NVIDIA RTX 5070 reviews are in, and the reception for the delayed midrange graphics card is much more negative than I expected.
With the official launch date set as March 5, 2025, a day ahead of AMD's competing Radeon RX 9000 launch, it's clear that NVIDIA wanted to get information about the new card before Team Red could make its debut.
That strategy, however, has seemingly backfired, with negative reviews piling up for the $549 GPU that NVIDIA promised could perform at the same level as an RTX 4090.
At this point, after weeks of negative press surrounding NVIDIA's iffy performance claims, extreme stock shortages, missing ROPs, melting power cables, and faulty drivers — am I missing anything? — many were expecting the RTX 5070 to fall flat.
And indeed, most reviews make it seem like NVIDIA saved the worst for last.
Here's a roundup of RTX 5070 opinions from around the internet to give you a clear idea of what to expect when the GPU launches on March 5.
- Tom's Hardware (80%): "If the RTX 5070 is available at its MSRP, it's a modest generational upgrade that we would happily recommend. That's about the best we can say or hope for. We'll discuss tomorrow how it stacks up against AMD's RX 9070 that has the same $549 MSRP. In normal times, there would be heated debates about which one is better, whether DLSS beats FSR, and if AMD or Nvidia makes better drivers. The winner this round, however, is going to be the company that produces more GPUs to sell to consumers."
- PC Gamer (61%): "At this price, and with this competition looming large, I just don't know how I can recommend the RTX 5070 as a genuine purchase for any PC gamer without major caveats. The GPU at its heart feels like it should be the basis for an RTX 5060 and now the rest of market might just force that upon Nvidia."
- The Verge: "It’s about 20 percent faster than the RTX 4070 and a bare 4 percent faster than last year’s RTX 4070 Super. It’s a solid card for 1440p gaming, just like the RTX 4070, but as with the rest of the 50-series cards, Nvidia’s performance claims rely on Frame Generation rather than meaningful improvements to rendering."
- Eurogamer: "However, in the real world where the RTX 4070 Super will be (sparingly) available for less money, the argument here is relatively meagre. There are performance regressions versus the 4070 Super in a handful of games, frame generation requires more judicious settings choices to ensure playable latency, and of course we can't forget that AMD's RX 9070 and 9070 XT are set to arrive very soon indeed - with potentially much greater price to performance ratios."
- PCWorld (50%): "Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 5070 offers no performance increase over its predecessor, and the 12GB memory capacity is too skimpy for a $550 graphics card in 2025. It’s still a solid 1440p graphics card, and DLSS 4’s Multi-Frame Gen delivers transformative visual smoothness in supported games."
- TechPowerUp: "While the RTX 5070 is definitely a great card for 1440p, it's a little bit weak for 4K gaming without upscaling, that's why we recommend the card for a resolution of 1440p, especially when you consider that future games will have higher hardware requirements."
- Hardware Unboxed: "I'm personally not a fan of the GeForce RTX 5070. It's a compromised product that will struggle to leverage the RTX feature set due to its limited 12GB VRAM buffer. Although that may not be a significant issue right now, I expect it will be within the realistic lifespan of this product."
- Hardware Canucks: "I know what some people are going to be saying. They're going to be saying, 'Hey, you know what? The RTX 5070 ... it is nothing more than a slightly overclocked 4070 Super,' and I'd actually argue against that. I would say that because of its current positioning, where it is actually beaten by that [RTX 4070] Super in a bunch of situations, this thing isn't even that."
- Gamers Nexus: "NVIDIA is selling lies, and reviewers shouldn't be afraid to mince words about it. That is precisely what the RTX 5080 is. It is marketed on the back of lies. [...] That's right. NVIDIA says that AI can make a 5070, which has 12GB of VRAM, equal a 4090, which has 24."
Should you buy an NVIDIA RTX 5070?
Despite the wave of negative and middling reviews, the RTX 5070 will undoubtedly sell out when it goes on sale on March 5. There's that much demand.
NVIDIA has struggled to provide retailers with more than the bare minimum of stock, and that's not expected to change with the 5070.
That might not be bad, especially since the GPU seems to be a miss.
Echoing most of the reviewers I've quoted here, I urge you to hold off on buying any of NVIDIA's cards until we see what AMD has cooked up with its Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070, set to launch on March 6.
If AMD can provide stock at or close to MSRP — and if performance claims turn out to be true — the RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 could prove to be a far better investment.
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