Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti review: $250 less and almost as good as the RTX 5080
That’s more like it
🏆 Review score: 4.5 out of 5
🏅 Editor’s Choice Award
Pros:
✅ 🎮 Surprisingly fantastic for 4K 60fps ultra setting gaming without DLSS or MFG
✅ 🏃♂️ Only 5-10fps behind the Nvidia RTX 5080 in some games
✅ 🧑🤝🧑 Multiframe Generation has improved with higher fps and fewer artifacts
Cons
❌ 🫰 Good luck finding it at its starting $749 price
❌ 📏 Physically huge for a mid-range graphics card
❌ 🔌 Requires a 12-pin PCIe power adapter
Shortcut Review
In my Nvidia RTX 5080 review, I was blown away by the almost constant 4K 60fps ultra gaming experience, but now I can tell you that the Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti delivers almost the same power for $250 less. The $750 (to start) Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti is a helluva graphics card for 4K gaming. I got new titles like Stalker 2, Space Marine II, and Avowed, all running at 4K 60 with ultra settings even without DLSS or Multi-frame Generation turned on.
DLSS 4 and Multiframe Generation are already maturing nicely roughly a month after launch. MFG on the RTX 5070 Ti multiplied my fps even more than the RTX 5080 did prelaunch. Artifacts, tearing, and the other general problems with interpolated frames have also been wiped away, making the 5070 Ti a very capable 4K 120fps graphics card too.
The biggest problem with this GPU is that it’ll be almost impossible to find at its $749 starting price. There’s no Founders Edition version, and the Asus GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Prime I reviewed seems to be only one non-overclocked model available at that $749 price. Based on the options available right now, you’ll be lucky to get a GPU under $900, which basically wipes out the value and puts you in $100 spitting distance of the $999 Nvidia RTX 5080.
Full Review
📏 That’s quite big. This is a big graphics card. The Asus GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Prime is almost as big as the Nvidia RTX 5090 I reviewed last month. There really isn’t a small 5070 Ti because Nvidia isn’t making a Founders Edition version of this GPU. The 5070 Ti oddly still uses a 12-pin to triple 8-pin PCIe cable despite using almost half as much power as the 5090. You’ll have to keep both of these things in mind for your PC build with the 5070 Ti.
📃 Tailing specs. Spec-wise, the 5070 Ti is a small step down from the 5080 with fewer CUDA, RT, and Tensor, plus lower memory bandwidth and speed. However, the divide in components isn’t nearly as bad as it is between the 5080 and 5090; where the former has half as many CUDA, RT, and Tensor cores.
💃 Dancing to the flame. The 5070 Ti performed so similarly to the 5080 that I had to check my GPU box to make sure I wasn’t actually testing an Nvidia RTX 5080 by accident. Nvidia’s mid-tier GPU only trails behind the 5080 by 5-10 frames in Black Myth: Wukong. CyberPunk 2077 shows a the 5070 Ti can’t keep up at 4K, but that’s largely only because I have Ray Tracing set to Ultra global illumination.
🎮 4K ultra gaming. Beyond my benchmark tests, the 5070 Ti could deftly play games at 4K 60fps or higher. Space Marine 2 ran beautifully at 68fps with just native rasterization, and turning on DLSS Quality doubled my frame rate to 110fps. I was also able to get Helldivers 2 running at 4K Ultra and native rendering with a steady 65fps.
🧑🤝🧑 Double your pleasure. Gaming with the 5070 Ti only gets better with Multiframe Generation turned on. Hogwarts Legacy went from running at 69fps with DLSS Balanced to 125fps with 2x MFG and then 214fps with 4x MFG. That’s even better MFG performance than I saw while I was testing the 5080 before its launch. Multiframe generation has clearly improved since the Nvidia RTX 50-series launched, just looking at the fps I recorded above. Beyond the numbers, MFG introduces less tearing, and it’s even harder to discern which frames are real or fake.
💰 $749 starting price. The $749 Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti delivers startling similar performance to the $999 Nvidia RTX 5080, but good luck with finding it at that price when it releases on February 20. Nvidia isn’t producing a Founders Edition of this card, and the Asus Geforce RTX 5070 Ti Prime I reviewed is the only version of this GPU that’s priced at $749. Hell, even different retailers are selling this exact GPU at different prices, $749 at Newegg and $899 at Best Buy.
Microcenter and other retailers, otherwise, have overclocked versions of the 5070 Ti going for $899, $909, $939, and as much as $1,009. Finding the 5070 Ti for its starting price will be almost impossible, and it’s just stupid to buy the card for $900 when you can get the 5080 for just $99 more (again if you’re lucky).
Should you buy the Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti?
Yes, if…
✅ ✊ You want Nvidia RTX 5080-levels of 4K gaming power for $250 less
✅ 🎮 You want to play most of your games at 4K 60fps with ultra settings
✅ 🧑🤝🧑 You don’t mind using MFG to get 4K 120fps gaming
✅ 💯 You can get it for its $750 starting price
No, if…
❌ 🫥 You can’t find the Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti for under $800
❌ 📈 You want all of your gaming frames to be real (get the Nvidia RTX 5080 instead)
Kevin Lee is The Shortcut’s Creative Director. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam.
