RTX 4070 Ti Vs RTX 3090: Benchmarks & Difference

Today, we have decided to put GeForce RTX 4070 Ti vs GeForce RTX 3090 against each other. Rather than relying on verbal claims, we’ll compare their hardware differences and then put them in a head-to-head battle of gaming benchmarks to find out which one suits your needs the best. Let’s do it. 

Key Takeaways

• In 4K gaming benchmarks, the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti was nearly 12% better than the GeForce RTX 3090, with an average of 12 more frames delivered every second.
• The GeForce RTX 3090 is a power-hungry GPU as it consumed 53 watts more than the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, proving the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti to be 19% more efficient. Please note that these figures were captured via a software overlay; hence there can be a margin of error to some extent.
• According to NVIDIA’s website, the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti starts at $800, and the GeForce RTX 3090 starts at $1000, making GeForce RTX 3090 25% more expensive than its sibling, but you can always get a better deal on used cards.
• The GeForce RTX 3090 belongs to NVIDIA’s previous Ampere architecture and boasts a whopping 24GB of 384-bit RAM, whereas the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti belongs to NVIDIA’s latest Ada Lovelace architecture and has 12GB of 192-bit RAM.

RTX 4070 Ti Vs RTX 3090 Comparison Table

Technical Specs	GeForce RTX 4070 Ti	GeForce RTX 3090
GPU Name	AD104	GA102
Architecture	Ada Lovelace	Ampere
Process Size	4nm	8nm
Transistors	35,800 million	28,300 million
Base Clock	2310MHz	1395MHz
Boost Clock	2610MHz	1695MHz
CUDA Cores	7680	10496
Tensor Cores	240	328
RT Cores	60	82
TMUs	240	328
ROPs	80	112
L1 Cache	128KB (per SM)	128KB (per SM)
L2 Cache	48MB	6MB
Memory Size	12GB	24GB
Memory Type	GDDR6X	GDDR6X
Memory Bus Width	192-bit	384-bit
Memory Bandwidth	504.2GB/s	936.2GB/s
TDP	285W	350W
Suggested PSU	600W	750W
Release Date	January 3, 2023	September 1, 2020
MSRP	$799	$999
Best Variants	Best RTX 4070 Ti Cards	Best RTX 3090 Cards

 

Let’s discuss in detail what differences exist between the two cards and how they will affect your buying decision. 

Jump right into this RX 7900 XTX Vs RX 6900 XT comparison if you are looking for a head-to-head battle between AMD graphics cards. 

Architecture

The GeForce RTX 3090 is a strong contender in this comparison, with plenty of cores and top-notch specs in terms of memory size, bandwidth, and speed. However, it still belongs to the older family of cards that are based on Ampere architecture. 

This architecture was built at Samsung using the 8nm process size. The number of transistors on this GA102 GPU is 28,300 million. GA102 is arguably the best GPU that NVIDIA had to offer in its 30xx series based on the Ampere architecture.

Also Read: RTX 4070 Ti Vs RX 7900 XT

The maximum number of CUDA cores you can get on GA102 is 10752 if you go for the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti graphics card. With GeForce RTX 3090, you are getting 10496 CUDA cores, which is pretty close to the best you can get. 

GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, despite being on the losing side in the number of cores battle, is a powerhouse of a graphics card. It’s based on the AD104 GPU (Ada Lovelace), which is a powerful chip with a current capacity of 7680 CUDA cores, all of which are within your reach when you buy the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti graphics card. 

NVIDIA does have two other and better GPUs based on the same Ada Lovelace architecture i.e. AD103 and AD102, with more CUDA cores, memory capacity, and overall much higher specs.

The AD104 GPU inside your GeForce RTX 4070 Ti has been put together at the TSMC foundry using a 4nm process, and this GPU contains a whopping 35,800 million transistors. 

Design

There is not much to discuss about the designs of these two graphics cards. They fall into two different categories. What it means is that you do get a founder’s edition of the GeForce RTX 3090 designed by NVIDIA, but that’s not the case with the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti.

NVIDIA didn’t design the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti and instead left it to its board partners, companies such as ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI, to design the card for the consumers. As a result, the dimensions of your card and the way it looks will depend on which variant you purchase from which company. 

Also Read: RTX 4070 Ti Vs RX 7900 XTX

On the other hand, the GeForce RTX 3090 is one beast of a card due to its sheer size. Compared to the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, which was released almost 8 months later, the GeForce RTX 3090 is 1.1 inches (28mm) longer. The exact dimensions of the cards are 12.3 inches (313mm) x 5.4 inches (138mm). 

The GeForce RTX 3090’s design is what NVIDIA has been keeping for quite some time now, with a blade fan on each side of the card for sucking in cold air and blowing out hot air from the system. Just know that you will need a lot of space in your PC case to fit this card. 

Memory And Clock Speeds

Things look even better for the GeForce RTX 3090 on paper when you read its memory size, speed, and bandwidth. The VRAM on GeForce RTX 3090 is a massive 24GB compared to only 12GB on GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. 

While they both have GDDR6X memory, the differences between the two don’t end yet, as GeForce RTX 3090 has a higher memory bandwidth of 936.2GB/s compared to a memory bandwidth of 504.2GB/s. That gives you a difference of about 432GB/s, with the GeForce RTX 3090 leading the way. 

GeForce RTX 3090’s upper hand continues as it comes with a BUS width of 384 bits compared to a 192-bit BUS width on GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. Things look good for GeForce RTX 3090 even when you look at the number of CUDA cores on this graphics processor i.e. 10496.

On the other hand, you have GeForce RTX 4070 Ti operating with 7680 CUDA Cores. This difference gives GeForce RTX 3090 a lead of 2816 cores. However, you should know that such a huge number of CUDA cores also demand a lot of power.

The only aspect in which GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is better than GeForce RTX 3090 is the core clock speeds. Its core clock is 2310MHz, which is 915MHz higher than the base clock of 1395MHz on the GeForce RTX 3090. 

At the same time, the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti’s boost clock of 2610MHz is 915MHz faster than the GeForce RTX 3090’s boost clock of 1695MHz. These differences show us that GeForce RTX 4070 Ti’s boost clock is 54% faster than the boost clock of the GeForce RTX 3090.

Ray Tracing And AI Acceleration

These two features remain an important aspect of NVIDIA’s latest graphics cards. In fact, some fans believe the company is focusing too much on these factors. For those interested in GeForce RTX 3090, they should be happy that this card has both ray tracing and AI acceleration features through RTX and DLSS. 

Also Check: RTX 4070 Ti Vs RTX 3080

Surprisingly, GeForce RTX 3090 has more tensor cores for AI acceleration and RT cores for ray tracing performance in games. It has 328 tensor cores and 82 RT cores. Comparatively, GeForce RTX 4070 Ti has only 240 tensor cores and 60 RT cores. 

As a result, GeForce RTX 3090 has 88 more tensor cores and 22 more RT cores than its sibling. However, that shouldn’t let you get the impression that GeForce RTX 3090 is bound to be a better card. 

You can’t ignore the fact that NVIDIA came out with the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti after more than 2 years after launching the GeForce RTX 3090, and it did some great optimization and improvements during this time. 

As a result, you are going from 2nd-gen ray tracing and 3rd-gen tensor cores on GeForce RTX 3090 to 3rd-gen ray tracing and 4th-gen tensor cores on the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, which has the newest Ada Lovelace architecture. 

Not sure what the new GeForce RTX 4070 Ti can offer in terms of ray tracing and AI acceleration? We have a detailed guide on NVIDIA DLSS3 that should explain what performance gains you can expect when you turn this option on while playing games on your GeForce RTX 4070 Ti.

RTX 4070 Ti Vs RTX 3090 4K Gaming Benchmarks

Most gamers wouldn’t make a big fuss about the numbers on the spec sheets because they care about how well a card performs while gaming.

So, to give you a clear picture of how good these two graphics cards are, we put them through some real tests in 4K gaming benchmarks in 10 games. We have taken these benchmarks from Benchmark Lab on YouTube, who has used the following setup for these tests. 

Testing PC Setup

• CPU: Ryzen 9 7950X
• GPU 1: MSI Gaming X Trio RTX 3090
• GPU 2: NVIDIA RTX 4070 Ti
• Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix X670E
• RAM: GSkillZ Trident DDR5 – 6200MHz 32GB
• SSD: Samsung EVO 970 500GB
• PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 G5
• CPU Cooler: AIO – Arctic Freezer 420mm

Now that we know the testing PC setup, let’s see how these two cards perform in 10 games at 4K resolution with all games set to ultra-configurations in graphics settings. Do make sure to check out our detailed guide that lists the 12 best GPU overclocking software in 2023 if you want to make the most out of your current rig. 

A Plague Tale: Requiem

• The FPS difference between the two cards wasn’t huge in this benchmark, with GeForce RTX 4070 Ti scoring 73FPS compared to 78FPS from the GeForce RTX 3090.
• Surprisingly, the GeForce RTX 3090 was the better card in this benchmark by offering 5 more frames every second compared to the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti.
• It was a solid show from GeForce RTX 4070 Ti as it cemented a victory over the GeForce RTX 3090 by consuming 270 watts Vs 319 watts, respectively. 
• The GeForce RTX 3090 was 4° hotter than its sibling in this test as it heated up to 70° Celsius, whereas the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti reached an average of 66° Celsius.

Also Read: RTX 4070 Ti Vs RTX 3080 Ti

Cyberpunk 2077

• The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti leads this race by delivering an average of 54FPS compared to 41FPS from its sibling, the GeForce RTX 3090.
• The difference of 13FPS, in this case, meant the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti was nearly 32% better than the GeForce RTX 3090 in terms of framerates. 
• Yet again, the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti’s optimization took the stage and consumed 59 watts less than its sibling i.e. 286 watts Vs 345 watts. 
• The temperature difference between the two GPUs wasn’t huge in this case, as the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti was only 2° cooler. 

Diablo II Remastered

• Diablo II Remastered isn’t the most graphics-intensive game, so both cards were impressive at 120FPS Vs 114FPS from the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti and the GeForce RTX 3090, respectively.
• The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti was the better card but with a lead of only 6FPS, which meant a performance boost of a little more than 5%.
• The GeForce RTX 3090 was hungry for power again and used 48 watts more than its sibling, which consumed only 275 watts compared to 323 watts.
• The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti was the cooler GPU yet again but only by 3° as it operated at 64° Celsius in this benchmark.

Hitman III

• In this GeForce RTX 4070 Ti vs GeForce RTX 3090 benchmark, we were able to get 101FPS from the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti and 92FPS from GeForce RTX 3090.
• The difference of only 9FPS in favor of the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti meant it offered us a performance improvement of 10%.
• In terms of power consumption, the GeForce RTX 3090 wasn’t very impressive as it used 62 watts more than its sibling at 270 watts Vs 332 watts. 
• Yet again, the optimization of the new architecture takes the win by keeping the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti at 65° Celsius compared to the GeForce RTX 3090 at 69° Celsius.

Similar Comparisons: RTX 4070 Ti Vs RTX 3070 Ti

Horizon Zero Dawn

• Both cards did well in this benchmark, with the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti offering 123FPS against the GeForce RTX 3090’s 111FPS. 
• The FPS difference was only 12FPS in this benchmark, giving the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti a performance win by nearly 11%.
• The difference in power consumption was yet again a whopping 62 watts, with the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti using 275 watts compared to the GeForce RTX 3090 using 337 watts. 
• There was no temperature difference between the two GPUs in this test, and both maintained a temperature of 68° Celsius.

Microsoft Flight Simulator

• It was a turn of events in this test as the older GPU i.e. GeForce RTX 3090, was able to deliver 75FPS compared to the newer GPU’s 72FPS.
• The difference was only 3FPS, which meant the GeForce RTX 3090 was able to perform better by only 4.2%. 
• To do 4.2% better in FPS benchmarks, the GeForce RTX 3090 had to use 312 watts compared to GeForce RTX 4070 Ti’s 272 watts. 
• The temperature of the GeForce RTX 3090 GPU was 68° Celsius compared to the 65° Celsius of the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti.

Minecraft

• The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti regained its crown right after losing to the GeForce RTX 3090 in one game and gave us 79FPS Vs 64FPS, respectively.
• The difference of 15FPS may seem small in this scenario, but it was a 23.4% improved FPS from the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti compared to the GeForce RTX 3090.
• The difference in power usage continued to remain big as the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti used 42 watts less than its sibling i.e. 276 watts Vs 318 watts. 
• You can say the temperature difference never really widened between these two cards in any of the benchmarks and was only 1° Celsius on this occasion too. 

Red Dead Redemption 2

• The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti performed really well in this GeForce RTX 4070 Ti vs GeForce RTX 3090 test and was able to put up a score of 87FPS, whereas the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti was able to produce 71FPS.
• The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti was producing 16 more frames every second than its sibling and offered a performance boost of 23%. 
• The difference in power consumption only widened in this benchmark as the GeForce RTX 3090 used 58 more watts at 337 watts compared to the power usage of 279 watts by the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti.
• It was the first instance when the GeForce RTX 3090 was cooler than the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti but only by 1° Celsius i.e. 64° Celsius Vs 65° Celsius.

Also Read: RTX 4080 Vs RTX 3090

Spiderman

• Playing Spiderman smoothly was a tough task for both cards as the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti was able to offer us 67FPS compared to 50FPS from the GeForce RTX 3090.
• This boost of 17FPS from the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti was huge as it meant the performance of the new GPU was 34% better than the GeForce RTX 3090.
• Nothing changed in terms of power consumption as the GeForce RTX 3090 continued to usurp more power at 316 watts compared to the 266 watts used by its sibling. 
• The GeForce RTX 3090 did do well in terms of producing less heat as it ran at 66° Celsius compared to the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, which ran at 68° Celsius. 

The Witcher 3

• It was a solid display of great performance by the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti again as it ran The Witcher 3 at 97FPS compared to the GeForce RTX 3090, which ran the same game at 84FPS.
• There was a difference of 13FPS every second between the do, allowing GeForce RTX 4070 Ti to offer a performance boost of 15% over its sibling. 
• The GeForce RTX 3090 once again consumed 55 watts more than its sibling.
• This was the third time in our 4K gaming benchmarks that the GeForce RTX 3090 was cooler than its sibling as it operated at 65° Celsius Vs 67° Celsius. 

Overall Gaming Benchmarks

We can’t deny the fact that it’s quite a tough battle between the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti vs GeForce RTX 3090 because both of them are very powerful cards. In fact, the GeForce RTX 3090 is a much better card in terms of overall specifications. 

However, the benchmarks painted a different picture as GeForce RTX 4070 Ti was able to come out as the winner by being better in 8 out of 10 games, which means it was a victory by 80% for GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. 

In our benchmarks, there were two instances when the GeForce RTX 3090 was better than GeForce RTX 4070 Ti i.e. A Plague Tale: Requiem and Microsoft Flight Simulator. However, these differences were very small i.e. 5FPS and 3FPS, respectively.

On the other hand, GeForce RTX 4070 Ti was better in 8 games, and the differences were quite mentionable. The smallest win for GeForce RTX 4070 Ti was in Diablo II Remastered, where it had a lead of 6FPS over its sibling. 

The best game for GeForce RTX 4070 Ti was Spiderman, which was able to deliver 67FPS compared to its sibling’s 50FPS. As a result, it offered us a performance boost of 34%. 

On the whole, we got an average of 87FPS from GeForce RTX 4070 Ti and 78FPS from GeForce RTX 3090, allowing the former to win by a lead of 12%.

Overclocked your GPU to get the best gaming performance and ended up overheating it? Here is our guide that will help you in lowering your GPU temperature. 

Power Usage and Thermal Statistics

The results were quite clear in the case of power consumption, wherein the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti proved that a newer and more optimized chip could save you a lot of money on electricity bills. In this particular case, the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti had a 100% win rate as it used less power than the GeForce RTX 3090 in every single game. 

The more notable part is that the difference was quite significant in each case. The smallest difference between the power consumption of the two GPUs was 40 watts while playing Microsoft Flight Simulator. In this game, the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti was consuming 272 watts compared to the GeForce RTX 3090, using 312 watts. 

Also Read: Nvidia RTX 4090 Vs RTX 3090

The biggest power consumption difference was 62 watts, with the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti using 62 watts less than its sibling. The more important part is that this difference occurred twice; once in Hitman III and once in Horizon Zero Dawn.

The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti always performed within a range of 260-290 watts. On the other hand, the GeForce RTX 3090 always used the power within a range of 310-350 watts. The highest power consumption we recorded on the GeForce RTX 3090 was 345W. 

On average, we found a power consumption difference of 53 watts between the two cards. This difference clearly shows that the GeForce RTX 3090 uses 19% more power than the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. 

Thinking about buying a new graphics card but not sure whether your current power supply needs to be changed or not? We have a detailed guide on how long power supplies last that can help you get out of this dilemma. 

There wasn’t a lot to talk about in terms of the temperature differences between the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti and the GeForce RTX 3090. However, it was quite astonishing that GeForce RTX 3090 was able to keep up with the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti in terms of temperature readings despite using so much power. 

It was a back-and-forth battle between the two, but since the differences were small, it didn’t really matter much which was cooler and which one was hotter. For example, we noted the biggest temperature of 4° twice in our benchmarks in A Plague Tale: Requiem and Hitman III. 

There was no difference in their temperatures while playing Horizon Zero Dawn. GeForce RTX 3090 was the cooler GPU in 3 games, whereas the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti was cooler in 6 games. 

When we calculated the average of their temperatures in 10 games, we came to 66° Celsius for GeForce RTX 4070 Ti and 67° Celsius for GeForce RTX 3090. In other words, the temperature difference was little to non-existent between these two cards. 

The more mention-worthy point here is that none of them went above 70° Celsius in any of the benchmarks, which means they both remain in safe temperature zones. As a result, you can expect your GPU to have a long life. 

Pricing and Availability

Before we come to the pricing part, it is important to mention here that the availability of graphics cards has been a big challenge for quite some time now. The chip shortage has caused many graphics cards to disappear not only off the shelves but from the markets entirely. 

You are going to have a tough time finding either of these graphics cards. On its website, NVIDIA lists the GeForce RTX 3090’s founder’s edition at $1000. At the same time, it has one from ZOTAC with IceStorm 2.0 cooling system costing you $1200. 

The founder’s edition of GeForce RTX 4070 Ti doesn’t exist, but you have plenty of companies like ZOTAC, Gigabyte, MSI, and ASUS providing you with their enhanced and embellished versions of this card. 

If you look at NVIDIA’s website, it lists the ASUS TUF version of the card at $800. The MSI SUPRIM version of the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is listed at $950. You can’t really say if you’ll be able to get the card at that price because it has just been released, and the chip shortage issue might drive its price upward in the coming days. 

Moreover, since the GeForce RTX 3090 is more than 2 years old, you can find some deals on the used versions of this card to save some bucks. Of course, you will have to comb through the market to find the deal that fits your pocket. 

Based on the MSRPs stated on NVIDIA’s website, the GeForce RTX 3090 is $1000 for the founder’s edition, whereas the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is $800 for the most affordable board-partner variant from ASUS. This means getting a new GeForce RTX 3090 will cost you $200 more than buying a new GeForce RTX 4070 Ti.

Which One Is Better?

To conclude our GeForce RTX 4070 Ti vs GeForce RTX 3090 guide, the card you get depends on your preferences. What is it that you are looking for? Are you looking for something that’s good for today or something that you think will future-proof you for the coming years? 

In addition to that, you have to look at the budget you have allocated to purchase a new card. In our comparison, we have looked at all the aspects that can help you decide and pick your favorite graphics card. 

• Firstly, you know that the GeForce RTX 3090 is better than its sibling based on the number of CUDA cores, RT cores, tensor cores, memory size, and memory bandwidth. On the other hand, GeForce RTX 4070 Ti has a better core and boosted clock speed along with next-gen ray tracing and tensor cores.
• If you care about every additional frame you can squeeze out of your card, you can look at our gaming benchmark results in which GeForce RTX 4070 Ti offered a 12% performance boost over the GeForce RTX 3090.
• The power consumption statistics also leaned clearly in favor of the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti as it consumed 53 watts less than GeForce RTX 3090 on average in 10 games. It proved to be 19% more efficient than the GeForce RTX 3090 in terms of power consumption.
• There was nothing notable in the temperature benchmarks. Both graphics cards did well by staying within a safe temperature zone of 70° Celsius and offered us averages of 66° Celsius and 67° Celsius. It was a tie between the two cards.
• Lastly, according to NVIDIA’s website, you should be able to get a new GeForce RTX 4070 Ti for as little as $800 and GeForce RTX 3090 for $1000. However, there is definitely a chance of you getting a GeForce RTX 3090 for a much lower price if you go for a used one.