Is the RTX 4070 good for ray tracing?

For those wondering if the newly released RTX 4070 is any good for ray tracing, don’t worry. We’ve got you covered.

As the latest addition to the Nvidia 40 series family, and the most budget-friendly access point to Lovelace architecture for many gamers, it’s no wonder many people are interested in the performance capabilities of the 4070. Key among those are ray tracing.

Ray tracing has made leaps and bounds in the past few years. Cyberpunk 2077’s ‘Overdrive’ ray tracing update is a particularly noteworthy example. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find an AAA game these days that hadn’t put a lot of effort into their ray tracing. While this is good news for graphics as a whole, it does mean that it seems gamers are needing to keep up-to-date with the latest tech more and more. If that’s why you’re here, here’s where you can buy the 4070:

Amazon US

1. Amazon US
2.  PNY GeForce RTX 4070 12GB XLR8 Gaming VERTO EPIC-X RGB
3.  Gigabyte AORUS GeForce RTX 4070 Master 12G Graphics Card
4.  PNY GeForce RTX 4070 12GB Verto Dual Fan Graphics Card DLSS 3

Best Buy

• Best Buy
•  Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 12GB GDDR6X
•  ASUS Nvidia RTX 4070 12GB GDDR6X
•  GIGABYTE – NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 WINDFORCE OC 12G GDDR6X
•  MSI – NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 12GB VENTUS 3X 12GB DDR6X PCI Express 4.0 Graphics Card
•  ASUS – NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Overclock 12GB GDDR6X PCI Express 4.0 Graphics Card
•  ASUS – NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Overclock 12GB GDDR6X PCI Express 4.0 Graphics Card
•  GIGABYTE – NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 EAGLE OC 12G GDDR6X PCI Express 4.0 Graphics Card – Black
•  MSI – NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 12GB VENTUS 3X OC 12GB DDR6X PCI Express 4.0 Graphics Card
•  GIGABYTE – NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 GAMING OC 12G GDDR6X PCI Express 4.0 Graphics Card – Black

Newegg

• Newegg (in stock)

But, is the 4070 good for ray tracing?

Let’s get into it.

Is the RTX 4070 good at ray tracing?

In short, yes. The RTX 4070 is very good for ray tracing. To be honest, it was always going to be, given that it’s got Ada Lovelace architecture. That combined with the 4070’s third generation ray tracing cores and it’s a match made in heaven.

Some people may be wondering at this point – ah, well the visuals may look good, but how does that ray tracing capability impact the fps? We are very happy to point those naysayers to the 4070s DLSS 3 capabilities (another Lovelace perk). DLSS 3 uses AI to render images at lower resolution up to higher resolution while maintaining the FPS by slotting that AI rendered image in between frames. This allows for an overall maintained high quality image without the fps problems caused by brute-force rendering every frame up to high resolution.

For the full 4070 specs head (not just the ray tracing zoom in!) head on over to our break-down of the performance capabilities of this new GPU. And, if you were wondering about this GPUs capabilities because you’re considering purchasing an RTX 4070, make sure to check out other similar range GPU’s to make sure the 4070 is the best option for you.

To get you started with that search we’d done a few comparisons that might help. Maybe start with looking into the RTX 4070 vs RTX 4070 Ti, the RTX 4070 vs RTX 3070, and the RTX 4070 vs RX 7900 XT, to get a general lay of the land!

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the RTX 4070 better than the RTX 3080 at ray tracing?

Yes, due to the improved third generation ray tracing cores, the RTX 4070 is better then the RTX 3080 on average at ray tracing.

What is the best RTX for ray tracing?

The most advanced Nvidia RTX out at the time of writing is the RTX 4090. However, all GPUs in the Nvidia 40 series have Ada Lovelace architecture and third generation ray tracing cores, making them all formidable options for ray tracing.