Key Points
- Our choice for the #1 Best Overall upgrade from the GTX 1070 Ti is the GeForce RTX 4090 because it delivers the largest performance increase and it’s the best graphics card on the market.
- With a new graphics card, you can enjoy next-gen features such as DLSS, ray tracing, and at high frame rates.
- When upgrading a graphics card, you want to factor in price, performance, and compatibility with your current setup.
If you’re looking to upgrade from an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti to a more capable card, you came to the right place. The GTX 1070 Ti was one of the best graphics cards released in 2017. It was just one step below the GTX 1080, which was the best graphics card at that time.
However, with NVIDIA releasing new graphics cards every year, the number of choices can be overwhelming. In this article, we will make it easy for you to find the best value upgrade for your trusty GTX 1070 Ti.
Since the GTX 1070 Ti was released in 2017, almost any graphics card released from 2020 and onwards will be a significant upgrade. While the GTX 1070 Ti can certainly run a lot of games and has reasonable frame rates, it is starting to show signs of age. It also doesn’t support NVIDIA’s latest technologies such as DLSS or ray tracing. Let’s take a look at some great upgrade options:
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
- Has 16,384 NVIDIA CUDA Cores
- Supports 4K 120Hz HDR, 8K 60Hz HDR
- Up to 2x performance and power efficiency
- Fourth-Gen Tensor Cores that offer 2x AI performance
- Third-Gen RT Cores
- AI-Accelerated Performance: NVIDIA DLSS 3
- NVIDIA Reflex low-latency platform
- MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti
- 12GB GDDR6X video memory
- 192-bit memory interface
- DisplayPort x 3 (v1.4a) / HDMI 2.1 x 1
- 7680 x 4320 max. resolution
- ASUS TUF Gaming NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti OC Edition Graphics Card (PCIe 4.0, 8GB GDDR6X, HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4a, Dual Ball Fan Bearings, Military-Grade Certification, GPU Tweak II)
- 1815MHz clock speed
- NVIDIA Ampere multiprocessors
- 2nd Generation RT cores support ray tracing
- 3rd Generation Tensor cores support DLSS and up to 8K resolution
- Axial-Tech fan design with more blades and reverse rotation on the center fan for better cooling
- XFX Speedster QICK319 Radeon RX 6750XT Ultra Gaming Graphics Card
- 12GB GDDR6 RAM
- XFX QICK 319 triple fan for better cooling
- Boost clock speed up to 2623MHz
- 3xDP HDMI
- MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 3060 Ti
- 8GB GDDR6
- Three fan cooling
- 256-bit connection
- Boosted clock speed up to1695MHz
- AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT
- DirectX ray tracing enhances gaming realism
- High performance with low-noise
- Strong backplate with cooling features
- Solid build quality TORX FAN 4.0 cooling system
- Tailored PCB Design enhances reliability
- Intel Arc A750 Graphics
- Real-time ray tracing
- PCI-Express 4.0 (x16)
- 16GB of GDDR6
- 512GB/s
- 2050MHz memory clock speed
- Xe HPG architecture
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History Computer’s Top Picks for Best Upgrade from the GTX 1070 Ti
Best Overall: NVIDIA RTX 4090
- Has 16,384 NVIDIA CUDA Cores
- Supports 4K 120Hz HDR, 8K 60Hz HDR
- Up to 2x performance and power efficiency
- Fourth-Gen Tensor Cores that offer 2x AI performance
- Third-Gen RT Cores
- AI-Accelerated Performance: NVIDIA DLSS 3
- NVIDIA Reflex low-latency platform
If you want the best of the best, the RTX 4090 is the biggest upgrade for the GTX 1070 Ti. It’s NVIDIA’s most powerful graphics card on the market and it targets 4K gaming. The RTX 4090 has a whopping 24GB of VRAM and a clock speed of up to 2.52GHz. It also includes all of GeForce’s latest technologies such as DLSS and ray tracing. The RTX 4090 is a top-tier graphics card and it targets 4K resolution.
Comparing the GTX 1070 Ti to the RTX 4090 is not even fair because they’re in completely different tiers. To give you an idea, the GTX 1070 Ti struggles with Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p, with an average of 50fps. The RTX 4090 can run Cyberpunk 2077 at over 100fps with ray tracing enabled. In fact, it can run the game at over 100fps at 4K with DLSS set to performance mode. Overall, the RTX 4090 is an absolute beast and the most powerful graphics card to date.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| The 4090 is the most powerful graphics card on the market. | It’s expensive. |
| It can easily run games at 4K with ray tracing enabled. | It’s physically very large and has a high power draw. |
Runner-Up: NVIDIA RTX 4070 Ti
- 12GB GDDR6X video memory
- 192-bit memory interface
- DisplayPort x 3 (v1.4a) / HDMI 2.1 x 1
- 7680 x 4320 max. resolution
The RTX 4070 Ti is a high-end graphics card that delivers more than enough power for any task. It’s the latest product in NVIDIA’s 70-Ti series. The specifications of the RTX 4070 Ti are 12GB of VRAM, 7680 CUDA Cores, and a max clock speed of 2.6GHz. It also supports DLSS 3.0 and ray tracing.
There’s a massive performance difference between the RTX 4070 Ti and the GTX 1070 Ti. The RTX 3070 Ti can run games at more than double the frame rate of the GTX 1070 Ti.
For a benchmark, let’s use Red Dead Redemption 2 at 1080p. The GTX 1070 Ti can run Red Dead Redemption 2 at the highest settings with an average of 50fps. In comparison, the RTX 3070 Ti scores an average of 170fps. If you want to run games at 1440p and even 4K, the RTX 3070 Ti is a great upgrade to the GTX 1070 Ti.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| The RTX 4070 Ti is great for gaming at 1440p. | It only has one HDMI port. |
| It can run practically every game at 1080p. | The card is a bit pricey. |
Best Mid-Range Option: NVIDIA RTX 3070 Ti
- 1815MHz clock speed
- NVIDIA Ampere multiprocessors
- 2nd Generation RT cores support ray tracing
- 3rd Generation Tensor cores support DLSS and up to 8K resolution
- Axial-Tech fan design with more blades and reverse rotation on the center fan for better cooling
The RTX 3070 Ti was 2021’s 70-Ti series graphics card, with 8GB of VRAM, 1.77 GHz clock speed, and 6144 CUDA Cores. While the RTX 3070 Ti is one generation behind the RTX 4070 Ti, it delivers more than enough performance for most gaming needs. It also supports DLSS 3.0 and ray tracing.
When comparing the GTX 1070 Ti to the RTX 3070 Ti, you might have noticed they both have 8GB of VRAM. However, the GTX 1070 Ti uses GDDR5 memory with a max memory bandwidth of 256 GB/s.
The RTX 3070 Ti uses GDDR6X and the maximum memory bandwidth ranges from 500 GB/s to 600 GB/s. While the RTX 3070 Ti is undoubtedly a powerful card, the 8GB of VRAM may be a limitation when it comes to upcoming video games.
To give you an idea of how the GTX 1070 Ti compares to the RTX 3070 Ti, let’s look at a Cyberpunk 2077 1080p benchmark at the highest settings. The GTX 1070 Ti can barely scratch the 60fps mark, scoring between 40-50fps. Meanwhile, the RTX 3070 Ti scores between 90-100fps. With DLSS, you can push the performance of the RTX 3070 Ti even further.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| The RTX 3070 Ti offers excellent performance at 1080p and 1440p. | It only has 8GB of VRAM |
| It has very fast memory bandwidth. | The 3070 Ti is not much of an upgrade from the RTX 3070. |
Best AMD Option for 1440p: RX 6750 XT
- 12GB GDDR6 RAM
- XFX QICK 319 triple fan for better cooling
- Boost clock speed up to 2623MHz
- 3xDP HDMI
The RX 6750 XT is a close competitor to the RTX 3070 Ti and can often be found cheaper. The RX 6750 XT was released in 2022. It has the following specifications: 12GB of VRAM, a boost clock of 2.6GHz, and a memory bandwidth of 432GB/s.
The best feature of the RX 6750 XT is it has 12GB of VRAM, which should be more than enough for upcoming video games. (Another option to consider is the RX 6700 XT, it’s a little cheaper than the XT edition and offers very similar performance.) Naturally, the RX 6750 XT supports AMD’s latest technologies such as FSR.
To get an idea of what you can expect from upgrading a GTX 1070 Ti to an RX 6750 XT, let’s use Red Dead Redemption 2 at the highest settings at 1080p. The GTX 1070 Ti gets around 50fps. In comparison, the RX 6750 XT can get an average of 90fps.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| The RX 6750 XT has 12GB of VRAM. | It’s not much of an improvement on the previous graphics card, the 6700 XT. |
| The card delivers great performance at 1080p and 1440p. | It doesn’t support ray tracing at reasonable frame rates. |
Best Budget Option: NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti
- 8GB GDDR6
- Three fan cooling
- 256-bit connection
- Boosted clock speed up to1695MHz
The NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti is a mid-range graphics card that was released in 2021. It offers a slight improvement in performance over the base RTX 3060 edition. If your budget is tight and you game at 1080p, you can also consider the base edition of the RTX 3060.
The RTX 3060 Ti has 8GB or 12GB of VRAM, a boost clock of 1.67 GHz, and 4864 CUDA Cores. At 1080p, the RTX 3060 Ti can reach 60fps with practically everything at the highest graphics settings. It can even run older games at 1440p with no issues. The best feature of the RTX 3060 Ti is it supports DLSS. If you can’t reach your target frame rate with the RTX 3060 Ti, enable DLSS to boost the performance.
To quickly compare the RTX 3060 Ti to the GTX 1070 Ti, let’s use Horizon Zero Dawn at 1080p and ultra settings. The RTX 3060 Ti gets an average of 88 FPS. Meanwhile, the GTX 1070 Ti has a 32 FPS average. It’s a major improvement over the GTX 1070 Ti at a mid-range price. You can see how the RTX 3060 compares to the GTX 1070 Ti here.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| The RTX 3060 Ti is an excellent budget graphics card for 1080p | The base model only has 8GB of VRAM. |
| It’s an entry-level card that supports DLSS. | It doesn’t support ray tracing. |
Best Value AMD Option: RX 6600 XT
- DirectX ray tracing enhances gaming realism
- High performance with low-noise
- Strong backplate with cooling features
- Solid build quality TORX FAN 4.0 cooling system
- Tailored PCB Design enhances reliability
If you need to cut down on your budget, the RX 6600 is a good choice. It’s a little cheaper than the RX 6750 XT and it offers enough performance for gaming at 1080p. The RX 6600 XT has a boost clock of up to 2.3 GHz and 8GB of VRAM. It’s one of AMD’s mid-range cards that support FSR and ray tracing.
Upgrading from the GTX 1070 Ti to the RX 6600 XT is a good choice for budget builds. The RX 6600 XT is a significant improvement over the GTX 1070 Ti and you can run a lot of games at 1440p too. For a quick example, the RX 6600 XT can get an average of 66fps on Cyberpunk 2077 with all the settings cranked to high and at a 1080p resolution. With the same settings, the GTX 1070 Ti struggles to reach 50fps.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| The RX 6600 XT is the king of budget 1080p graphics cards. | It uses PCIe x8 instead of the industry-standard PCIe x16. |
| It’s very efficient. | It doesn’t support ray tracing. |
Best Entry-Level Option from Intel: ARC 750
- Real-time ray tracing
- PCI-Express 4.0 (x16)
- 16GB of GDDR6
- 512GB/s
- 2050MHz memory clock speed
- Xe HPG architecture
Intel’s A750 is the company’s first entry-level graphics card. While it’s not a PC builder’s first choice, it offers decent performance at a good price. There’s an 8GB and 12GB edition. The A750 has a clock speed of 2GHz. If you want to try something different, the A750 is worth checking out. Intel’s ARC series had a rocky start due to bad optimization for old games, but they have updated their drivers to improve performance.
For the price, the ARC 750 is quite underrated. It performs exceptionally well on games that use DirectX 12. For instance, it can run Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p high settings at around 66fps. The GTX 1070 Ti just scratches the 50 FPS mark. For a full list of our favorite graphics cards, browse our list here.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| It’s a very budget-friendly option. | The performance can vary depending on the driver optimizations. |
| It has great performance at 1080p. | There is no ray tracing support. |
How to Pick the Best Upgrade from the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti: Step by Step
Here are some factors to consider when upgrading your GTX 1070 Ti:
- Price
- Performance increase
- Compatibility
Price
You want to get a graphics card that delivers good performance at a reasonable price. For example, if you only game at 1440p, an RTX 4090 might be overkill. However, the AMD RX 6750 XT performs well at 1440p and it is less than half the price.
Performance Increase
You want to make sure the graphics card that you’re upgrading to delivers a worthwhile performance increase on your old graphics card. Just because a graphics card was released recently does not mean it offers good performance.
Compatibility
Your old hardware may not be compatible with a new graphics card. Most old motherboards don’t support the most recent graphics cards. It’s important to make sure the other components in your system are compatible with the graphics card you are considering buying.
What to Know Before Upgrading from the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti
Your GPU may not be the only component that needs an upgrade. A bottleneck occurs when one piece of hardware can’t keep up with the requirements of another. For example, when running a game, if your CPU is always at 100% utilization while your graphics card is barely being used, your CPU is the bottleneck. In that case, you will be leaving a lot of performance on the table. If you bought your CPU around the same time as you bought your GTX 1070 Ti, it may be time to upgrade it too. You can find our recommended CPUs here.
Another point to consider is the power requirements. New graphics cards come with high power requirements that your current power supply may not support. In most cases, you will need to buy a new power supply to go with your new graphics card.
Using an Upgrade to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti: What It’s Like
Upgrading your GTX 1070 Ti to a more capable card will allow you to run games at much higher frame rates with higher graphics settings. You won’t have to tweak the graphics settings to find the best performance sweet spot, and you won’t have to deal with stuttering and frame drops. Overall, gaming will be much smoother and more satisfying with an upgraded graphics card.
