CEO Jensen Huang made a bold claim about Nvidia’s new GeForce RTX 5070 budget graphics card at CES 2025 that stirred both excitement and skepticism, creating a lightning rod for controversy. Huang hyped the card as a revolutionary breakthrough, touting its ability to deliver next-generation performance at a surprisingly low price of $550 — claims early technical reviews have called into question.
Despite Huang’s claims at CES 2025, benchmark tests show the RTX 5070 barely outpaces last year’s 4070 Super without the heavy assist of DLSS interpolation. Notable tech channels like Gamers Nexus and Linus Tech Tips have criticized Nvidia for overstating the card’s capabilities, with some reviewers accusing the company of misleading consumers by comparing apples to oranges.
Still, the RTX 5070 is selling out almost immediately, with scalpers demanding nearly double the market price.
Underwhelming performance, market mayhem
Digging deeper into the card’s performance shows that Nvidia’s innovative DLSS Multi-Frame Generation is a double-edged sword. While it can artificially inflate frame rates by generating additional frames, this technique comes at a steep cost: sluggish gameplay and noticeable visual artifacts that undermine the user experience in demanding titles.
As a result, the RTX 5070 struggles to deliver a genuine upgrade over its predecessor despite the hype. Meanwhile, the graphics card market’s chronic undersupply has pushed prices well above the official MSRP. With stocks selling out almost instantly, scalpers have taken advantage by listing the card for upward of $1,000, further complicating an already murky picture.
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Competitive sparks amid scarcity
Amid Nvidia’s overpromised spectacle, AMD’s Radeon RX 9070 series has emerged as a compelling, if not flawless, alternative. Early reviews have been kinder to AMD’s approach, noting that while the RX 9070 also faces pricing pressures, it delivers performance that more accurately reflects its capabilities.
This head-to-head contrast between Nvidia’s smoke-and-mirrors marketing and AMD’s straightforward presentation underscores the broader instability gripping the graphics card market, where scarcity and speculative pricing continue to drive consumer behavior.
What’s next for RTX 5070?
As gamers and tech enthusiasts await fresh stock and clearer performance data, the RTX 5070 saga serves as a cautionary tale about the perils of overpromising in the tech landscape. For now, Nvidia’s budget card — despite its shortcomings — remains a hot commodity, proving that even smoke and mirrors can sometimes ignite unexpected demand.
