The rumoured Nvidia RTX4070 GPU with cheapo GDDR6 RAM is now official

We previously reported on the possibility of Nvidia releasing a revised version its popular RTX 4000-graphics chipset, with GDDR6 slower and cheaper memory. Nvidia has officially announced it.

Nick explained that the shortage of GDDR6X graphics RAM, which is used by the RTX 4070, is the likely cause. Nvidia's announcement confirms this.

"To improve supply, we're introducing a GeForce RTX 4070 featuring extra-fast GDDR6 Memory," Nvidia stated in a conspicuously brief entry at the bottom of a Tom's Hardware blog post that was mainly about the release a new Game Ready Driver with optimizations for Black Myth Wukong and Star Wars Outlaws.

You're probably wondering immediately what impact the switch to GDDR6, which is ostensibly lower-spec and cheaper, will have. If GDDR6 was perfectly fine for the RTX4070, why wouldn't Nvidia specify that memory right away?

Nvidia doesn't provide many details, other than describing the GDDR6 memory as "extra-fast". For now, Nvidia is only saying that "all other specs remain the exact same" when it comes the revised RTX-4070 with GDDR6. It offers similar performance for games and applications."

All third-party models and the OG Founders Edition RTX4070 have 12 GB Micron GDDR6X clocked to 21 Gbps. Samsung, for example, sells GDDR6 at 20 Gbps. If Nvidia had chosen that particular brand and spec, the total memory bandwidth would drop from 504 GB/s to 480 GB/s.

This is a drop of only 5%. Would this affect frame rates? Frame rates would be affected, but not directly. The impact is likely to be in the low single digit percentiles. You wouldn't feel it at all, in other words.

It's important to note that every little bit helps when it comes down to frame rates, and it's not exactly good news that RTX 4070 specs are being reduced. It's not clear if the new 4070 is an upgrade to the 4070 or if it completely replaces it.

Nvidia also does not mention the shady matter of money. We don't know whether this purported "downgrade", if true, will save you money. Even if Nvidia does not lower the price of this revision, if GDDR6X is replaced by GDDR6, then the RTX 4070 will be available in greater numbers. This should push the real-world prices down.

Overall, we believe that this change will have little or no impact on your real-world gaming. If this change lowers prices, it is probably a good thing.

If the price doesn't change, we'd prefer to get an RTX4070 with GDDR6X if possible. It's not pleasant to think that you're paying 500 dollars for something that's been compromised because of cost-cutting.

Nvidia has confirmed that the new RTX variant, regardless of price or VRAM speed will be available by September. If you plan to buy an RTX-4070 in the near future, be sure to keep a close eye on the VRAM specifications so you know what you are getting.