OPINION: Many gadgets the world over offer up silly names, from the wildly popular iPhone 15 Pro Max to the misjudged Nintendo Wii U. Nvidia looks to be adding another item to the pile, but it’s worth looking past the first impression.
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti – already a mouthful without ‘Super’ attached – was by no means a bad card, gaining a 4-star review from us and middling to strong reviews elsewhere. However, it was largely an incremental upgrade to upon its RTX 3070 Ti predecessor, with a high price. As such, it doesn’t offer the pull and excitement to draw waves of users into upgrading, but an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super might just grab those who were underwhelmed.
That feeling brought on by the RTX 4070 might be exactly why Nvidia is choosing to bring the “Super” range back, having left it out entirely from the 30-series. The aim would surely be, as it often is for manufacturers, to entice those still in older generations to make the leap. Just look at Apple. During its recent Scary Fast event, I was crying out for comparisons between its more recent M2 series and the new M3 series, but the company was focused on luring those still using Intel or M1 Macs to make the jump.
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The rumours swirling around the ether are suggesting that a new RTX 4070 Ti Super, alongside other potential launches like an RTX 4080 Super and RTX 4070 Super, could be unveiled at CES 2024. The suggestion comes from reliable leaker of Nvidia-related tidbits, Kopite7kimi (via VideoCardz).
There have also been murmurings surrounding how the new Ti Super naming convention will be presented physically, and it isn’t in the most exciting fashion.
Putting the awkward naming and unsightly branding aside, I’m interested in the potential performance and value for money on offer. According to what Kopite7kimi claims, the RTX 4070 Ti Super may well sport a 10% increase in the CUDA Cores available on the current RTX 4070 Ti as well as a boost to the memory bus, from 192-bit up to 256-bit. These additions could represent a solid boost in performance from the 30-series, not to mention on top of what the RTX 4070 Ti already offers. As such, the RTX 4070 Ti Super could become the upgrade to finally entice users of those old components.
However, the true pull will come in the price. The current RTX 4070 Ti comes in at around £750-£900 depending on the brand and memory option you go with. By comparison, its RTX 3070 Ti predecessor has a starting point of around £600, making it quite the leap between generations. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely the RTX 4070 Ti Super would come in at a lower price than what the 4070 Ti is now, but from what the rumours tell us, the introduction of a lower tier RTX 4070 Super could pave the way for the new Ti Super model to replace the regular model and dodging a price increase in the process. Plus there’s always a chance that the regular RTX 4070 Ti gets a price cut, but we can only hope.
On the other hand, Nvidia may have no intention of hurting the already middling value proposition of the RTX 4070 Ti and that could mean the potential RTX 4070 Ti Super might come in at around £1,000 (a hefty ask indeed). The RTX 4070 Ti Super represents an opportunity for Nvidia to course correct, making its cards a more appealing value-for-money proposition – let’s hope the company doesn’t waste it.
