Nvidia RTX 4070 Graphics Card Review

Nvidia RTX 4070 Founders Edition

So let’s talk about the cards, because we have two MSRP-based cards here today, starting with the 4070 FE that frankly shocked us in the office. The sheer size of it was somewhat laughable, followed by a cute aww kind of reaction. It kept the design of the 4080 and 4090, but just shrunk it down, making it much more appealing to gamers out there who now no longer have to worry about whether it will fit in their case or not.

The design is simply stunning, and I’ve made my feelings pretty clear on that when we looked at the other Founders models in the stack, coupled with the fact that it’s the cheapest model in each range, it really makes it more difficult than ever for AIB partners to upsell their own products.

If you’ve seen a 40 series Founders card before, there’s nothing new here, other than the sheer size of it being so small in comparison to the 4080 and 4090, coming in at 242mm long, 110mm high and 40mm wide, meaning that it will take up 2 expansion slots in your case.

For me, the smaller design is a great move and is likely due to the lower power constraints, that NVIDIA were able to cut things down so dramatically, and as long as the performance is there, it should pay off.

Due to its size, it also means that it only weighs a very light 1170g so no real issues with GPU sag too and thanks to that gorgeous design, mounting it horizontally or vertically will simply look amazing inside any system, including smaller form factor builds too.

One interesting thing is that even though it has such a low TGP, it still includes a single 12VHPWR connector, which I’m ok with, as it does allow for a cleaner installation inside your system.

The cooler is typical of what we’ve come to expect from NVIDIA. The cover comes off, and is held in by screws that split the plastic shroud and the main large heatsink and is still a thing of beauty with some of the best engineering I’ve seen on a graphics card and along with the 4 screws holding the IO bracket in place is one of the easiest cards to take apart.

The fans are connected by flat ribbon cables and everything just feels premium overall.

The PCB is what we’ve come to expect from a Founders card and a simple 6-phase design for the GPU is in place, along with a further two phases for the GDDR6X memory. Nothing overkill, but somewhat sufficient for the power we’re expecting to be delivered.