Gainward GeForce RTX 4070

The Gainward Panther Edition presents an interesting option for consumers if its price remains competitive. This graphics card boasts a highly effective cooling solution, though its lack of factory overclocking and power limiter adjustments are surprising. The absence of RGB elements is not an issue, as the card delivers impressively low noise levels, optimal temperatures, and a sleek black design. The package features the standard 8-pin PCIe PEG power connector. For video output, there are three DisplayPort and one HDMI options. The backplate sports a contemporary design. Additionally, you can enhance the card's performance by taking advantage of the games that support DLSS(3). It has to be stated, though, the founder edition card is the better one. It offers roughly the same performance but remains the more silent product. And if looks matter, you'll probably agree with me on that. This graphics card has plenty of oomph up to even Ultra HD gaming (especially with DLSS3 / Frame generation enabled) with the option for a mild overclock. The market for graphics cards is in dire need of high-performing products that cost less than $500. Our hope is that the card will not surpass a $599 price point, although a $50 premium may be inevitable due to the advanced cooling system. This makes the Panther a challenging choice, as its founder edition counterpart performs equally well, offers low noise levels, and includes an adjustable power limiter. It is unclear why Gainward did not incorporate this feature in the Panther. The Panther remains a top-tier WQHD graphics card with ray-tracing capabilities and DLSS3 support. With moderate overclocking potential, it boasts all the qualities of a high-performance enthusiastic graphics card. The Panther distinguishes itself with exceptional cooling and acoustic properties, making it an outstanding choice in terms of design. Although the default performance boost is 1~2 %, we endorse this card for those who prioritize quiet operation and an attractive appearance in their computer chassis.

Averaged over the 25 games in our test suite, at 1440p resolution, the Gainward Ghost ends up a tiny 2% slower than the NVIDIA RTX 4070 Founders Edition. This is the case for all cards tested today, they are all running slightly lower clocks than the FE, despite all having the same base and boost clock rating, with the same power limit. Binning does play a role in the clocks the NVIDIA Boost algorithm selects, so maybe NVIDIA is putting the best GPUs on the FE, while other AICs reserve those for their factory-overclocked models. Either way, these differences are negligible in daily use, there's no way you'll be able to notice such a tiny difference.