MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ventus 3X review: Great value 1440p gaming

The MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ventus 3X is one of the more affordable graphics cards from this family, offering steady 1440p and 4K gaming, the latter being possible through DLSS or with the tuning of in-game settings, for around $600. It also has a powerful cooling solution that promises impressive visuals at higher resolutions without hitting heavy thermal throttling. With expectations kept in check, the RTX 4070 should perform admirably across a wide range of games.

We've been testing the MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ventus 3X for a few weeks and found the GPU to perform as advertised. The RTX 4070 GPU is brilliant at ultrawide 1440p and 4K gaming as long as you don't mind using DLSS. Ray tracing is possible with the latest generation of cores, and MSI's cooling solution keeps temperatures in check even when pushing the card to its limits. If you're after a mid-tier RTX 40 series Nvidia GPU with a great cooling solution, premium looks, and a solid build, I'd recommend the MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ventus 3X.

About this review: XDA purchased the MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ventus 3X for the purposes of this review, and neither MSI nor Nvidia had input into its contents​​​​​​.

Pricing and availability

The MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ventus 3X matches the Nvidia reference specifications with identical clock speeds and (most importantly) price. With an MSRP of $600, this is not a cheap GPU. Although the RTX 4070 is more of a mid-range card, it was still relatively affordable in previous generations. That was no longer the case when the RTX 3070 arrived, and the same can be said about the RTX 4070. You can get it at various retailers, including Best Buy, and even on MSI's official online store.

Hardware and design

Premium MSI design meets impressive Nvidia specs

Although this is a mid-tier graphics card, MSI went all out with a full-size cooling solution. Honestly, you could easily mistake this graphics card for an RTX 4080 or higher. To be fair to the RTX 4070 and MSI, the GPU performs better than a previous-gen RTX 3080 across a wide range of applications and games, so this three-fan cooler is a welcome addition to the specs sheet.

The three Ventus fans are idle when the GPU isn't running anything demanding. When firing up a more intense application or game, they’ll gradually ramp up in speed to keep temperatures low. Size shouldn't be an issue, either. It looks identical to other MSI Ventus cards, and the larger size allows it to push air through the heatsink and out the backside of the card. It's 310mm long and 120mm tall, which means it should fit inside most ATX PC cases.

The MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ventus 3X is a two-slot GPU and shouldn't have any trouble with sag, coming in at just north of 800g. The available ports consist of three DisplayPort 1.4a ports and a single HDMI 2.1a port. Being an Ada Lovelace GPU, the RTX 4070 supports AV1 encoding, the latest DLSS, and ray tracing technology. It also utilizes 12GB of GDDR6X RAM with a 192-bit memory bus.

The dark backplate is a nice touch, though it's plastic and not metal. The cooling solution should be beefy enough for the RTX 4070 GPU and all other components on the PCB, being a larger offering compared to competitor RTX 4070s.

Gaming and performance

Lose yourself in smooth 2K and 4K performance

To put this mid-tier gaming machine to the test, we used the trusty Intel Core i5-12600K installed on an Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Hero motherboard. DDR5 RAM was used over DDR4, and a PCIe 4.0 drive loaded all the games and Windows. Performance is great; it's not quite RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 levels of gaming, but it's right up there with smooth 1440p performance and good enough FPS at 4K.

It's difficult to overstate the importance of DLSS and how far Nvidia's technology has advanced. When attempting to push this GPU for 4K gaming, I'd recommend enabling DLSS. I didn't notice much difference in-game, but it can make specific titles playable and sometimes can even double the performance. Those who wish to take advantage of the NVENC encoder will need to bear in mind the fact the RTX 4070 only has one, whereas the Ti version of the 4070 has two.

Performance is great with smooth 1440p performance and good enough FPS at 4K.

It's definitely a GPU to consider with these numbers and a more reasonable price tag. Thermals were excellent across the board, too. The GPU reported an average of 65 degrees Celsius across our suite of games and synthetic benchmarks. The fans spun at around 1,370RPM with its fan profile applied, and noise came in at a respectable 27dBA. It's one of the quieter GPUs I've tested in a while and manages to keep up with the big boys for performance.

Should you buy the MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ventus 3X

You should buy the MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ventus 3X if:

• You want a GPU to play games at 2K or 4K resolution with decent results.
• You don't plan on overclocking the GPU.
• You want a mid-tier graphics card with excellent thermals.

You shouldn't buy the MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ventus 3X if:

• You want the best 4K gaming experience.
• You don't feel comfortable spending $600 on a GPU.

The MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ventus 3X is a fantastic graphics card. In fact, it's one of the best RTX 4070s in terms of value and performance. The cooling solution with three Ventus fans makes this a super-cool and quiet GPU, even when pushing the card hard. Whether you're into mining and killing bosses in Terraria or racing everyone in Forza Horizon, this RTX 4070 will handle 2K gaming without breaking a sweat.

The MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ventus 3X is a fantastic graphics card. In fact, it's one of the best RTX 4070s in terms of value and performance

4K is also possible with the MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ventus 3X, though DLSS will have to be used, and some settings will need to be turned down. Nvidia's latest version of DLSS is akin to dark magic, and it should be outlawed just because of how well it works. Largely, you shouldn't notice much of a difference with the technology enabled, unless you go looking with a magnifying glass. Partner this card with a capable Intel or AMD CPU, and you'll have a blast.