Nvidia’s latest RTX 50-series GPUs have been coming thick and fast (we’ve had the RTX 5090, RTX 5080 and RTX 5070 Ti launch in quick succession) – and they’ve been selling out just as quickly – but for many people, the upcoming RTX 5070 will be the most exciting release of the current Blackwell generation.
The main reason for this is that while the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 are both some of the best GPUs money can buy (if there’s stock) right now, they are also high-end cards aimed at enthusiasts, so they come with high price tags.
Meanwhile, the Nvidia RTX 5070 is set to launch at a more affordable $549 / £549 (around AU$880), which as my colleague Christian Guyton points out, is cheaper than the price its predecessor, the RTX 4070, launched at ($599 / £589 / AU$1,109).
This lower price instantly makes the RTX 5070 a more appealing purchase to a wider audience, and it’s especially compelling for people who can’t afford (or need) the RTX 5090 or RTX 5080.
Another exciting factor is that because the RTX 5070 is using the same Blackwell architecture as its more expensive brethren, it’s able to make use of advanced tech, such as Multi Frame Generation (MFG), which along with DLSS 4, could mean the mid-range RTX 5070 ends up punching well above its weight when it comes to performance.
I was particularly excited to test out these features with the RTX 5070, as I found enabling them on the already ultra-powerful RTX 5090 brought seriously impressive, if slightly excessive, results. Hitting over 300fps in Cyberpunk 2077 with all graphical settings set to their highest levels was a real highlight.
However, while the advantages of DLSS and MFG offer icing on an already very powerful cake (OK, not the best analogy there, but stick with me) when used with an RTX 5090, their most exciting potential lies with less powerful, more affordable, GPUs like the RTX 5070.
With these, rather than allowing you to hit framerates worth bragging about (but which you might not really notice in day-to-day gaming), DLSS and MFG are instead closing the performance and quality gap with more expensive cards, and can make intensive graphical settings – such as ray tracing lighting effects – available to gamers who can’t afford the high-end models.
Size matters
Before getting into the games themselves, I needed to first install the RTX 5070 in a PC – though it was one of the easiest GPU installs I’ve done for a long time, mainly due to the size of the Founder’s Edition.
The previous generation of high-end Nvidia GPUs got me used to (but not happy about) huge GPUs. Thankfully that seems to have been reversed this gen, with RTX 50 series GPUs being much smaller than their predecessors.
The RTX 5090 is the best example of this. My RTX 4090 is a gigantic bit of tech, taking up 3.5 PCIe slots (just in size, it’s only plugged into a single PCIe slot of the motherboard), and needing to be held up with a GPU support within the PC.
Installing it in even a large chassis can be very tricky, and its size means upgrading other components can be frustrating.
The RTX 5090, in contrast, is almost half the width, taking up two PCIe slots, a more traditional GPU size, and doesn’t need a GPU support – instantly making it easier to install, and it also means it can be installed in a small form factor (SFF) PC – something you could never do with the 4090.
The RTX 5070 FE is even more compact, and its size was particularly noticeable when I installed it in a PC that had an RTX 4080 FE installed. The older GPU is another big beast of a graphics card, so replacing it with the Nvidia RTX 5070 FE meant the insides of the PC weren’t so cramped – not only does it look neater, but crucially it means better airflow within the computer, so components can run cooler for longer.
Another element that made the swap easy was that the RTX 5070 FE comes with a 16-pin power connection – so I was able to plug in the 16-pin power cable that had been plugged into the RTX 4080 FE. It only took a few minutes to swap the GPUs.
If you don’t already have a 16-pin power connector, the RTX 5070 FE comes with an adaptor that attaches to two standard 8-pin adaptors. Most modern PSUs will come with a 16-pin cable, which will reduce the clutter in your PC’s case.
Playing the games
With the RTX 5070 quickly fitted, and early drivers installed, I dived into some games. Due to embargo restrictions with this early look, I was limited to certain games – but the good news is that a few were ones I’d usually play and use to test GPUs.
First up was Cyberpunk 2077. Despite the game being five years old (how did that happen?!), it is still a graphical showcase, mainly thanks to the constant work developer CD Projekt RED has done on the title throughout the years. It is also often one of the first titles to get support for Nvidia’s latest tech, which is the case here.
With DLSS 4 turned on, and MFG set to ‘x4’, which means three frames are generated by AI for every one frame that’s rendered by the GPU for higher framerates, running at 1440p with ray tracing set to Ultra, the game looked great and ran smoothly. Even during high-speed chases where I was racing through Night City while blasting enemies, there wasn’t the slightest pause – an impressive feat for a GPU that’s cheaper than a PS5 Pro (which launched at $699.99 / £699.99 / AU$1,199).
I mention Sony’s console as usually when you compare a gaming PC’s performance to a games console, it almost always comes with the caveat that while a PC offers much better performance, it also costs a lot more.
With the RTX 5070, that argument isn’t quite as convincing, as the price difference shouldn’t be so stark – yet the performance difference will be clear. And, if you already have a gaming PC and are weighing up a new GPU upgrade or a PS5 Pro, the RTX 5070 looks like it could be the best choice when it comes to both performance and value.
While I can’t go into specifics (you’ll need to wait for our full Nvidia RTX 5070 review for that), the frame rates I was getting in Cyberpunk 2077 were very impressive – we’re talking in the high 200s, something a *70 series card wouldn’t have hoped to have hit a few years ago.
It also shows that there’s plenty of headroom, so you could increase certain graphics settings and effects, such as increase the resolution, and while the frame rates will drop, and gameplay will still be smooth and responsive.
As is usually the case with mid-range GPUs, a bit of tweaking can work wonders and help you maximize performance and graphical quality – and it looks like DLSS 4 and MFG will give you more leeway.
I had a similar experience playing Hogwarts Legacy, again with DLSS 4 and MFG set to 4x. With graphical settings set to Ultra, including ray tracing and running at 1440p, the graphically-ambitious game again felt impressively smooth while playing, even in open environments. While I usually play at 4K (or even at 8K sometimes), 1440p is a very popular resolution, especially for people who the RTX 5070 is aimed at, so it’s very reassuring that the GPU looks like it performs very well at that resolution.
From my time doing early gameplay tests with the RTX 5070, it looks like the GPU could also be a good 4K GPU as well. I played Avowed, the recent release from RPG legends Obsidian, at 4K and with its highest graphical settings applied – including ray tracing.
Avowed doesn’t currently offer DLSS 4 and MFG within the game settings – but I was able to easily enable them through the Nvidia app. As well as adding these features to games that don’t natively support them – which is a massive bonus already, as it means you shouldn’t have to wait for certain games to get DLSS 4 and MFG support – the app can also automatically set the best graphical options for the game based on your hardware, and lets you keep your drivers up to date.
While I, like many PC gamers, prefer to personally tinker with settings to get the best results, it’s a useful tool for people who are less comfortable with changing various settings, and just want to get on and play a game.
The results were again very impressive, with some great-looking environments and once again completely smooth gameplay. During a melee combat fight, where timing is everything, the game ran brilliantly. Again, I felt like I was getting the kind of quality and performance that I’d usually get from a much more powerful, and expensive, card.
Final thoughts
Based on my early time with the RTX 5070 FE, along with the $549 / £549 price tag, I think this is an exciting GPU that will hopefully make modern PC gaming more accessible to people who don’t have the budget for a high-end GPU.
It should also help disprove PC gaming’s reputation for being elitist and expensive – and could tempt console owners to make the switch, thanks to the more affordable price and the handy one-click optimizations the Nvidia app offers.
AMD, Nvidia’s main GPU competitor, is also set to launch new graphics cards soon, and will again mainly be targeting the mid-range market. The idea of the two GPU giants going head to head to win over budget-conscious gamers, rather than having a simple arms race that values pure performance over anything, price tags be damned, means that 2025 is shaping up to be an incredibly exciting year for PC gamers.
Make sure you check out our full review of the RTX 5070 later this month, as we’ll be really digging into the kind of performance you should expect from this GPU and comparing it with similar cards. But for now, it’s certainly looking promising.
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