New version of Nvidia RTX 4070 graphics card spotted with slower VRAM – here’s why that might just be a good thing

Nvidia’s previously rumored new spin on the RTX 4070 – with slightly slower video memory – is apparently real, as a graphics card maker appears to have such a variant in the works.

This is Galax which has a new RTX 4070 OC 2X version incoming, or at least that’s what leaked materials obtained by VideoCardz show (including product shots of the purported card).

As ever, be careful around any rumor, but we’re told that the spec remains the same as the existing RTX 4070, but for one small change – it’ll use slower GDDR6 memory, as opposed to GDDR6X, rated at 20Gbps rather than 21Gbps.

The Galax RTX 4070 OC 2X will also supposedly use a different AD104 chip (the AD104-251, rather than AD104-250), but that won’t make any odds – the other specifications (including core count) will remain exactly the same as the vanilla RTX 4070.

Analysis: A cheaper model – or a more power-efficient take?

So, what does this mean for those looking at buying an RTX 4070 in the future? Well, assuming this is true, there’ll no doubt be other models based on the AD104-251 chip carrying GDDR6 VRAM from card makers besides Galax coming onto the market, and as VideoCardz points out, the complication is that these variants aren’t made clear on the packaging. In other words, you won’t be able to tell the difference between an AD104-251 spin and one of the original RTX 4070 models unless you scrutinize the spec details.

That may seem a tad dishonest in some respects, but the truth is that reining in the memory bandwidth very slightly (by 5%) won’t make any meaningful difference to the real-world performance that you’ll notice (in the vast majority of scenarios, anyway).

Really, it’s nothing to worry about – and because of that, the price of the new RTX 4070 probably won’t be knocked down. Although that said, there’s a chance Nvidia and its partners could go this route, and obviously any money off the RTX 4070 would be very welcome. (And it wouldn’t hurt the GPU’s chances when it comes to our ranking of the best graphics cards out there, either).

What might be interesting (and more likely) is to see this new RTX 4070 have a lower power consumption, which is possible with the switch to GDDR6 – though TDP figures aren’t mentioned in this leak (that spec is still to be confirmed, we’re told). A slightly more power-efficient graphics card is entirely possible here, we’d think – and perhaps, if we’re really lucky, a slightly cheaper GPU, as well. Keep those fingers crossed.

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