BenchPair

GeForce RTX 2070 bottleneck & FPS

Ranked 80 of 126 desktop graphics cards in our database (37th percentile). Paired with a Core i3-8100F it lands near 38 fps at 1080p and 11 fps at 4K in a typical AAA title at high settings.

SpecificationsTuring · 2018
ArchitectureTuring
Shading units2,304
Boost clock1,620 MHz
Memory8 GB
Memory bandwidth448 GB/s
Board power175 W
Released2018
Frame rate by resolutionwith Core i3-8100F, high
ResolutionEst. FPSGPU loadLimited by
1920 x 1080 38 99% Graphics card
2560 x 1440 25 99% Graphics card
3440 x 1440 20 99% Graphics card
3840 x 2160 11 99% Graphics card
Best CPU for the GeForce RTX 20701080p, high

Ranked by how little performance the pairing wastes, not by which processor is fastest. The fastest chip pairs well with everything, which makes it a useless recommendation.

ProcessorEst. FPSUnused
Core i3-8100F 38 28.1%
Core i3-8100 38 28.1%
Core i3-8300 38 30%
Core i3-8350K 38 35.3%
Core i3-9100 38 38.4%
Core i3-9100F 38 38.4%
Estimated FPS by game1440p, high, Core i3-8100F
GameEst. FPSVRAM
Cyberpunk 2077 13 9.8 GB needed
Fortnite 35 OK
Counter-Strike 2 85 OK
Baldur's Gate 3 25 OK
Red Dead Redemption 2 19 8.1 GB needed
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 17 9.2 GB needed
Against its closest neighbours1080p, high
PartEst. FPSDifference
Radeon RX 5600 39 fps +3%
Radeon RX Vega 56 38 fps 0%
GeForce RTX 2070 38 fps this part
GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 37 fps -3%
GeForce GTX 1070 GDDR5X 34 fps -11%

Every row measured against the same processor, so the difference shown comes from the parts themselves rather than from unrelated systems.

What CPU should I pair with a GeForce RTX 2070?

At 1080p the best match from our database is the Core i3-8100F, which leaves only 28.1% of the combined potential unused and lands around 38 fps in a typical AAA title. The table above lists five more, ranked by how little each pairing wastes rather than by raw speed.

Bear in mind that the right processor depends on the resolution you play at. At 1440p and 4K the card does proportionally more of the work, so a cheaper chip than the one listed will keep up — the pairing only gets tighter as resolution falls. At 4K this card is 99% utilised, so almost any modern processor is sufficient.

Who a GeForce RTX 2070 is actually for

This is mainstream 1080p hardware. At that resolution it is usually the component doing the limiting, which is good news for pairing — it will not be held back by a modest processor, so there is no need to spend heavily on the chip beside it.

Pushing it to 1440p is possible in lighter titles, but expect to drop settings in demanding ones.

8 GB is this card's real limit

6 of the 16 titles we model exceed 8 GB at 1440p and high settings. On this card memory, not shader throughput, is the thing that will make modern games stutter. Texture quality is the setting to lower first, and it usually costs less visual fidelity than the alternatives.

A note on age

Released in 2018, this card is 8 years old. Beyond raw speed, older hardware misses features newer engines increasingly assume — mesh shaders, hardware ray tracing, and the newest upscalers. A modern title may run worse than these numbers suggest, or refuse to launch, for reasons the model cannot see.

Is 8 GB of VRAM enough for the GeForce RTX 2070?

Not everywhere. At 1440p on the high preset, 8 GB falls short in 6 of the 16 titles we model. Running out of video memory causes frame time spikes rather than a smooth drop in the average, so it feels worse than the numbers suggest.

What bottlenecks a GeForce RTX 2070?

At 1080p this card is normally the limiting component itself. At 4K it is 99% utilised, meaning nearly all the work sits on the card and the processor barely matters.

Where it sits

Ranked 80 of 126 desktop cards we model. Nearest faster: Radeon RX 5600 , Radeon RX Vega 56 . Just below: GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER , GeForce GTX 1070 GDDR5X . Full method on the methodology page.