ASUS RTX 4070 Ti TUF Gaming OC 12GB

Where to Buy?

Stock and prices are all over the place, as one really expects from a new GPU these days, so it’s hard to nail down what you would actually have to pay right now. However, you can check for the latest stock and prices on Amazon here.

Overview

So some interesting points to take away, but let’s talk about pricing first and foremost. Now it’s always a tricky one as the 4070 Ti launched for $799, which is an improvement on the $899 that it was meant to launch for. That also equates to £799 in the UK, but as this is a custom AIB card, it does come in at £959 which while it did overclock like a beast, makes it a somewhat bitter pill to swallow. Furthermore, it’s actually £1001 on Amazon at the time of writing…

I made it clear with the $799 price tag, though it was nice to see the 4070 Ti coming in with a $100 price cut compared to when it was meant to be an RTX 4080, it’s still about $100 or so more expensive than it needs to be and that’s evident if you look back at the 20 series or even how things stack up against AMD, who also need $100 haircut on the 7900 XT to make it more palatable. While there is no Founders Edition 4070 Ti, there are reference cards, and even ASUS have cards that hit that mark, the extra markup on the TUF Gaming OC just doesn’t sit that well with me.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the design, the cooler, the overclocking headroom and generally what’s been done behind the scenes, but at its stock configuration, it loses out to a similar 4070 Ti from Gigabyte which while at the time of filming, I’m unaware of pricing, should be at least $50 cheaper, though I’m yet to test that in terms of overclocking, thermals and power so I may end up eating my words when we release our content on that. For the most part, though, I don’t think I’m wrong. I also don’t think ASUS are solely to blame for this, as with anything these days, profit margins are smaller than ever, and with other AIBs also coming in on various cards at these high prices, everyone is in the same boat. Obviously, if NVIDIA reduced their “reference spec” to $699, then this card would be sitting at around $850 which while it’s better, it’s still not great.

We conducted a poll just a few days ago, and while it was obvious that the majority was going to choose the cheapest option, it still shows that the $799 price tag is out of reach for most consumers, and higher than that for an AIB card is very much the same. The other issue here is that if the 4070 Ti is priced in this way, what will it mean for a more entry-level card like a 3060 Ti. Will we be expected to pay $700 or $600? It really is terrible. Couple that with the fact that this card does only have 12GB of VRAM, which makes it tricky when AMD’s 7000 series which is priced similarly, at least to this card, comes with much more.

Now if you are looking at buying a card like this, I think there are better choices, like the 7900 XTX, which while it’s still out of reach for most consumers, it really is the best value for the performance you get, especially if you can get one for that MSRP price and not pay extra for a fancy custom AIB overclocked card.

Should I Buy One?

Now, back to the ASUS TUF card, it really did show some strong performance when it came to cooling while remaining on the quiet side throughout, so if money is no object, while I can’t force your hand, you won’t be disappointed having it in your system, because it will get the job done well and will be silent at doing it, though you might not have any money left to buy any new games to play on it. A tricky decision to make right?

Either way, the 4070 Ti was a card that was meant to be something else, so if it can change once, and be discounted by $100, maybe NVIDIA can take a further hit and do the same again. Double or nothing? Because I fear, if they don’t, they might not sell many, and that makes it even harder for AIBs like ASUS to make money too.

What do you think? Can you think of something else you’d rather spend close to $1000 or £1000 on? I know I can, so let me know in the comments section below.