Home / NVIDIA / NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Max-Q: Performance and Specs

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Max-Q

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Max-Q: Power and Efficiency in a Compact Form Factor

April 2025

In the world of gaming and professional tasks, NVIDIA's RTX series graphics cards have long been a symbol of the balance between performance and energy efficiency. The RTX 4070 Max-Q, introduced in 2025, continues this tradition by offering cutting-edge technology for thin laptops and compact PCs. Let's take a closer look at what makes it stand out and who it is suited for.

1. Architecture and Key Features

Blackwell Architecture: An Evolution of Efficiency

The RTX 4070 Max-Q is built on the Blackwell architecture, inheriting the principles of Ada Lovelace. The chips are manufactured using TSMC's 4nm process, which ensures increased transistor density and reduced power consumption. Key innovations include:

- DLSS 4.0: The machine learning algorithm enhances detail and FPS stability, even when rendering in 4K.

- Ray Tracing 3.0: Accelerated ray tracing thanks to updated RT cores.

- Reflex 2.0: Reducing game latency by 15-20% compared to the previous generation.

- Support for FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR): Compatibility with AMD technology for flexible settings.

2. Memory: Fast and Efficient

GDDR6X 12 GB and 192-bit Bus

The graphics card is equipped with 12 GB of GDDR6X memory with a bandwidth of 504 GB/s (192-bit bus width). This is sufficient for:

- Comfortable gaming at 1440p and 4K with high settings.

- Working with 8K textures in 3D editors.

- Multitasking: streaming + gaming without FPS drops.

The 12 GB capacity is optimal for modern projects, but in games with ultra settings at 4K, optimization via DLSS may be required.

3. Gaming Performance: Numbers and Realities

Average FPS in Popular Games (2025)

- Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty (1440p, Ultra, RT Ultra, DLSS 4.0): 68-72 FPS.

- GTA VI (1440p, Ultra, FSR 3.0): 90-95 FPS.

- Starfield: Enhanced Edition (4K, High, DLSS 4.0): 55-60 FPS.

- Apex Legends (1080p, Competitive Settings): 160+ FPS.

Ray Tracing: Activating ray tracing reduces FPS by 25-35%, but DLSS 4.0 compensates for the losses, maintaining smoothness. In poorly optimized games (e.g., early versions of "The Day Before 2"), it’s better to turn off ray tracing for the sake of stability.

4. Professional Tasks: Not Just Gaming

CUDA and OpenCL: Versatility for Creativity

- Video Editing (Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve): 8K project rendering takes 12-15 minutes (compared to 20+ for RTX 3070 Max-Q).

- 3D Modeling (Blender): 1.8x speedup in Cycles thanks to 5120 CUDA cores.

- Scientific Calculations (MATLAB, TensorFlow): FP32/FP64 support ensures accuracy in simulations.

Advice: For working with neural networks, it's better to choose the RTX 4080, but the RTX 4070 Max-Q can handle entry-level machine learning tasks.

5. Power Consumption and Heat Generation

TDP 80 W: Energy Efficiency Above All

Maximum power consumption is 80 W, which is 15% less than the RTX 4070 Mobile. Recommendations include:

- Laptops: Cooling systems with 2-3 fans and heat pipes (e.g., ASUS Zephyrus G15 2025).

- Compact PCs: Cases with ventilation holes and at least 3 coolers (Fractal Design Terra).

Temperatures: Under peak loads, it reaches up to 78°C, but throttling begins only at 86°C.

6. Comparison with Competitors

AMD Radeon RX 7800M XT vs. RTX 4070 Max-Q

- Games without RT: RX 7800M XT is 5-10% faster at 1440p (thanks to 16 GB of GDDR6).

- Games with RT: RTX 4070 Max-Q wins by 20-25% (better DLSS optimization).

- Power Consumption: RX 7800M XT requires 100 W, which is critical for ultrabooks.

Intel Arc A770M: Cheaper by 15-20%, but lags in driver optimization for new games.

7. Practical Tips

Power Supply and Compatibility

- Laptops: AC adapter from 180 W (e.g., for Razer Blade 15 2025).

- Mini-PCs: Power supply from 500 W (Corsair SF600) + motherboard with PCIe 5.0.

Drivers: Update GeForce Experience monthly — NVIDIA actively optimizes compatibility with Unreal Engine 6.

Prices: Laptops with RTX 4070 Max-Q start from $1600 (Acer Predator Triton) to $2500 (MSI Stealth 16).

8. Pros and Cons

Pros:

- Ideal for thin laptops: power without overheating.

- DLSS 4.0 and RTX — a benchmark for gaming immersion.

- Support for professional applications.

Cons:

- 12 GB of memory — limitations may arise in 8K gaming by 2026.

- High price: AMD alternatives are $200-300 cheaper.

9. Final Conclusion: Who Is the RTX 4070 Max-Q For?

This graphics card is a choice for those who value portability without compromise:

- Gamers: Smooth gameplay at 1440p/4K with maximum settings.

- Creatives: Quick rendering and 3D work.

- Students/Office Workers: Quiet cooling system + battery life up to 6 hours.

If the budget is limited, consider the RTX 4060 Max-Q or AMD RX 7700M. But for those who want to "fly" in games and work without hiccups, the RTX 4070 Max-Q is the optimal balance in 2025.

Basic

Label Name

NVIDIA

Platform

Mobile

Launch Date

January 2023

Model Name

GeForce RTX 4070 Max-Q

Generation

GeForce 40 Mobile

Base Clock

735MHz

Boost Clock

1230MHz

Bus Interface

PCIe 4.0 x16

Transistors

Unknown

RT Cores

Tensor Cores

Tensor Cores are specialized processing units designed specifically for deep learning, providing higher training and inference performance compared to FP32 training. They enable rapid computations in areas such as computer vision, natural language processing, speech recognition, text-to-speech conversion, and personalized recommendations. The two most notable applications of Tensor Cores are DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) and AI Denoiser for noise reduction.

144

TMUs

Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) serve as components of the GPU, which are capable of rotating, scaling, and distorting binary images, and then placing them as textures onto any plane of a given 3D model. This process is called texture mapping.

144

Foundry

TSMC

Process Size

4 nm

Architecture

Ada Lovelace

Memory Specifications

Memory Size

8GB

Memory Type

GDDR6

Memory Bus

The memory bus width refers to the number of bits of data that the video memory can transfer within a single clock cycle. The larger the bus width, the greater the amount of data that can be transmitted instantaneously, making it one of the crucial parameters of video memory. The memory bandwidth is calculated as: Memory Bandwidth = Memory Frequency x Memory Bus Width / 8. Therefore, when the memory frequencies are similar, the memory bus width will determine the size of the memory bandwidth.

128bit

Memory Clock

1750MHz

Bandwidth

Memory bandwidth refers to the data transfer rate between the graphics chip and the video memory. It is measured in bytes per second, and the formula to calculate it is: memory bandwidth = working frequency × memory bus width / 8 bits.

224.0 GB/s

Theoretical Performance

Pixel Rate

Pixel fill rate refers to the number of pixels a graphics processing unit (GPU) can render per second, measured in MPixels/s (million pixels per second) or GPixels/s (billion pixels per second). It is the most commonly used metric to evaluate the pixel processing performance of a graphics card.

59.04 GPixel/s

Texture Rate

Texture fill rate refers to the number of texture map elements (texels) that a GPU can map to pixels in a single second.

177.1 GTexel/s

FP16 (half)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy.

11.34 TFLOPS

FP64 (double)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy, while single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

177.1 GFLOPS

FP32 (float)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

11.113 TFLOPS

Miscellaneous

SM Count

Multiple Streaming Processors (SPs), along with other resources, form a Streaming Multiprocessor (SM), which is also referred to as a GPU's major core. These additional resources include components such as warp schedulers, registers, and shared memory. The SM can be considered the heart of the GPU, similar to a CPU core, with registers and shared memory being scarce resources within the SM.

Shading Units

The most fundamental processing unit is the Streaming Processor (SP), where specific instructions and tasks are executed. GPUs perform parallel computing, which means multiple SPs work simultaneously to process tasks.

4608

L1 Cache

128 KB (per SM)

L2 Cache

32MB

TDP

35W

Vulkan Version

Vulkan is a cross-platform graphics and compute API by Khronos Group, offering high performance and low CPU overhead. It lets developers control the GPU directly, reduces rendering overhead, and supports multi-threading and multi-core processors.

1.3

OpenCL Version

3.0

OpenGL

4.6

DirectX

12 Ultimate (12_2)

CUDA

8.9

Power Connectors

None

Shader Model

6.7

ROPs

The Raster Operations Pipeline (ROPs) is primarily responsible for handling lighting and reflection calculations in games, as well as managing effects like anti-aliasing (AA), high resolution, smoke, and fire. The more demanding the anti-aliasing and lighting effects in a game, the higher the performance requirements for the ROPs; otherwise, it may result in a sharp drop in frame rate.

Benchmarks

FP32 (float)

Score

11.113 TFLOPS

Compared to Other GPU

FP32 (float) / TFLOPS

RTX A3000 Mobile 12 GB

12.036 +8.3%

Radeon 890M

11.642 +4.8%

GeForce RTX 4070 Max-Q

11.113

Radeon RX 6600 XT

10.812 -2.7%

Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary

10.343 -6.9%