Conclusion

Conclusion

I kinda have to say it out loud, I really do like the price performance ratio of the GTX 1070 so much better then what the GTX 1080 offers at its sales price. Face it, even with the GPU castrated a notch, the GeForce GTX 1070 still offers really good performance. These cards (especially the factory tweaked ones) are battling (and winning from) the GTX 980 Ti and Titan X cards out there. Though Nvidia castrated the GPU a bit, the combo of the GPU with GDDR5 memory at 8 Gbps still offers plenty of horsepower. Also with the 1070 series you are looking at a $400  / 425 EURO marker for the cheaper models. The Pascal GP104 architecture is interesting, as in aside from a few changes in the pipeline, it looks VERY similar to Maxwell. Make no mistake there have been changes, but it shares a very similar structure. So the biggest benefit for Nvidia was 16 nm, as it allows them to drive their products to incredible clock frequencies whilst they can use less voltage, and that results in power consumption way under the 200 Watt marker. Though not that exquisite GDDR5X memory, the 1070 uses GDDR5 graphics memory, still it's effectively running at a nice data-rate of 8 Gbps which brings in a very nice memory performance boost compared to the last gen products, in fact it tweaks rather easily over 9 Gbps as well. That fact armed with new color compression technologies effectively boosts the memory bandwidth a notch upwards compared to the GeForce GTX 970 and 980. Performance wise we really do need to compare to the GTX 970 with its 3.5 GB of effective memory, and yeah the GTX 1070 is much faster. You are looking at an order of 30 to 40% more performance, and that truly is substantial! It still is faster as a GTX 980 and roughly as fast as a 980 Ti. Next to that I have got to say, 8 GB 256-bit GDDR5 graphics memory also feels like an excellent and well-balanced amount of graphics memory anno 2016. Would you ever use 8 GB of memory? Well, not anytime soon. The largest number we ever measured as like 5 or 6 GB. But hey, who knows with titles like The Division / GTA5 and technologies like Ultra HD and / or DSR versus performance and VRAM what you find valid, or not. High up there in the enthusiast space there certainly is a market for cards like these. That makes these 8 GB models relevant for gaming. 
  

Aesthetics

MSI tweaked the design a bit for the new Gaming X and upcoming Z series, the more stylish TwinFrozr VI cooler looks serious and now comes with RGB LED lighting control as well as a LED array in the rear surrounding the fan. The design and cooler is obivously 100% similar to the GTX 1080 Gaming X.  The top logo etc you can switch on/off or to any color and animation you prefer, the choice is yours. Cool dibs is that backplate, with opening at the proper areas (GPU/VRM) for venting. As you can see, I remain skeptical about backplates, they potentially can trap heat and thus warm up the PCB. But the flip-side is that they do look better and can protect your PCB and components from damage. Consumer demand is always decisive, and you guys clearly like graphics cards with backplates. Both the front IO plate and backplate are dark matte black which certainly gives the card that premium feel. All that combined with a nicely design 10 phase PCB again in matte black, and the end result is a lovely looking product.  

Cooling & Noise Levels

The reference design (founder editions) of all GTX 1070/1080 are set at an offset threshold of 80 degrees C. Once the GPU gets warmer the card will clock down / lower its voltage etc to try and keep the card cooler, that's throttling and it part of the design. MSI however throws in a cooler that manages roughly 500 to 600W of cooling performance. It is a really good one, so good that up-to a degree or 60 on the GPU, this card remains passive and thus inaudible. Once the fans kick in, you can expect to hover at the 70 Degrees C marker, with seriously demanding games. Please do note that you will need proper ventilation inside your chassis to achieve that number. So MSI shaved off a good 10 Degrees C over reference. Noise wise, we can’t complain about cooling whatsoever. Expect sound pressure values in the 38~39 dBA range at max under load and warm circumstances. That's measured 75 CM away from the PC. This means you can barely hear the card while using it. Once overclocked with added voltage we always do recommend a little more fan RPM, this does increase noise a tiny bit, but it's nothing dramatic by any standard. Overall this is a very sound and solid cooling solution.

Power Consumption

Any GP104 Pascal GPU and thus GP104 based graphics card is rated as having a 160~180 Watt TDP under full stress, our measurements back that up albeit a notch higher due to the faster clocks and thus voltage usage. We noticed that the Gaming X 1070 did consumer a bit more power due to its tweaks and design, it was just over 180 Watts under full stress. That's OK though. Here again keep in mind we measure peak power consumption, the average power consumption is a good notch lower depending on GPU utilization. Also, if you plan to overclock the CPU/memory and/or GPU with added voltage, please do purchase a power supply with enough reserve. People often underestimate it, but if you tweak all three aforementioned variables, you can easily add 200 Watts to your peak power consumption budget as increasing voltages and clocks increases your power consumption.

Gaming performance

If you plan to upgrade my biggest advice to you is this, you'll need to look at your monitor first and foremost. A GeForce GTX 1070 would be perfect for Wide Quad HD Gaming at 2560x1440. It has plenty power and has the graphics memory to deal with games for years to come, even with the best quality settings and some niche AA levels. Price performance wise one should also take SLI into deliberation. We'll test it at one point but two GeForce GTX 1070 cards setup in SLI might be a true sweet-spot for Ultra HD gamers or the ones that like to go a little dirteeh with DSR and of course the latest gaming titles. Performance wise, really there's not one game that won't run seriously good at the very best image quality settings at 2560x1440. And sure, the cool factor remains you get the advantages of an 8 GB framebuffer. As such we feel the card is rather future proof. We mentioned SLI already, but starting with Pascal the primary focus for Nvidia in terms of multi-GPU setups is that they will support 2-way SLI, but really that's it and all. For those of you that want to run 3 and 4-way configuration, it's going to be difficult but remains possible as the game needs to support and you will need to obtain a driver key from the Nvidia website. Do not expect Nvidia to enhance drivers for it, they'll just open up the floodgate and have you deal with the rest. Some of you might be disappointed about this news. Me personally, I am fine with the choice to focus on proper 2-way SLI opposed to all the arbitrary configurations that less then 0.01% of the end-users uses.

Concluding

Yeah this conclusion page is kinda similar to the Gaming X 1080 I know, but aside from the GPU and memory, the rest of the card is simply similar. We also understand that the harsh reality is that the 1080 is the card we all want but cannot afford. That makes the the GeForce GTX 1070 the next best thing, and it a terrific card really. In fact, it offers more than plenty for any PC gamer out there that plays his or her games up-to the WQHD domain and 2560x1440 ('ish). The 1070 is a truly nice upgrade if you come from the GeForce GTX 960/970 range. Seen from GTX 980 and higher, not so much of course. The new architecture proves its agility and the die shrink to 16 nm FiNFET shows low power consumption due to lower voltages and obviously the high clock-speeds and that 8 Gbps GDDR5 memory offer the product that the GTX 1070 is. The MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Gaming X is a simply terrific choice for the ones that game in up-to 2560x1440 resolution domain and even some games in the Ultra HD realm. Added benefits over a founders edition card is the better looks, the better cooling, and a very silent product. We admit it, the card will not have the extra bite that its big brother the 1080 offers but, with such a price difference, the choice remains obvious and a no-brainer. The MSI GeForce GTX 1070 GAMING X 8G comes overclocked roughly a 100 MHz, that at these base clock frequencies is relatively mild. But still you'll notice games boosting in the 1.9 Ghz range, and that's pretty sweet under warranty.

Tweaking wise I say that Nvidia overstepped their boundaries by implementing way too many limiters. Oretty much Nvidia decides what you max overclock is with a few exception here and there. All cards from any vendor are going to hover in the 2.1~2.1 Ghz range max. I'll state it again, ALL cards. So you need to focus at the extras like design, cooling, RGB LED system and and sure, that x-factor which does make the MSI GeForce GTX 1070 GAMING X 8G is what it is, a proper product all sturdy and armored up. All the right boxes are ticked by design, and add to that the great game performance this card offers for the money. We do like it a lot, and certainly would like to recommend the card to any serious gamer, if you can find it for the right price of course. Next week once these puppies go on sale prices in the first few weeks will likely be artificially inflated due to high demand. Hey summer is long, perhaps wait it out a bit until prices settle at 399~449 EURO? 

 - H

Other Related reviews

• MSI GeForce GTX 1080 GAMING X 8G review
• MSI GeForce GTX 1070 GAMING X 8G review
• GeForce GTX 1080 Founders reference review
• GeForce GTX 1080 FCAT Frametime Analysis
• GeForce GTX 1080 Overclock guide
  
  
• GeForce GTX 1070 Founders reference review
• GeForce GTX 1070 FCAT Frametime Analysis

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