The RTX Super 4070 is said to have fewer CUDA Cores than the RTX 5070.

The next rung in the rumoured Nvidia RTX50 family of graphics cards is revealed just a few days after the alleged RTX5070 Ti GPU. The RTX-5070 is the plain vanilla version, and could be a worryingly little step forward if the new "leak" proves to be accurate.

Benchlife (via Videocardz) reports that the RTX-5070 will have 6,400 CUDA Cores. This is a far cry from the 8,960 cores rumoured for RTX-5070 Ti. It's also worth noting that it has just 9% more CUDA Cores than the RTX 4070, and even fewer than the RTX 4070 Super which has 7,168.

There is more to GPU performance that core count. You can expect clock speed to increase a bit, thanks to the switch from TSMC N5 silicon to a revised node of the Blackwell architecture. This will be the basis for all GPUs in RTX 50's lineup.

It is important to note that N4 isn't a completely new node in comparison to N5, but rather an improvement. Nvidia would need to upgrade to N3 to achieve this. It may not be realistic for us to expect a big jump in frequencies.

The new 5070 will reportedly have a board power rating of 250 W. This is a big step up from the 200 W of 4070. We'll have to wait and see what the clock speeds are and cross our fingers that they're a good chunk higher.

Architecture is another important factor. It could turn out that Blackwell technology in the RTX 5070 will be more efficient than Ada Lovelace in the RTX 4070, and even the 4070 Super. Blackwell could do more work in a clock cycle. The RT cores, which are used for ray tracing, and the Tensor Cores for AI may be given a big boost. The RT 4070 will not have the same CUDA cores or broader performance per unit as the RTX 4070 or 4070 Super.

If these rumours were true, the difference between the RTX 3070 and the RTX 3070 Ti was only 4%. The gap between the RTX 3070 and the RTX 3070 was only 4%. Now, it's supposed to be 40%. This only adds to the impression that this 70-series board is a weak one.

The good news is that Intel could now be competitive with the RTX 5070. Intel's Battlemage GPU, which is the top of its second generation Arc gaming graphics card lineup, could be aimed at RTX 5070 Super performance.

If it can achieve that, it could be as fast or even faster than the RTX-5070. In other words, Nvidia’s failure to improve the game at the '70s level could lead to a more competitive market for mid-range GPUs this time.

AMD is also focusing all its efforts on mid-range GPUs for the next-generation RDNA 4 GPUs. There's a possibility of a mid-range price war in the new year. It's a tiny chance, but it is there. It's a small chance, but it's a chance.