MSI RTX 4070 Ti SUPER VENTUS 3X Review & Benchmarks

Introduction

Across the RTX 4000 and Radeon 7000 generation of graphics cards, there are plenty of options for gamers looking to build a PC that is excellent for 1440p and 4K gaming. But just as we thought the releases were about to slow down, NVIDIA released their RTX 4000 SUPER series at CES 2024.

The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER was amongst the set of GPUs announced by NVIDIA, and is the second RTX 4000 SUPER variant to hit the shelves. After the warm reception of the RTX 4070 SUPER, this card provides top-tier 1440p gameplay, along with plenty of firepower to run the latest AAA titles at 4K high settings.

Like the original RTX 4070 Ti, this GPU does not have a Founders Edition, allowing alternative models from manufacturers to take the spotlight. In this review, we’ll be taking a look at MSI’s RTX 4070 Ti SUPER VENTUS 3X, a retro-inspired design that looks to amplify your gaming PC while sticking to a lower price point.

Specification

In terms of performance, the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is packed with a number of enhancements from the original RTX 4070 Ti, all of which are aimed at providing a substantial boost to performance. Despite these hardware improvements, the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is available at the same MSRP. This is because the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER acts as a replacement for the original RTX 4070 Ti, which is no longer in production.

The biggest change is the additional 4GB VRAM, which makes this graphics card better equipped to handle the demands of the latest blockbuster releases. Whilst 12GB of video memory is enough to comfortably handle most games at 1080p and 1440p, the jump to 16GB means this GPU will have no issues running titles at 1440p for years to come. Also, it leads to better results when dialling the resolution up to 4K.

Other notable changes include a small boost to clock speeds, as well as a number of enhancements to CUDA cores, RT cores, and Tensor cores. These improvements are a common trend between each of the RTX 4000 SUPER series cards, which is no surprise given NVIDIA’s focus on DLSS. With the bolstered number of cores, the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER aims to offer better ray tracing and Frame Generation support than its predecessor when DLSS is enabled.

Due to MSI’s RTX 4070 Ti SUPER VENTUS 3X being a card that targets MSRP, this specific GPU doesn’t deviate much from the specs provided by NVIDIA. There is an option to nudge the clock speeds up to 2.62GHz, but this has to be done by making tweaks to the performance settings via the MSI Center software.

What is RTX 4000 SUPER?

With all the talk of RTX 4000 SUPER, you might be wondering what differentiates these graphics cards from their predecessors? To put it simply, the RTX SUPER are essentially a mid-generation upgrade that look to provide a better value proposition to gamers, allowing NVIDIA to be more competitive with AMD in the key areas of the market.

Whilst we would have expected these refreshed cards to be reserved for NVIDIA’s budget offerings, mainly due to their poor reception at launch, the focus on the mid-range market also makes sense. With the release of AMD’s RX 7900 XTX and RX 7800 XT offering similar performance while significantly undercutting the price of their Team Green counterparts, the SUPER variants are NVIDIA’s way of responding to AMD’s firm grip on the mid-range market.

The specifics of the improvements vary depending on the card, but most of the RTX 4000 SUPER graphics cards are equipped with increased core counts, allowing them to take advantage of DLSS for accelerated performance in a wide range of games. On top of this, these cards include a small boost to clock speeds for a bump in framerates, as well as refreshed price points.

For the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER specifically, the biggest improvement is the increased VRAM, something that the RTX 4070 SUPER and RTX 4080 SUPER haven’t received. Apart from this, the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER comes with the aforementioned increased core counts and sticks to the MSRP of the original RTX 4070 Ti.

Design & Aesthetic

Out of all the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER graphics cards we’ve been able to get our hands on, MSI’s RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is the design that has been the most intriguing. The unconventional grey/silver shroud has sparked plenty of conversation in the office, as the retro-inspired look provides a hint of nostalgia, but doesn’t have a concrete position within the current PC building landscape.

With most manufacturers opting for either a white or black aesthetic for their components, it leaves designs such as MSI’s VENTUS 3X in a bit of a grey area – no pun intended. We used this GPU in a white-themed PC build, where the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER VENTUS 3X blended in well enough when mounted vertically. However, the black base on this design means it is a better fit for darker-themed builds when mounted horizontally.

In terms of the design, this graphics card uses a triple-fan layout, which is the standard in order to keep this higher-end option running at a moderate temperature. To help with thermal regulation, MSI have equipped this GPU with their TORX 4.0 Fan technology, which joins two fan blades together for more concentrated airflow. On top of this, the fans also include a Zero Frozr mode, allowing them to stop spinning during less demanding workloads.

Another welcomed addition to the design is the included GPU support bracket, which can easily be installed with the graphics card by using the PCI-E expansion slots. With this card being on the larger side, having included support eliminates concerns with the GPU sagging over time, which can lead to long-term damage.

Overall, the MSI RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is an eye-catching design that offers plenty of useful features that help to maximise the performance you can expect from this graphics card. Whilst the appearance is bound to split opinions, as well as lead to complications with the overall look of a PC build, the advanced cooling and integrated support brackets are welcomed additions, especially for a design available at MSRP.

Performance

To see how the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER performs in all the latest and greatest titles, our in-house benchmarking aficionado, Harry Coleman, ran a number of tests with this graphics card. We’ve then gathered all the data and compared it to a wide range of graphics cards from both AMD and NVIDIA, which will help determine whether this refreshed model is worth considering for your next PC build.

For a more detailed rundown of the testing methods used, check our in-depth overview explaining how we test GPUs.

Fortnite

Settings: 1080p, Quality Low, Anti-aliasing & Super Resolution TSR High, Temporal Super Resolution Performance, View Distance Far, Textures Low

With Fortnite still being one of the most popular titles for competitive gaming, we tested the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER at 1080p to provide a comprehensive performance comparison. The results showed the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER to be amongst the best performers in this title, with the 315FPS surpassing the significantly pricier RTX 4080.

Cyberpunk 2077

Settings: 1440p, Shadow Quality High, Indirect Lighting High, Reflections High, Crowd Density High, Particle Quality High, Volumetric Lighting High, Motion Blur off, GTAO Quality High, Grass Quality High, Contact Shadows High VSync Off, DLSS/FSR: On/Off, Ray Tracing: On/Off, Textures: High

In Cyberpunk 2077, the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER offered the results that we’d expect from this card, sitting in between the original RTX 4070 Ti and RTX 4080. Whilst AMD’s cards struggled to keep up when FSR and DLSS were enabled, this card also managed to outperform the RX 7800 XT and 7900 XT when the enhancements were switched off.

COD Warzone

Settings: 1440p, Upscaling/Sharpening FSR 2.1/DLSS Quality (80 Sharpness), Texture Resolution High, Texture Filter Anisotropic High, Level of Detail High

In Call of Duty Warzone, the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER outperformed the competition with a comfortable margin. With an average FPS of 173, this graphics card beat AMD’s RX 7800 XT and RX 7900 XT, along with the original RTX 4070 Ti, which suggests this card is a significant improvement on its predecessor.

F1 2022

Settings: 1440p, Ray Tracing Quality Medium, Lighting Quality Ultra High, Post Process High, Shadows Ultra High, Weather Effects Ultra High, Ambient Occlusion HBAO+, Asynchronous Compute On, Texture Streaming Ultra High, Anisotropic Filtering 8x, DLSS: Enabled

The performance trend of the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER stayed on track in F1 2022, as it once again sat between the original RTX 4070 Ti and RTX 4080. However, it is important to note that the 284FPS was closer to the RTX 4080, which reached an average of 294FPS.

Starfield

Settings: 1440p, Shadow Quality High, Indirect Lighting High, Reflections High, Crowd Density High, Particle Quality High, Volumetric Lighting High, Motion Blur off, GTAO Quality High, Grass Quality High, Contact Shadows High VSync Off, DLSS/FSR OFF

In Starfield, the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER lived up to expectations once again, offering a significant improvement in performance compared to NVIDIA’s original design. With an average of 98FPS, this GPU will provide a smooth gaming experience while you venture across the stars.

Alan Wake 2

Settings: 1440p, Post-Processing High, Texture Resolution High, Texture Filtering High, Volumetric Lighting High, Global Illumination Quality High, Shadow Detail High, Terrain Quality High, Ray-Tracing: Disabled, DLSS: On/Off, Frame Generation: On/Off

The latest entry in our benchmarking catalogue, Alan Wake 2, is another title where we tested the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER with DLSS enabled and disabled to see what impact this NVIDIA’s latest technology has on performance. Again, the performance of the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER matched our expectation, with DLSS providing a boost of around 35FPS in this title.

Should You Wait for RTX 5000 GPUs?

One of the biggest talking points to come from the launch of NVIDIA’s RTX 4000 SUPER graphics cards has been whether it is worth investing in these refreshed cards, or simply wait for the next generation. With speculation on when we can expect NVIDIA’s RTX 5000 series – codenamed ‘Blackwell’- already circulating, the temptation to wait for a full generational leap seems justifiable.

However, there has been no word from NVIDIA themselves as to when we can expect RTX 5000 series to arrive, causing any release dates being thrown around to be nothing but rumours at the time of the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER’s release. If NVIDIA were planning on releasing information on RTX 5000 at some point, this will likely be delayed until the dust has settled on RTX 4000 SUPER.

As a result, we wouldn’t suggest skipping out on these graphics cards in anticipation for a RTX 5000 announcement. Whilst the ‘Blackwell’ designs will likely come with significant changes to architecture and DLSS integration, there are still plenty of unknowns that could derail the next generation of GPUs, such as pricing and gaming performance.

Additionally, the extremely competitive nature of the current GPU market has lead NVIDIA and AMD to produce the best value for money offerings in years, especially when it comes to graphics cards aimed towards 1440p gaming.

Conclusion