How is the RTX 3070 doing in 2025?
With the new RTX 50 series releasing, how will my four-year-old RTX 3070 handle things in 2025? Is it time for an upgrade, and will the 8GB VRAM hurt it in 2025? Let’s find out about this benchmark and analysis of the RTX 3070!
I have 17 games to benchmark, 5 Ray Traced Results, and one temperature test. These games will be tested at 1080p and 1440p, with cost and overall comparisons at the end.
I will compare 1080p v 1440p on the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 3070 Twin Edge.
Settings:
- CPU and GPU are stock, with no overclock.
- Games tested in Fullscreen.
- Vsync is off.
- Nvidia Low Latency is Off.
- Frame rate uncapped.
- Ray Tracing is Off.
- REBar is On.
- Nvidia Driver Tested on: 566.14.
- Latest Windows 10 Update 22H2.
- All Games are Benchmarked on a 3-game Average.
Test system(my system):
CPUs: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D – Stock
AIO: Arctic Liquid Freezer III 360mm
GPU: Zotac RTX 3070 Twin Edge LHR 8GB – Stock
SSD: Samsung 860 Evo 500GB (OS), Samsung 870 Evo 1TB(Games)
Ram: 32GB (4x 8gb) Patriot Viper CL18 DDR4 4000 (CL19-19-19-39)
Ram Cooler: Jonsbo NF-1 (Only used with Patriot Viper Kit)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Aorus Master B550
Case: Corsair 5000D Airflow
Power supply: Corsair RMx750 750W (Gold)
Fans: 3x Inwin Sirius Loop ASL120 120mm (Intake), 3x Fractal Design Prisma AL-12 120mm (Intake), 1x Silverstone Air Blazer 120R 120mm (Exhaust), 2x Random Corsair 120mm fans (Intake on bottom).
ZOTAC RTX 3070 Twin Edge LHR Specs:
- – Architecture: Ampere
- – Process Type: Samsung 8nm
- – Die Size: 392 mm²
- – Base Clock: 1500 MHz
- Boost Clock: 1725 MHz
- – Bus Interface: PCIe 4.0 x16
- – Memory Type: GDDR6 8GB
- Memory Bus: 256 bit
- Memory Speed: 14Gbps Bandwidth: 448.0 GB/s
- – Shading Units (CUDA): 5888
- – L2 Cache: 4 MB
- – TDP: 220W
- – Release Date: Sep 1st, 2020
- – MSRP: $499USD
- – Design: Dual Slot Length: 232MM
- – Output: 1x HDMI 2.1 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
From: https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/zotac-rtx-3070-twin-edge.b7936
Here is the video of the RTX 3070 benchmark:
Timestamps:
0:00 – 0:19 Intro
0:20 – 1:15 RTX 3070 Specs
1:16 – 2:32 System Specs and Testing Info
2:33 – 3:05 Assassins Creed Valhalla
3:06 – 3:30 A Plague Tale Requiem
3:31 – 3:50 Control
3:51 – 4:28 Call of Duty Black Ops 6 – TDM
4:29 – 4:59 Counter Strike 2
5:00 – 5:25 Cyberpunk 2077
5:26 – 6:07 Formula 1 2023
6:08 – 6:48 Forza Horizon 5
6:49 – 7:16 GTA V
7:17 -7:44 Hitman 3
7:45 – 8:22 Hogwarts Legacy
8:23 – 8:58 Horizon Zero Dawn
8:59 – 9:27 Jedi Survivor
9:28 – 9:57 Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024
9:58 – 10:38 Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart
10:38 – 11:15 Shadow of the Tomb Raider
11:16 – 11:48 The Callisto Protocol
11:49 – 12:27 1080p v 1440p Average FPS %Difference
12:28 – 13:01 1080p v 1440p 1% Lows %Difference
13:02 – 13:59 1080p All 17 Game Results
14:00 – 15:05 1440p All 17 Game Results
15:05 – 17:25 1080p RT 5 Games
17:26 – 20:00 VRAM Usage? – Lowest 5 Performing Games
20:01 – 21:31 Temp Test – RTX 3070, Warframe
21:31 – 23:40 Current $Pricing
23:41 – 25:34 $Cost per a frame
25:34 Final Thoughts
Graphs of the Games (Raster Results) – Hover to see the Names of Games (Note: please ignore the 5700X3D on the side as it was from another video 🙂 ):
Graphs of the Ray Traced Games (RT Results):
The ray-tracing performance is okay, but A Plague Tale Requiem was pretty unplayable. When panning the camera the game with freeze up and stutter. You can see this in the low 1% lows of this game. Even Ratchet and Clank (RAC RA) was underperforming somewhat for my liking. I still wouldn’t recommend RT on the RTX 3070, and this was on 1080p, which says a lot. Control was ok to play with and Cyberpunk2077 didn’t have path tracing on.
There isn’t anything stopping you from using DLSS or other upscaling to turn your texture quality down for a better frame rate.
Graphs of the Overall %Differences for Average FPS, Average 1% Lows and Overall FPS:
For %difference, it wasn’t surprising that the 1080p results were significantly better than the 1440p results, with 32% on average FPS and 26% on 1% lows. Only Counter Strike 2 was 15% in favor of 1440p, which is an outlier.
We can say that at 1080p, you can expect a high refresh rate for the majority of games.
At 1440p, most games should play at 60FPS on high settings, and you can turn down some settings for a higher frame rate or use DLSS.
Graphs of the VRAM % Usage:
As you can see here, the VRAM usage on these games was relatively high, but performance generally only took a hit on Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.
High VRAM usage is not bad, but when it starts to cause stutter or lag, such as in RT settings on A Plague Tale Requiem at 1080p, we have a problem. This card is likely to show more problems in terms of VRAM going forward in even newer titles, but you can accept at 1440p that you can get 60fps in a lot of today’s AAA titles. However, I would like to buy newer games so I can try them out. If GTA 6 comes out this year on PC I will buy it to benchmark on PC. 🙂
Graphs of the VRAM % Usage:
For the temperature test, I was in a game called Warframe for 1 hour (60 minutes) on a map called Mot, which is a survival game mode. This is a horde shooter, so you shoot everything in sight for the objective and survive as long as possible.
My case is the Corsair 5000D with 12 Case Fans, 6 intake, 3 exhaust through the radiator, 1 exhaust through the back of the case and 2 general fans on the bottom of the case pushing air upwards to the GPU and beyond. There is also a Ram cooler with two fans for localized Ram cooling.
The test was done for 60 minutes with the side panel On.
- On average the GPU Temp: 71.79°C
- Average Fan Speed: 2115RPM
- Average Power Consumption (Wattage): 219W
- Average Core Clock Speed: 1809Mhz
- Average Memory Clock: 1750Mhz
It’s not too bad on this card size with the dual fan design for the 71.79°C temp in 60 minutes.
Warframe isn’t too intensive in terms of VRAM usage, but as you can see, many textures and enemies require the GPU to be used above its max default boost clock speed, which is interesting.
Graphs of the Costs:
All categories here except the What I paid in November 2021 pricing excludes New Zealand GST Goods and Services Tax, which is 15%. This is known as VAT overseas. Shipping is not factored in either. (TradeMe is like eBay but for New Zealand)
All exchange rates were taken on 31 January 2025.
The pricing for the RTX 3070 is a bit high in New Zealand, and you should look at the 7700XT and RTX 3080 within the same price point.
New Zealand has a had time with pricing even in the 2nd hand market which is really apparent comparing it the TradeMe listings to the eBay listings.
It’s good to see that the 2nd hand pricing is down, but I will elaborate on what good pricing looks like below in my final thoughts.
The cost per frame is decent, and I am happy that it has dropped quite a bit since what I paid or the MSRP.
There is a $4.75 difference between the 1440p TradeMe and what I paid in November, which shows how much I overpaid.
It is great to see that there is a decent increase in value coming from the MSRP and if you are aiming at 1080p you could have a really good value card on your hands but only! for the right price…
Final Thoughts:
A good price point in USD is $ 254 USD, which the five eBay listings almost achieve. Compared to cards in this segment, such as the Intel Arc B580, RX 7600, or the RTX 4060, the RTX 3070 is cheaper and should perform better overall.
I believe the RTX 3070 is worth it secondhand if you can get it for below $450NZD or $253.88USD. That is where it should fall if you want to buy it at a competitive price. The 6700XT would be competing against it in the second-hand market. Regarding pricing against cards’ current cards, this segment has the 7600, Intel Arc B580, and the RTX 4060, which I believe the RTX 3070 is better value for money at below $ 254 USD. In New Zealand, I don’t think it’s worth it at the $650NZD average price point that I found on TradeMe, as at that price point, you could look towards a 7700XT brand new or an RTX 3080 second-hand if you get lucky. I’m not sure if this is global, but recently, there has been a wee bit of a shortage of GPUs in New Zealand, based on observation. So, options are a little bit limited.
It feels like the RTX 3070 in the secondhand market is targeted toward someone who wants a good 1080p card for games right now. 1440p would get you a decent experience, but don’t expect high refresh rate gaming.
Some Final Thoughts:
- The 8GB VRAM is limiting in some situations at 1080p, with Raytracing sometimes exceeding the 8 VRAM limit, which causes stuttering issues, such as in A Plague Tale Requiem.
- The RTX 3070 is worth it secondhand if you can get it for below $450NZD or $254USD.
- Regarding pricing against cards’ current cards, this segment has the 7600, Intel Arc B580, and the RTX 4060, which I believe the RTX 3070 is better value for money at below $ 254 USD.
- The RTX 3070 could be a solid buy for 1080p gamers for today’s games or people who want to play AAA games on 1440p at about 60FPS on high settings on most games.
YSTech: https://ystech.org
YSTech Article: https://ystech.org/rtx-3070-in-2025
-YS