Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Founders Edition Review: $549 Blackwell goodness under imminent threat from AMD RDNA 4

Update 03/05: Given that the RTX 5070 FE will not be available until late March according to Nvidia, we are temporarily pausing the Editor's choice award for this card pending further availability at MSRP.

From melting connectors rearing their head again to defective chips with missing hardware to anemic supplies and inflated prices due to scalping, the RTX 50 series launch has been anything but stellar. Nevertheless, the arrival of the RTX 5070 provides one more chance for Nvidia to course correct itself.

Nvidia's plans for an RTX 5060 or an RTX 5050 down the line are unclear at this point, but the RTX 5070 is currently the gateway into everything that Blackwell aims to offer.

Performance-wise, the RTX 5070 manages to outperform the RTX 4070 Ti in synthetic benchmarks despite a 20% deficiency in CUDA cores.

Gaming, however, is a mixed bag. While there are titles that favor the RTX 5070's memory enhancements, the RTX 4070 Ti tends to have a miniscule advantage overall. 

The real kicker, though, is support for DLSS 4 multi-frame generation. Nvidia's bold claims of performance comparable to the RTX 4090 hold some truth, but this comes with a big asterisk.

Let's be honest. A gimped Blackwell GPU can never match a near-complete Ada die's raw performance. That being said, the RTX 5070 can make good use of MFG in the pitiful of games that support it, latency concerns notwithstanding.

Though an entry-level card, the RTX 5070 FE doesn't disappoint when it comes to the basics. Its build quality is top-notch, the emissions are largely under control save for the occasionally loud fans, and the power efficiency gains compared to top Nvidia and AMD offerings are quite palpable.

However, it won't be a cakewalk for Nvidia with the impending RDNA 4 Radeon RX 9070 XT and the RX 9070 launches, particularly with the RX 9070 also being priced at $549. This becomes especially concerning given the fact the RTX 5070 offers just 12 GB of VRAM, which pales in comparison to the 16 GB on offer from the competition.

From a purely performance standpoint, the RTX 5070 should have no qualms in finding a good number of gamers who mainly need a capable 1080p or 1440p Ultra GPU.

However, Nvidia needs to get both stock availability and the pricing right in order to prevent potential customers from gravitating towards Team Red.

This is why competition is good.

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Founders Edition is officially priced at $549 MSRP and will be available (hopefully) along with similarly priced AiB models from tomorrow.

In India, the RTX 5070 FE will set you back by ₹60,000, but good luck finding it at your local retailer.

Nvidia's Blackwell generation of GPUs, the GeForce RTX 5090, RTX 5080, and the RTX 5070 Ti, have seen tumultuous reception so far. We are now at the launch of the entry-level Blackwell GPU, the RTX 5070.

The RTX 5070 is pegged as the gateway to all the goodness that the Blackwell generation offers including GDDR7 memory, multi-frame generation, FP4 quantization, and NVENC enhancements.

Unlike the RTX 5070 Ti, which is only available via Nvidia's add-in board (AiB) partners, the RTX 5070 comes in a Founders Edition (FE) variant, which we're reviewing today. The FE card and a slew of AiB models priced both at and above MSRP will also be available from tomorrow.

Priced at $549, the RTX 5070 FE is $50 cheaper than the RTX 4070's launch MSRP. Nvidia raised several eyebrows during its CES 2025 keynote claiming by a neat sleight of hand that the $549 RTX 5070 offers comparable performance to that of a $1,599 RTX 4090.

In this review, we take a look at the RTX 5070 Founders Edition and see how it stacks up against the Blackwell and Ada offerings we've tested so far.

Our test bench to evaluate the RTX 5070 FE's performance is made of the following components:

• Cooler Master MasterFrame 700 open test bench
• Intel Core i9-14900K with Intel Extreme profile set in the BIOS
• Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Master motherboard
• Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus Gen4 2 TB NVMe SSD and 2x Crucial MX500 1 TB SATA SSDs for OS, benchmarks, and games
• 2x 16 GB Kingston Fury Renegade DDR5-6400 RAM with timings 32-39-39-80 at 1.40 V
• Alienware AW3225QF 4K 240 Hz QD-OLED monitor
• Thermaltake TH420 V2 Ultra EX ARGB AiO cooler
• Cooler Master MVE Gold V2 1250 ATX 3.0 fully modular PSU

Windows 11 24H2 with the latest patches, together with Nvidia Game Ready Driver version 572.50 issued to the press was used.

We would like to thank Cooler Master for supplying the test bench and PSU, Gigabyte for the motherboard, Sabrent for the SSD, Thermaltake for the AiO cooler, Kingston for the DDR5 memory kit, Dell for the QD-OLED monitor, and finally Nvidia for the RTX 5070 FE.

The RTX 5070 FE manages to slightly outperform the Gigabyte Aorus GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Master by 4% in cumulative synthetic benchmarks despite featuring 20% fewer CUDA cores. The MSI GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16G Ventus 3X OC is ahead of the RTX 5070 FE by a significant 21%.

On the other hand, the RTX 4070 Ti's higher core count gives it a similar advantage in specific tests like 3DMark Port Royal, Steel Nomad, and Time Spy Graphics.

Unigine benchmarks see better gains for the RTX 5070 FE over the RTX 4070 Ti with up to 12% and 7% leads in Unigine Valley Extreme HD and Superposition 8K Optimized tests, respectively.

The RTX 5070 FE is right on the heels of the Radeon RX 7900 XT when it comes to AI inferencing and token generation in MLPerf. AMD cards have had traditional drawbacks in V-Ray, so the RTX 5070 FE's leads over both the Radeon RX 7900 XT and the RX 7900 XTX isn't surprising.

While the RTX 5070 FE shows decent improvements over the RTX 4070 Ti in MLPerf, V-Ray, and LuxMark, the latter has considerable advantages in Blender and ComputeMark.

The RTX 5070 Founders Edition is primarily a 1440p gaming GPU and as such can struggle with hitting the 60 fps sweet spot at 4K Ultra in modern AAA titles.

That being said, cumulative 4K Ultra raster gaming performance is on par with that of the RX 7900 XT.

The benefits vis-à-vis the RTX 4070 Ti in synthetic tests do not translate into 4K gaming, with the RTX 4070 Ti posting as high as 20% leads over the RTX 5070 FE in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora at 4K Ultra.

However, the RTX 5070 FE manages to either closes the gap or edge past the RTX 4070 Ti in titles like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Black Myth: Wukong, and Cyberpunk 2077 2.2 Phantom Liberty.

This trend is also evident in cumulative 1080p and 2K Ultra benchmarks, where the RTX 4070 Ti establishes a noticeable advantage over the RTX 5070 FE.