NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4070 Ti May Not Cost The Same As The Unlaunched 4080 12GB
At this point, it's widely assumed by practically everyone that NVIDIA will unveil a GeForce RTX 4070 Ti graphics card soon, which we anticipate being the big reveal during its GeForce Beyond at CES 2023 event next week. The question isn't so much if or even when NVIDIA will announce the upcoming SKU, but at what price point. It now seems that has been answered.
Earlier this week, we wrote about the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti showing up in the retail channel in China for a familiar price, that being the same as the unlaunched GeForce RTX 4080 12GB. This reinforced speculation that it would debut at $899 in the US, the same as the GeForce RTX 4080 12GB before it was canceled and ultimately (presumably) rebadged as the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti.
That has never been a foregone conclusion, though, for a couple of reasons. For one, the card doesn't officially exist yet, and by extension, neither does its MSRP. And secondly, some have criticized the price point of the GeForce RTX 4080 16GB, which starts at $1,199.
Looking around various retail outlets, it doesn't appear as though the GeForce RTX 4080 16GB is flying off of store shelves—the Founders Edition is in stock at Best Buy at that price. The same can't be said for the GeForce RTX 4090, which starts at $1,599 and is sold out everywhere at that price. It's tough to even find one selling for less than $2,000.
The comparatively lukewarm response to the GeForce RTX 4080 16GB could impact NVIDIA's decision on where to price the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. Not only could, but evidently has, according to multiple leakers. The folks at WCCFTech say they've been informed by multiple sources claiming "they received a last minute update from big green with what appears to be a pre-launch price drop" to $799 for the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, instead of $899 as originally planned.
Likewise, Moore's Law Is Dead is saying the same thing, with the caveat that NVIDIA could change its mind at the final hour. Additionally, he says to expect NVIDIA's add-in board partners to "charge well over MSRP" if the upcoming card's pricing does up being $799, or close to it.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang is known for throwing last-minute curve balls, so we wouldn't bet the farm on the $799 MSRP being accurate. At the same time, pricing the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti at $799 would it make it a more compelling purchase compared to AMD's flagship Radeon RX 7900 RTX, which starts at $999. Then again, NVIDIA could lean on the GeForce RTX 40 series generally offering better real-time ray tracing performance than the Radeon RX 7000 series, so again, we're not making any bets.
