Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review

We take a look at the Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3, another custom Ampere graphics card that no one in the world can buy.

Published
Updated
Manufacturer: Inno3D
9 minutes & 11 seconds read time
TweakTown's Rating: 96%
TweakTown award

The Bottom Line

Inno3D has an interesting design, but great performance underneath with its GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3. It has some great OC headroom, too.

Introduction

Another day, another custom Ampere graphics card -- this time we have the Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 graphics card -- which I'm going to be throwing into the benchmark ring for the first time (as a new custom card review) against AMD's newly-released-but-you-can't-buy-them Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6800.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 808

I recently took a look at the bigger brother of this card with Inno3D's GeForce RTX 3080 iCHILL X3 graphics card, and we have virtually the same thing here but the RTX 3070 version. The same cooling tech, the same design, but in a cheaper, less powerful version.

You can't buy Inno3D products in every market, but if you can then you will want to read this review as I don't think there are many online. Let's dive right into it -- I won't bother with pricing and availability, as that's going to be patchy depending on the region. You're looking at $50-$100 more than the Founders Edition, but that's alright as you're getting a better card.

Buy at Amazon

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super Founders Edition Graphics Card

TodayYesterday7 days ago30 days ago
$449.00$749.00$749.00
* Prices last scanned on 3/18/2024 at 5:56 pm CDT - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission.

Everything You Need to Know About Ampere

There's much more going under the hood of the Ampere GPU architecture powering the GeForce RTX 3070, with some rather big upgrades across the board on the GPU side of things while the VRAM and memory bandwidth is virtually identical.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 612

We have an dramatic increase of CUDA cores from 2304 on the GeForce RTX 2070 to a huge 5888 CUDA cores on the GeForce RTX 3070, but less Tensor Cores, and more RT Cores, Textures Units, and ROPs.

NVIDIA is using the same 8GB of GDDR6 memory on the GeForce RTX 3070 as the GeForce RTX 2070, with 8GB of GDDR6 at 7Gbps on a 256-bit memory bus with 448GB/sec of memory bandwidth.

Inno3D marketing

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 01

Inno3D debuted its new iCHILL X3 series with the GeForce RTX 3080 and now we've got the GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 in our hands. We have a triple-fan cooler, and stylish card here with the RTX 3070 iCHILL X3.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 02
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 03

As usual, you can tweak the card from software -- in this case, Inno3D's own tool kit TuneIt.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 04
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 05
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 06

The triple-fan cooler in question, with 3 x 90mm Scythe blades that provide great airflow and no-noise idle.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 07
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 08

Detailed Look

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 502Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 503

I love the retail packaging for the Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 -- where if retailers were open and you could freely walk around because of COV -- oh wait, there's not many of them available anyway. Jokes aside, the box looks great.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 512
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 514

From the front and the back, we have an interesting style that I dig -- especially from the front. There's too many stickers on the backplate, Inno3D.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 522
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 518

The card is thick, but it's no thicker than a regular custom RTX 3070. The RTX 3070 FE design is still my favorite, as it's just so damn small.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 520

You'll need dual 8-pin PCIe power connectors.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 521
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 507
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 505

The RGB lighting isn't too over the top, either.

Test System Specs

Latest upgrade:

Sabrent sent over their huge Rocket Q 8TB NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 SSD, which will be my new Games install SSD inside of my main test bed.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 1166

I've got a new upgrade inside of my GPU test bed before my change to a next-gen test bed, where I will be preparing for NVIDIA's next-gen Ampere graphics cards and AMD's next-gen RDNA 2 graphics cards.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 1162

Sabrent helped out with some new storage for my GPU test beds, sending over a slew of crazy-fast Rocket NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 SSDs. I've got this installed into my GPU test bed as the new Games Storage drive, since games are so damn big now. Thanks to Sabrent, I've got 2TB of super-fast M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD storage now.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 1165

Anthony's GPU Test System Specifications

I've recently upgraded my GPU test bed -- at least for now, until AMD's new Ryzen 9 5950X processor is unleashed then the final update for 2020 will happen and we'll be all good for RDNA 2 and future Ampere GPU releases. You can read my article here: TweakTown GPU Test Bed Upgrade for 2021, But Then Zen 3 Was Announced.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 201Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 222
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 211Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 224

Benchmarks - Synthetic

3DMark Fire Strike

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 4000

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.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 101Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 102
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 103

3DMark TimeSpy

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 104Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 105

Heaven - 1080p

Heaven benchmark

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.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 108Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 107
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 106

Benchmarks - 1080p

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 4014
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 309Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 310

Assassin's Creed: Valhalla is the latest game to be inserted into our benchmark suite, with Ubisoft Montreal using its AnvilNext engine to power the game. It scales really well across the cards, and has some surprising performance benefits with AMD's new Big Navi GPUs.

You can buy Assassins Creed: Valhalla at Amazon.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 111
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 4006
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 304Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 305

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.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 120
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 4013
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 303

Metro Exodus is one of the hardest tests that our graphics cards have to go through, with 4A Games' latest creation being one of the best looking games on the market. It is a serious test that pushes GPUs to their limits, and also features RTX technologies like DLSS.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 114
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 4002
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 302Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 301

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is one of the latest games to join our graphics card benchmark lineup, with the game built using the Foundation engine as a base, the same engine in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Eidos Montreal R&D department made lots of changes to the engine during the development of Shadow of the Tomb Raider to make it one of the best-looking games out right now.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 117

1080p Benchmark Performance Thoughts

Right out of the gate the Inno3D RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 beats the RTX 3070 FE in Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, and when overclocked is just 4FPS away from the RTX 3080 FE.

We have nearly 160FPS when overclocked in Shadow of War, beating the RTX 3080 by 1FPS -- while it loses to the RTX 2080 Ti and RX 6800 when at stock, but beats the two cards when overclocked in Metro Exodus.

Benchmarks - 1440p

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 4014

Assassin's Creed: Valhalla is the latest game to be inserted into our benchmark suite, with Ubisoft Montreal using its AnvilNext engine to power the game. It scales really well across the cards, and has some surprising performance benefits with AMD's new Big Navi GPUs.

You can buy Assassins Creed: Valhalla at Amazon.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 110
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 4006

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.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 119
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 4013

Metro Exodus is one of the hardest tests that our graphics cards have to go through, with 4A Games' latest creation being one of the best looking games on the market. It is a serious test that pushes GPUs to their limits, and also features RTX technologies like DLSS.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 113
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 4002

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is one of the latest games to join our graphics card benchmark lineup, with the game built using the Foundation engine as a base, the same engine in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Eidos Montreal R&D department made lots of changes to the engine during the development of Shadow of the Tomb Raider to make it one of the best-looking games out right now.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 116

1440p Benchmark Performance Thoughts

Things settle down a bit in Assassin's Creed: Valhalla at 1440p, where Inno3D beats out the reference RTX 3070 FE when overclocked -- but loses to it stock (by 1FPS). In Shadow of War sees the RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 getting within 1FPS of the RX 6800.

We are still over 60FPS in Metro Exodus at 1440p, while Shadow of the Tomb Raider is offering 140FPS without a problem.

Benchmarks - 4K

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 4014

Assassin's Creed: Valhalla is the latest game to be inserted into our benchmark suite, with Ubisoft Montreal using its AnvilNext engine to power the game. It scales really well across the cards, and has some surprising performance benefits with AMD's new Big Navi GPUs.

You can buy Assassins Creed: Valhalla at Amazon.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 109
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 4006

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.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 118
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 4013

Metro Exodus is one of the hardest tests that our graphics cards have to go through, with 4A Games' latest creation being one of the best looking games on the market. It is a serious test that pushes GPUs to their limits, and also features RTX technologies like DLSS.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 112
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 4002

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is one of the latest games to join our graphics card benchmark lineup, with the game built using the Foundation engine as a base, the same engine in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Eidos Montreal R&D department made lots of changes to the engine during the development of Shadow of the Tomb Raider to make it one of the best-looking games out right now.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 115

4K Benchmark Performance Thoughts

I wouldn't recommend the Inno3D RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 for 4K gaming, nor would I for any RTX 3070 -- 4K gaming at 60FPS+ is reserved for the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090, as well as the new Radeon RX 6800 XT graphics cards.

But, we're looking at 47FPS in Assassin's Creed: Valhalla -- so dialing down a few details and you could easily hit 4K 60FPS in something brand new like Assassin's Creed: Valhalla. We have 84-91FPS average in Shadow of War depending on stock and OC, while the card gets punished in Metro Exodus with 42-44FPS average.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider sings on the Inno3D RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 with 75-81FPS average, beating out the RTX 2080 Ti easily.

Overclocking

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 801

Out of the box I was setting around 1935-1950MHz on the GPU, at 69C temps with the fans on auto (which were spinning at around 57% at a shave under 2000RPM).

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 804Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 805

But pushing the Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 graphics card to its limits I was seeing anything between 2040-2070MHz and boosts up to 2100MHz, but for the most part it sat between 2040-2070MHz with a 800MHz overclock on the GDDR6 memory.

Power Consumption & Temps

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 668

Power consumption numbers here with the Inno3D RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 are no different to other RTX 3070 graphics cards with around 340W for the entire system and 355W when overclocked.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 669

When it comes to cooling, the Inno3D RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 stayed at around 68C while the card dropping to 55C when the fans are cranked up to 100%.

What's Hot, What's Not

What's Hot

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 521

Performance that beats the RTX 2080 Ti: Inno3D is giving you performance levels of around the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti here, which is great for the new RTX 3070. You've got RTX and DLSS of course, so if your games have those technologies then it's an even better card.

Great OC headroom: There's more OC fun to be had with the RTX 3070 over the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 for the most part.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 523

What's Not

You might not like the design, but it is what it is -- if this is the only GeForce RTX 3070 you can find with the worldwide shortages, it won't matter. For me, I kinda dig the unique design.

Final Thoughts

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 508

Inno3D offers a great custom GeForce RTX 3070 with its iCHILL X3 graphics card, if you can take in its unique style then you're going to rock out with your GTX 3070 performance.

The card was silent at idle and not even that loud when it was under gaming loads, the RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 graphics card stayed under 70C when overclocked. Speaking of being overclocked, thatj's where a nice injection of free performance comes into play.

Out of the box the card is still mighty fast, but with some OC tweaks you can enjoy another 5-10% performance across the board and bringing you closer to the GeForce RTX 3080.

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 Review 517

AMD has come out with its new Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6800 graphics cards, which are competitors for RTX 3070 and RTX 3080 -- but Inno3D still has a great card on offer here with the RTX 3070 iCHILL X3. It battles the RX 6800 and is an even better fighter when overclocked.

Still, if you want something higher-end Inno3D has the RTX 3080 iCHILL X3 -- but for 1080p, 1440, and even 3440 x 1440 UltraWide gamers the RTX 3070 iCHILL X3 is a great graphics card -- if you can buy it.

Performance

100%

Quality

90%

Features

100%

Value

95%

Overall

96%

The Bottom Line

Inno3D has an interesting design, but great performance underneath with its GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X3. It has some great OC headroom, too.

TweakTown award
96%

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super Founders Edition Graphics Card

TodayYesterday7 days ago30 days ago
$449.00$749.00$749.00
* Prices last scanned on 3/18/2024 at 5:56 pm CDT - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission.

Anthony joined the TweakTown team in 2010 and has since reviewed 100s of graphics cards. Anthony is a long time PC enthusiast with a passion of hate for games built around consoles. FPS gaming since the pre-Quake days, where you were insulted if you used a mouse to aim, he has been addicted to gaming and hardware ever since. Working in IT retail for 10 years gave him great experience with custom-built PCs. His addiction to GPU tech is unwavering and has recently taken a keen interest in artificial intelligence (AI) hardware.

Newsletter Subscription
We openly invite the companies who provide us with review samples / who are mentioned or discussed to express their opinion. If any company representative wishes to respond, we will publish the response here. Please contact us if you wish to respond.