Introduction & Cards To Be Tested
Now that NVIDIA is weeks into its release of its GeForce GTX 1070 Ti, I've had the time to fully benchmark and review a bunch of custom GTX 1070 Ti cards to see what they can do. I thought I'd write this into a GTX 1070 Ti roundup article since I had a few different ones to test.
We already know that the custom cards are very, very close to NVIDIA's own GeForce GTX 1070 Ti when it comes to out-of-the-box performance, which is something we're looking at here today.
I have four different GeForce GTX 1070 Ti cards to test today, with
- NVIDIA's own GeForce GTX 1070 Ti Founders Edition
- MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Ti GAMING
- GALAX GeForce GTX 1070 Ti EXOC White
- EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti FTW2 GAMING
- ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 Ti AMP! Extreme
Each of them are awesome in their own way, with ZOTAC and EVGA providing the best overclocking over the other cards. MSI would come in second behind ZOTAC and EVGA, while GALAX is barely behind the MSI when it comes to OC abilities.
Test System Specs
Test System
I've recently edited my GPU test bed, which was powered by the Intel Core i7-5960X processor, and shifted into the arms of Kaby Lake and Intel's new Core i7-7700K. GIGABYTE hooked us up with their awesome new AORUS Z270X-Gaming 9 motherboard, which is the heart and soul of my new GPU test platform.
Detailed Tech Specs
- CPU: Intel Core i7-7700K
- Cooler: Nocua U12S
- MB: AORUS Z270X-Gaming 9
- RAM: 16GB (2x8GB) G.SKILL Trident Z 4000MHz DDR4
- SSD: 1TB OCZ RD400 NVMe M.2
- PSU: Corsair AX1500i
- Chassis: In Win X-Frame
Detailed Look
A larger article on our 7700K system is available right here.
Here are some shots I've taken of the new system in action:
Benchmarks - Synthetic
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 - 1440p
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 - 4K
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.
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
Heaven - 3440x1440
Benchmarks - 1080p
1080p Benchmarks
Rise of the Tomb Raider is one of the best looking games on the market, a truly gorgeous game - and a wonder to benchmark. The team at Crystal Dynamics made a very scalable PC game that plays really well testing graphics cards. We've got DX11 and DX12 results in one here, showing the slight strengths of running DX12 mode.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. 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 War at Amazon.
Metro: Last Light Redux comes from 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.
Benchmarks - 1440p
1440p Benchmarks
Rise of the Tomb Raider is one of the best looking games on the market, a truly gorgeous game - and a wonder to benchmark. The team at Crystal Dynamics made a very scalable PC game that plays really well testing graphics cards. We've got DX11 and DX12 results in one here, showing the slight strengths of running DX12 mode.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. 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 War at Amazon.
Metro: Last Light Redux comes from 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.
Benchmarks - 4K
4K Benchmarks
Rise of the Tomb Raider is one of the best looking games on the market, a truly gorgeous game - and a wonder to benchmark. The team at Crystal Dynamics made a very scalable PC game that plays really well testing graphics cards. We've got DX11 and DX12 results in one here, showing the slight strengths of running DX12 mode.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. 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 War at Amazon.
Metro: Last Light Redux comes from 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.
Benchmarks - 3440x1440
3440x1440 Benchmarks
Rise of the Tomb Raider is one of the best looking games on the market, a truly gorgeous game - and a wonder to benchmark. The team at Crystal Dynamics made a very scalable PC game that plays really well testing graphics cards. We've got DX11 and DX12 results in one here, showing the slight strengths of running DX12 mode.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. 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 War at Amazon.
Metro: Last Light Redux comes from 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.
Max GPU Boost & Temps
Not Much Difference
There isn't much difference in the out-of-the-box performance of our GeForce GTX 1070 Ti, no matter if it's the Founders Edition or a heavily customized card. Where the difference comes into play is the cooling technology, cooling performance, whether it's a 2/2.5/3-slot card and its PCIe power connectors.
NVIDIA makes a compelling GeForce GTX 1070 Ti FE card, but the EVGA and ZOTAC offerings are just so much better. Not only do we have more performance, but there's a hell of a lot more overclocking headroom with the custom cards. On top of the additional OC headroom, the custom GTX 1070 Ti graphics cards have better cooling technology so reaching those high GPU/VRAM clocks will be much better on your card in the long run with the improved cooling tech.
EVGA's custom GeForce GTX 1070 Ti FTW2 GAMING was the best of the bunch, where I could get the GPU pushed up to a huge 2112MHz or so. ZOTAC was the second-best with its GPU reaching 2037MHz before I had issues. As for the 8GB of GDDR5, the EVGA GTX 1070 Ti FTW2 GAMING was the best again, maxing out at around 4485MHz resulting in a delicious amount of memory bandwidth gains for FREE.
GPU Boost Clocks (Maximum):
- NVIDIA's own GeForce GTX 1070 Ti FE: 2000MHz
- MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Ti GAMING: 2025MHz
- GALAX GeForce GTX 1070 Ti EXOC White: 2025MHz
- EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti FTW2 GAMING: 2112MHz
- ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 Ti AMP! Extreme: 2037MHz
Temps (Maximum):
- NVIDIA's own GeForce GTX 1070 Ti FE: 80C
- MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Ti GAMING: 60C
- GALAX GeForce GTX 1070 Ti EXOC White: 64C
- EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti FTW2 GAMING: 60C
- ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 Ti AMP! Extreme: 62C
Final Thoughts
If you're in the market for a new GeForce GTX 1070 Ti, literally any of them will provide you with the performance you're after. But it's not just performance, the cooling technology difference between NVIDIA's own Founders Edition variant and the custom GTX 1070 Ti cards on the market is huge.
Any of the custom GTX 1070 Ti cards will do, but the standouts here are from EVGA and ZOTAC. MSI has a specific style it's continuing towards with the Twin Frozr cooler, but EVGA and ZOTAC offer some truly awesome performance and cooling tech that's hard to beat.
I'm a huge fan of dual-slot graphics cards, so the EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti FTW2 GAMING is my pick of custom GeForce GTX 1070 Ti cards right now. I have a few more reviews to write, GALAX being one of them and COLORFUL just confirmed they have their new GTX 1070 Ti Vulcan X Top graphics card on the way (of which we're doing a giveaway of, so stay tuned).
All-in-all, NVIDIA continues to dominate with the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti - so if you're in the market for a new card for the games that have just been released (and there's a LOT of them), you'll be in safe hands.