Palit GeForce GTX 1070 GameRock Premium Edition Review

TweakTown's Rating: 91%

The Bottom Line

Palit goes for an interesting style with their GeForce GTX 1070 GameRock Premium Edition, with a specific rock-style look that should appeal to the rock fan gamers in the world.

Introduction, Specs, & The Card

Palit has always been a company of interest to me with new GeForce graphics card launches, as the Super Jetstream versions of the GTX 980 Ti were one of the best GTX 980 Ti's that you could buy. The company is back again with the GTX 10 series, with our first sample from Palit in the form of their new GeForce GTX 1070 GameRock Premium Edition.

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GameRock is a brand new gaming series from Palit, with the company explaining that the cards are "designed for enthusiast gamers who desire to have the ultimate gaming experience." We have a great thermal solution, which Palit says will "make you become a real game rocker without any fears"... sounds good to me.

Palit has really amped things up with their new GTX 10 series graphics cards. The GameRock Premium Edition receives RGB lighting and a new rock-themed backplate. There's also a bunch of other features that Palit have thrown into the mix, including an improved cooler and dual BIOS.

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Specifications

Palit has bumped GPU clocks up as expected, with 1670/1873MHz for base and boost clocks, respectively. Palit has overclocked the 8GB of GDDR5 from its stock 8GHz frequency to 8.5GHz, up 500MHz. We have a single 8-pin PCI power connector, keeping the power consumption under 170W.

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The Card

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Palit has used 2 x 10cm fans, something that will keep the card both cool and operating quietly - assisted by the TurboFan Blade which was inspired by the power of jet engines, according to Palit.

With the GTX 1070 GameRock being a 2.5-slot card, it's on the thicker side - but look at the heat pipes and cooler, they're beefy. The card hit around 63C, while the fans were spinning at just 760 RPM (31%).

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On the back of the card, we have the GameRock styling looking very Rock Band-like, which makes me want to build a new gaming/karaoke gaming PC around this GTX 1070 GameRock Premium Edition graphics card. Oh, man.

Testing Methods & Bench Rig Specs

This is the start of something new for me, as I'm streamlining all of my content and doing these reviews in a new way. The games I'm testing are my legacy benchmark ways, using the built-in benchmarks in most games to show the performance of the graphics cards in a way that is easy for anyone else to reproduce with the game, as it's not real-time (and so, constantly variable depending on where you are in the game, etc).

For now, I'm using the same games, but I will be changing this roster up over the next few months, and things are going to get really interesting. Expect some massive changes in not just the games I'm testing, but the ways they're being tested. There will be more real-world gaming results than before, instead of the reliance of built-in benchmarks.

Test System Configuration

Corsair sent us over their kick-ass AX1500i PSU, which provides 1500W of power for our 3 and 4-way GPU testing that we have coming very soon.

Anthony's Video Card Test System Specifications

• Motherboard: ASUS Rampage V Extreme - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• CPU: Intel Core i7 5960X - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Cooler: Corsair H110 - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Memory: Kingston 16GB (4x4GB) HyperX Predator DDR4 3000MHz - Buy from Amazon
• Storage #1: SanDisk Extreme II 240GB - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Storage #2: Intel 730 Series 480GB - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Case: Lian Li PC-T80 Open-Air - Buy from Amazon
• Power Supply: Corsair AX1500i - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64-bit - Buy from Amazon
• Drivers: NVIDIA GeForce 372.70 WHQL and AMD RSCE 16.9.2 hotfix

Benchmarks - Synthetic & DX12

3DMark Fire Strike - 1080p

3DMark has been a staple benchmark for years now, all the way back to when The Matrix was released and Futuremark had bullet time inspired benchmarks. 3DMark is the perfect tool to see if your system - most important, your CPU and GPU - is performing as it should. You can search results for your GPU, to see if it falls in line with other systems based on similar hardware.

3DMark Fire Strike Extreme - 1440p

3DMark Fire Strike Ultra - 4K (3840x2160)

Heaven - 1080p

Heaven is an intensive GPU benchmark that really pushes your silicon to its limits. It's another favorite of ours as it has some great scaling for multi-GPU testing, and it's great for getting your GPU to 100% for power and noise testing.

Heaven - 1440p

Heaven - 4K

DirectX 12 Performance

We have 3DMark Time Spy, Ashes of the Singularity and Hitman with DirectX 12.

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Benchmarks @ 1080p

1080p Benchmarks

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Far Cry Primal is a game built on the impressive Dunia Engine 2 with wide open, beautiful environments. It might look stunning, but the performance is actually quite good - but most cards will be stressed at 1440p, and especially so at 4K and beyond.

You can buy Far Cry Primal at Amazon.

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We recently changed over to Metro: Last Light Redux, with developer 4A Games making the Redux version of Metro: Last Light the 'definitive' version of the game. Redux had a fresh coat of paint on the already impressive 4A Engine, and it really pushes our GPUs to their limits.

You can buy Metro: Last Light Redux at Amazon.

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Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is one of the most graphically intensive games we test, with Monolith using their own Lithtech engine to power the game. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.

You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor at Amazon.

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Tomb Raider is still such a gorgeous game, with developer Crystal Dynamics using their own 'Foundation' engine to build Lara Croft into the new world. One of the best parts about Tomb Raider is the absolutely stellar multi-GPU scaling, so this is an important test to see how well our NVIDIA GeForce SLI and AMD Radeon CrossFire setups scale.

You can buy Tomb Raider at Amazon.

Benchmarks @ 1440p

1440p Benchmarks

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Far Cry Primal is a game built on the impressive Dunia Engine 2 with wide open, beautiful environments. It might look stunning, but the performance is actually quite good - but most cards will be stressed at 1440p, and especially so at 4K and beyond.

You can buy Far Cry Primal at Amazon.

39

We recently changed over to Metro: Last Light Redux, with developer 4A Games making the Redux version of Metro: Last Light the 'definitive' version of the game. Redux had a fresh coat of paint on the already impressive 4A Engine, and it really pushes our GPUs to their limits.

You can buy Metro: Last Light Redux at Amazon.

39

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is one of the most graphically intensive games we test, with Monolith using their own Lithtech engine to power the game. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.

You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor at Amazon.

39

Tomb Raider is still such a gorgeous game, with developer Crystal Dynamics using their own 'Foundation' engine to build Lara Croft into the new world. One of the best parts about Tomb Raider is the absolutely stellar multi-GPU scaling, so this is an important test to see how well our NVIDIA GeForce SLI and AMD Radeon CrossFire setups scale.

You can buy Tomb Raider at Amazon.

Benchmarks @ 4K

4K Benchmarks

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Far Cry Primal is a game built on the impressive Dunia Engine 2 with wide open, beautiful environments. It might look stunning, but the performance is actually quite good - but most cards will be stressed at 1440p, and especially so at 4K and beyond.

You can buy Far Cry Primal at Amazon.

39

We recently changed over to Metro: Last Light Redux, with developer 4A Games making the Redux version of Metro: Last Light the 'definitive' version of the game. Redux had a fresh coat of paint on the already impressive 4A Engine, and it really pushes our GPUs to their limits.

You can buy Metro: Last Light Redux at Amazon.

39

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is one of the most graphically intensive games we test, with Monolith using their own Lithtech engine to power the game. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.

You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor at Amazon.

39

Tomb Raider is still such a gorgeous game, with developer Crystal Dynamics using their own 'Foundation' engine to build Lara Croft into the new world. One of the best parts about Tomb Raider is the absolutely stellar multi-GPU scaling, so this is an important test to see how well our NVIDIA GeForce SLI and AMD Radeon CrossFire setups scale.

You can buy Tomb Raider at Amazon.

What's Hot, What's Not & Final Thoughts

Performance Summary

There was a lot to like with Palit's GeForce GTX 1070 GameRock Premium Edition, with silent operation during all of my testing, all while it looking super stylish. The look of the card is something that you'll either enjoy or not - there's no in between here. It's a specific card for an audience that wants or likes the GameRock branding on the back.

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Performance wise the card was great, with 60FPS+ in all of our 1440p game testing, while 1080p easily scales past 120FPS. I wouldn't recommend buying any GeForce GTX 1070 and pushing for 4K gaming, as I think gamers should be aiming for 60FPS minimum on PC. 60FPS isn't easy to achieve on any card when we're talking about 4K, but the Palit GTX 1070 GameRock card does a good job hitting around 50FPS average in our games.

I was able to hit a pretty respectable Boost clock of 2037MHz on the Palit GTX 1070 GameRock, without running into troubles. Anything over 2045/2050MHz or so, and it was completely unstable.

What's Hot

GameRock Styling - I liked the style of the GameRock branding, mainly because of the blue/white colors used on the cooler.

Performance - Just like the rest of the GeForce GTX 1070 graphics cards, we have great performance in all resolutions.

Blue/White Look - This is going to be an interesting choice for gamers who are building a specifically styled PC.

What's Not

GameRock Styling - Double-edge sword here, Palit.

Thicker 2.5-Slot Design - I would definitely like the card more if it was a dual-slot card. It's too thick.

Final Thoughts

Palit has impressed me like they always do, even with the GameRock Premium Edition branding being front and center, the performance side of the card is at the levels you'd expect from a GeForce GTX 1070.

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If you're gaming at 1080p or 1440p then you'll have no problems hitting 60FPS in the games on the market right now, and even Battlefield 1 and Gears of War 4 that are both around the corner. 4K gaming is still out of our hands for 60FPS on a single card with Ultra settings, but you could drop a few settings and hit 60FPS on the Palit GeForce GTX 1070 GameRock Premium Edition.

For those building a new rock-themed gaming PC, the Palit GeForce GTX 1070 GameRock Premium Edition should be the only card on your radar. For the rest, it's another GTX 1070 that has great performance (which is no surprise). The GTX 1070 Jetstream, however, is on my list of graphics cards I'm salivating over. What's the ETA, Palit?