The RTX 4070M is Slower Than the RTX 3070 Ti (Mobile)

It seems that the review embargo for NVIDIA’s RTX 4070M/RTX 4060M/RTX 4050M GPUs has just been lifted. Various reviewers have given their opinions about these new GPUs. However, the RTX 4070M has not received the most positive reaction from the community. In fact, it is much slower than the RTX 3070 Ti (Mobile) from Ampere which is quite concerning since the desktop RTX 4070 is just around the corner.

RTX 4070M Performance

Starting off, renowned YouTuber Hardware Unboxed states that the RTX 4070M is so ‘lackluster’ that they decided to cancel their review halfway through. Furthermore, this indicates that AD106 might not be as strong as people think. As per rumors, the RTX 4070 features the AD104 GPU similar to the RTX 4070 Ti, albeit a bit cut down.

Jarrod’s Tech published a review of the RTX 4070M and the performance is quite frankly, disappointing to say the least.

The tested laptops are the LEGION 5I PRO boasting the i7-12700H alongside the RTX 3070 Ti. On the other hand, we have the XMG NEO 16 with the i9-13900HX and the RTX 4070M. You can probably see the drastic difference between both processors. In spite of this, the RTX 4070M barely manages to be faster than its predecessor.

A power scaling test shows that the RTX 3070 Ti mobile is actually faster than the RTX 4070M at around 115W of power. The game used for this benchmark is Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 1440p using the highest preset.

Over a wide variety of games, the RTX 4070M at 1440p is actually 0.84% slower than the RTX 3070 Ti mobile. Do note that this result does not take into account the gains you will attain from NVIDIA’s FG (Frame Generation) technology. Even then, the pure raster performance is a total bloodbath for the 4070M.

If we move over to 1080p, the tide turns in favor of the RTX 4070M. The Lovelace based 4070M is 3.01% faster than the RTX 3070 Ti.

Frame Generation to the Rescue

Now, Ada Lovelace does come with its own set of benefits and one of them is Frame Generation. Using the DLSS Quality mode, the RTX 4070M is 72.57% faster than the 3070 Ti at 1080p and 53.17% faster at 1440p with FG turned on.

Even then, the GPU lacks severely in the raw performance department. One might say, what’s the better pick then? Well, the YouTuber has also plotted a price-to-performance chart for this very question.

The RTX 4070M costs much, much more per frame when put up against the 3070 Ti. The same trend follows at 1080p where the 4070M had a clear advantage over Ampere.

Frame Generations alleviates the situation by promising a modest increase in the price-to-performance ratio. Still, at 1440p, the 3070 Ti remains a better pick in this regard. 1080p does see the 4070M beat the 3070 Ti by a decent margin.

Conclusion

Whatever the case may be, reviewers and many enthusiasts did not expect such lackluster performance from this GPU. The RTX 4080M was almost 30% faster than the RTX 3080 Ti (mobile). Is the RTX 4070M under-speccedd? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.