I can't say I'm surprised, but Nvidia's RTX 5070 leaked benchmark reveals up to 20% performance boost over RTX 4070

(Image credit: Nvidia)

New benchmarks suggest the RTX 5070 is up to 20% faster than the RTX 4070
It's set for launch on March 5, amid AMD's Radeon RX 9000 series launch preparation
Reports suggest the RTX 5070 won't face the same stock issues as its Blackwell counterparts

Nvidia's RTX 5000 series GPU lineup launch is seemingly nearing completion - since the desktop RTX 5060 hasn't been officially announced - with the RTX 5070 slated for release on March 5. However, we may already have a bit of insight into what this midrange GPU could bring to the table.

As reported by Wccftech, benchmark leaks reveal that the RTX 5070 will have up to 20% better performance than its predecessor, the RTX 4070. This conflicts with Nvidia's claims at CES 2025 that the RTX 5070 would be equivalent to the RTX 4090 in performance - notably, the RTX 5080 and 5070 Ti's uplifts over previous-gen GPUs were not significant enough to fully corroborate Team Green's other claims.

The RTX 4070 is a significantly weaker GPU compared to the RTX 4090, so the claims of the RTX 5070's performance were far-fetched, to say the least (even considering DLSS 4's impressive Multi Frame Generation feature). In terms of the direct comparison to its predecessor though, the uplift (if legitimate) could be a reasonable one - Wccftech highlighted the RTX 5070 scoring 187,414 in a Vulkan (a graphics API used in most AAA games) benchmark versus the RTX 4070's 156,601 points.

Is MFG a good reason for an upgrade?

The suggested generational performance uplift in Vulkan for the RTX 5070 sounds decent, but Team Green's Multi Frame Generation (MFG) has the potential to take this up a notch. I'm well aware of the criticism surrounding frame-generation software ("fake frames", I know) but since ghosting is significantly reduced with the new model, it's an addition that shouldn't be ignored.

DLSS 4's improvements for all RTX GPU users are enough for me to suggest sticking with your current GPU (if compatible) - DLSS 4's super-resolution performance mode in particular looks better if not equivalent to DLSS 3's quality mode in games, and you can still enjoy a steady frame rate.

If you already have an RTX 4000 series GPU (which has DLSS 3's regular Frame Generation, not MFG), you're likely better off sticking with it - it's also been revealed that some Blackwell GPUs are shipping with missing ROPs, an inconvenience I'd certainly want to avoid.

However, if you're still on an RTX 3000 series GPU, an upgrade to an RTX 5070 seems sensible enough based on these benchmark leaks. Its launch is right around the corner, and I'm hoping there aren't any major issues this time.