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According to a recent leak, Nvidia is preparing three different versions of its long-awaited RTX 4070 graphics card, which vary by GPU video memory. It looks like we’ll be getting 10GB, 12GB and 16GB models of the card, but I’m not happy about that at all. Why not? Well, I’m the RTX 4080.
To a long story in short, Nvidia nailed the doggy big time with the unveiling of the RTX 4080. Originally, the card was announced alongside the mighty flagship RTX 4090and there would have been two flavours: a full-sized 16GB model and a cheaper 12GB model.
This was a bit sneaky on Nvidia’s part, because it wasn’t just now the memory that was different; the 12GB model actually had a completely different GPU at its core, and gamers quickly noticed. The subsequent uproar resulted in Nvidia pull out the RTX 4080 12GB completelyto eventually relaunch it as the most appropriate name RTX 4070Ti.
As a result of that debacle, I am concerned – and I am sure many others are – about the prospect of not two but three several RTX 4070s landing together. The leak came from the GPU manufacturer’s Gigabyte website, where a game bundle information page prematurely listed the three models, but specified only the VRAM differences: no news here on whether these cards will feature any other sneaky hidden differences.
Analysis: We really don’t need multiple versions of each GPU
Earlier this year, I made the point that AMD (and plenty of other computer technology manufacturers, to be fair) has overcrowded the market with an unnecessary and confusing number of variant products – in this case, GPUs with slight differences fighting for the same price range.
Nvidia makes the same mistake here. Even if only the memory differs between the three RTX 4070 variants, that’s still an unnecessary level of differentiation that alienates consumers and doesn’t really benefit anyone. That’s the best case scenario; at worst, it will be the RTX 4080 Saga Part 2, and everyone will get very mad at Nvidia again.
What makes this leak – if true, although I’m pretty sure it’s legit – all the worse is that the RTX 4070 is actually one of my most anticipated new-gen GPUs. The RTX 3070 has long been one of those best graphics cards on the market, with a great balance between price and performance, so its successor clearly has a high bar to meet. We even awarded it five stars our review back when it was first launched.
It’s also really weird that we might get a 16GB version of the RTX 4070, since there’s only one RTX 4070 Ti on the market right now and it has 12GB of VRAM. A less powerful GPU with more VRAM could serve some niche purposes, but it feels like an odd move by Nvidia.
In short, I really hope this leak was just a mistake by Gigabyte, and that we get a single RTX 4070 when it actually lands. A 10GB model seems most likely if this is the case, but I wouldn’t be upset if it included 12GB. Only time will tell – but as they say, those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it…