The RTX 5070 reviews are in, and let’s just say people aren’t happy

It’s always exciting when a new graphics card hits the market—especially one that promises to shake things up. But while NVIDIA made some bold claims about what their newest GPU could do, early testers and reviewers aren’t exactly thrilled with the reality.

During CES 2025, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang took the stage and declared that the RTX 5070, the little sibling of the new 5080 and 5090 cards, would deliver “4090 performance at $549.” That’s a massive promise, considering the RTX 4090 costs a whopping $1,599. But now that the RTX 5070 is in the hands of tech reviewers and gamers, that claim is looking shakier by the day.

TechRadar slapped the card with a three-star review, noting it had “almost no improvement over the RTX 4070 Super.” The 4070 Super came out last year, making this new release feel more like a minor refresh than a genuine next-gen upgrade. If NVIDIA had simply presented the RTX 5070 as a solid, budget-friendly option, the reception might have been warmer. But instead, it framed this card as a game-changing powerhouse—which, according to multiple reviewers, it simply isn’t.

Performance numbers tell the story. TechSpot tested the card with Cyberpunk 2077 at 1440p, and found that it performed slightly worse than the 4070 Super. “The 5070 came in slightly behind the 4070 Super, though the difference was just 2 FPS in terms of average frame rate,” the review read. “Still, that meant the 5070 was only 7% faster than the 7800 XT in this example.” That’s pretty underwhelming, considering Cyberpunk 2077 came out five years ago.

So what about the promise of RTX 4090-level performance? Well, in some incredibly specific scenarios, the 5070 can hit those numbers—but only by leaning heavily on NVIDIA’s new DLSS Multi-Frame Generation (MFG) technology. This AI-powered upscaling technique generates three extra frames for every real frame rendered, which boosts framerates significantly. The problem is that it comes at the cost of input latency and responsiveness, and in some cases, it introduces noticeable visual artifacts. Gamers Nexus pulled no punches, stating in a recent video that “NVIDIA is selling lies” after showing direct comparisons of PC latency between the 5070 and 4090 in Cyberpunk 2077. The result was huge lag and stuttering issues that make it clear the 5070 isn’t offering the same experience as the 4090, even if the frame rate numbers look good on paper.

And then there’s the pricing. NVIDIA might call the 5070 a $549 GPU, but good luck finding one at that price. The graphics card market is still suffering from supply chain chaos, and with stock being limited, actual street prices are likely to be much higher. Some retailers have even limited purchases to one per household in anticipation of demand outstripping supply.

Even outside the CES hype bubble, this GPU might have been received better if expectations were set correctly. It’s a reasonable, if uninspiring, step forward from last year’s 4070 Super, and if you’re coming from an older card, it’s still an upgrade. But after NVIDIA spent months hyping up this release, calling it a “Game Changer” and showing charts claiming it could double performance in games like Black Myth: Wukong and Alan Wake 2, it’s no wonder people feel misled.

Ultimately, the RTX 5070 isn’t a disaster—but it’s also not the revolution NVIDIA made it out to be. For anyone hoping for 4090 power at a budget price, this card is a clear disappointment. The reaction so far suggests NVIDIA may have overpromised and underdelivered, and in the high-stakes world of PC gaming hardware, that’s not a good look.