NVIDIA RTX 4070 gets price cuts, with rumors the GPU is off to a shaky start

NVIDIA's RTX 4070 is off the starting blocks, and there's still a good amount of stock of the GPU floating around after launch, with prices sitting at MSRP - and some graphics cards even being discounted already.

It certainly doesn't seem like RTX 4070 stock is flying off the shelves, or at any rate, supply is easily coping with demand.

And indeed there are suggestions that demand may be on the weak side, such as the tweet above from leaker TechEpiphany, who claims that big German retailer MindFactory (MF) only sold around 300 units on launch day, which is indicative that interest is "pretty low" in the GPU.

Hardware Unboxed has also tweeted that sales in Australia are "terrible" going by info from a few sources (but the site couldn't share that sales data).

And we also have YouTube leaker RedGamingTech chipping in, noting that sales don't look great in the US, either, but that was a "passing comment" from a source, and so we need to be very cautious around that.

All tales told, it really doesn't sound like a great situation for NVIDIA, but for now, we have to treat all these whispers on Twitter as the speculative gossip which they are.

Rumors aside, what's perfectly clear is that some RTX 4070 models have already had price cuts. Looking at Best Buy in the US, the MSI Ventus 3X OC has been dropped from $629.99 to $599.99, and an ASUS Dual OC model has been discounted from $609.99 to the MSRP.

No, these aren't massive savings, but $30 and $10 off a new graphics card is something we can't remember seeing in a long time at launch. And you're getting a slightly peppier RTX 4070 here for the MSRP (the GPUs pitched at MSRP off the bat have slightly slower clocks).

Granted, you will still pay a chunk more for some of the higher-end RTX 4070 models, of course, though Best Buy isn't charging more than $680 for any of these GPUs.

One thing we can say with complete certainty is that those rumors of pricey RTX 4070 graphics cards didn't pan out.

What's up with the RTX 4070? Not much, that's what

So, is the RTX 4070 a 'bad' graphics card? No, absolutely not, this GPU has actually got a lot going for it, as we made clear in our full review of the card (the Founders Edition has a lot to shout about, certainly).

If sales are not hitting where NVIDIA expected they might - hence the scales tipping towards supply for a change, rather than demand - that could be wrapped up in fears about VRAM (and folks not being happy about the 12GB loadout, wanting 16GB instead). It might also be that gamers were hoping for a bit more in terms of a generational price/performance leap (not a particularly reasonable expectation, to be fair to NVIDIA).

Or it could be a simple case of fatigued wallets, perhaps, or a combination of all these factors. And with stock already being discounted, gamers might now be tempted to adopt a 'wait and see' approach to gauge where pricing might be headed from here.