti benchmark showdown, might be about pretty much as good as RTX 2070 playing cards get.
As such, the RTX 2070 Super’s outcomes most likely don’t look fairly as spectacular as they may have executed in opposition to a extra typical RTX 2070 card. In equity, Zotac’s AMP Extreme can also be fairly darn costly, going for £500 / $530 at time of writing, so a minimum of there’s some comfort to be discovered within the reality you’re getting related if not barely higher efficiency with the RTX 2070 Super for lots much less money.
Just like common RTX 2070s, you continue to get three DisplayPort connections and one HDMI with the RTX 2070 Super.
So let’s check out these numbers, then. Whereas the RTX 2060 Super was delivering outcomes as much as 10fps quicker than its non-Super counterpart at 1440p, my RTX 2070 Super outcomes had been extra within the area of simply 5fps faster than Zotac’s RTX 2070 – though there have been a few bigger gaps to be seen in older titles comparable to The Witcher III and extremely well-optimised games comparable to Forza Horizon 4.
In The Witcher III, for instance, the RTX 2070 Super averaged round 90fps on Ultra settings at 1440p within the forests of White Orchard, whereas Zotac’s RTX 2070 ‘only’ managed 79fps. The identical goes for its 4K efficiency, too. While the RTX 2070 was most comfy on Medium at this decision, averaging 62fps in the identical space, the RTX 2070 Super was capable of hit the identical velocity on High, averaging 64fps.
There was an analogous leap in Forza Horizon 4, too. On Ultra settings at 1440p, the RTX 2070 hit a really easy common of 100fps within the game’s inner benchmark, however the Super pushed that as much as 112fps. There was one other 10fps hole at 4K as properly, the RTX 2070 Super ending with a median of 79fps versus the RTX 2070’s 69fps common.
In these cases, you may see the flashes of brilliance hidden away in its RTX 2080-level GPU, as all of the scores I’ve simply described are virtually neck and neck with these I recorded for Nvidia’s RTX 2080 Founders Edition card. And man alive, wouldn’t it’s nice if the RTX 2070 Super was, actually, an RTX 2080 in disguise? After all, that’s principally what’s occurred with the RTX 2060 Super and RTX 2070, so why not these two playing cards as properly?
Alas, these outcomes are very a lot the exception in comparison with the remainder of my benchmarking suite, the place the Super’s common body charges had been so darn near the common outdated RTX 2070 that they virtually demanded a photograph end so as to decide which one ought to find yourself on the winner’s podium.
In Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, for instance, there was a median of simply 4fps separating every card’s Ultra 1440p benchmark scores (54fps for the RTX 2070 and 58fps for the Super), and a measly 2fps holding them aside on Medium at 4K. Here, the Super managed a easy 63fps, and the RTX 2070 an equally secure 61fps, but it surely’s hardly the sort of rip-roaring efficiency hole that screams ‘I’M A SUPER ASSASSIN!’
Monster Hunter: World confirmed slightly bit extra promise. Here, the RTX 2070 managed a decent 51-63fps out within the Ancient Forest on Highest at 1440p, however the Super pushed that as much as a a lot smoother 56-68fps. The hole narrowed a bit at 4K, all instructed, however whereas the Super’s highs had been possibly solely a few frames forward of its Zotac rival, reaching 54fps on Mid versus the Zotac’s 50fps, the principle benefit the Super dropped at the desk right here is selecting up the tempo on the decrease finish of the spectrum, leading to fewer jolts and stutters when the motion obtained a bit heated and usually holding all the things feeling that a lot smoother. For occasion, the place the RTX 2070 ranged between 38-50fps on Mid at 4K, the Super bumped it as much as a way more respectable 46-53fps.
All the RTX Super playing cards are loads shinier than their non-Super counterparts.
It was an analogous story in Total War: Three Kingdoms, too, albeit not fairly to the identical extent. Hitting a median of 58fps in its built-in battle benchmark, the Super’s precise body charge vary stretched from 52fps all the best way to 68fps. Zotac’s RTX 2070, however, veered between 49-65fps, averaging 56fps total. In fact, you’ll most likely really feel this ‘pulling up the frame rate socks’ extra at 4K than anything. Like Monster Hunter, each playing cards had been most comfy on Medium settings at this decision, with the Super averaging 59fps (dipping to 52fps), and the RTX 2070 settling down round 55fps however often lurching right down to 45fps.
The identical goes for Shadow of the Tomb Raider. On Highest with its prime SMAAx4 anti-aliasing enabled at 1440p, the Super managed to nudge its common body charge simply over the 60fps boundary line once I was wandering across the busy city sq. of Cozumel’s Day of the Dead competition, ranging between 57-67fps. Zotac’s RTX 2070, in the meantime, settled across the 54-62fps mark. The Super maintained an analogous lead once I moved the decision as much as 4K, too. Using simply its customary SMAA this time spherical (anything completely nukes the body charge), the Super produced a really respectable 54-59fps on High, which was simply that bit smoother than the RTX 2070’s vary of 49-55fps.
Alas, regardless of all its added Tensor FLOPs and different ray tracing-enhancing doodads, the RTX 2070 Super confirmed an excellent smaller enchancment once I tried switching on Tomb Raider’s ray tracing choices, providing a median of simply 4 frames enchancment on Highest at 1080p with its ray tracing shadows set to Ultra. It’s not likely the sort of 4 frames you’re more likely to actually really feel both, because the RTX 2070 Super’s common of 53fps isn’t actually that a lot smoother than the RTX 2070’s common of 49fps. I’ll be going into extra element about its ray tracing efficiency in a separate article as soon as I’ve had a bit extra time to look it at extra intently, however evidently, I’m not holding out a lot hope right here.
Metro Exodus was arguably much more dispiriting, as each playing cards’ ray tracing and non-ray tracing outcomes had been so shut that I doubt you’d have the ability to inform the distinction with out the help of a body charge counter. On Ultra at 1440p, the Super averaged simply a few frames greater than the RTX 2070 total, hitting 56fps fairly than 53fps, however each stumbled right down to 31fps at occasions. It was precisely the identical story at 4K, too. Despite the Super being simply three frames forward of the RTX 2070’s common of 48fps on Medium, they nonetheless hit the identical 31fps lows as earlier than. Switching on Metro’s ray tracing possibility didn’t widen the hole by a lot both. On Ultra at 1080p, for instance, the Super averaged 60fps with lows of 34fps when ray tracing was set to High, whereas the RTX 2070 averaged 57fps with lows of 33fps.
As a outcome, I’m simply unsure the RTX 2070 Super is admittedly value it. Like, it’s higher, simply, and I have to admit that Nvidia’s new Super RTX game bundle (which will get you a free copy of Control and Wolfenstein: Youngblood – common RTX playing cards nonetheless solely get Wolfenstein, by the use of comparability) does assist sweeten the deal barely. I imply, you would possibly as properly go for it if you happen to’re within the UK, as even the most affordable RTX 2070 is simply £5 much less at time of writing (going for £470 vs the Super’s value of £475). US patrons, nevertheless, have a barely harder choice on their arms. There, the most affordable RTX 2070 is $20 cheaper than the RTX 2070 Super’s entry-level value, so it actually comes down as to whether you need that free copy of Control.
I ought to observe, in fact, that the outcomes I’ve detailed above are just for Nvidia’s Founders Edition of the RTX 2070 Super, and I’ll be testing extra third celebration variations of this card very quickly. Those, for example, would possibly supply up bigger beneficial properties than what we’ve seen with the Founders Edition, however I’ll be very intrigued to see whether or not any of them will have the ability to match what AMD’s meant to offer with its even cheaper RTX 2070-level competitor, the $449 Radeon RX 5700 XT. Only time will inform, so be sure to verify again on Sunday July seventh for the ultimate verdict.
