Taiwan-based Micro-Star International supplies high-quality graphics cards under the MSI brand. Each version they offer offers a slight advantage over its competitors. This time, we'll be testing and reviewing the MSI Gaming GeForce GTX 1070, which was first released on May 6, 2016, with an MSRP of $379. This card is currently available online for approximately $577 (price on Amazon).
Introducing the MSI GTX 1070 GAMING graphics card
The MSI GTX 1070 GAMING graphics card boasts an aggressive gamer look in red and black. Its robust chassis features exceptional build quality. The card has five video outputs: three DisplayPort, one HDMI, and one dual-link DVI. It measures 27.9 cm x 11.1 cm and occupies two slots. It features 1920 shader processors , or CUDA cores . The GPU of this GTX 1070 Gaming operates at 1.582 GHz in Gaming mode. When overclocked, 7.2 billion integrated transistors reach a peak frequency of 1.797 GHz . The GTX 1070 Gaming uses 8 GB of GDDR5 running at 8.108 GHz. The memory uses a 256-bit memory bus to transfer data at a bandwidth of 256 Gb/s . The GPU was manufactured using a 16-nanometer process. The GTX 1070 card has a TDP of 150 watts. Therefore, the power supply is 500 watts.
This card supports virtual reality with NVIDIA VRWorks. It also supports DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.5, OpenCL 1.2, and Vulkan 1.2. NVIDIA VRWorks technology reduces latency and offers compatibility with the latest VR headsets. The GTX 1070 Gaming excels at 720p and with game streaming using NVIDIA SHIELD . GTX series cards are renowned for their speed and performance. They also incorporate the latest technologies, such as NVIDIA Gameworks . This technology delivers smooth gameplay and high-quality graphics, resulting in realistic animation. It includes, among other things, all of Santa Clara's technologies, PhysX, HairWorks, and more. It's a precursor to ray tracing, offering breathtaking lighting and shadow effects. The card's supported technologies also allow for 360° screenshots. Regarding the lighting system, the LEDs can be controlled from the Gaming App . You can make each LED blink, turn it on, turn it off, etc.
Nvidia has optimized the color compression system, resulting in a performance gain of nearly 20% compared to the previous architecture (Maxwell). Asynchronous calculations are now better handled by this Pascal architecture card, which dynamically allocates workloads based on available resources. An additional buffer has been added to further reduce processing latency and prevent screen tearing. All of this is optimized by the brand-new vertical synchronization technology called Fast Sync.
For the cooling system, MSI has implemented Torx 2.0 fans . The design has been revamped to achieve over 22% more airflow compared to the previous generation. The blades are more curved, which accelerates airflow and improves air circulation. The cooling system is both more efficient and quieter. The fans also feature two rows of ball bearings, providing a robust ventilation system that won't let you down during intense gaming sessions.
MSI introduced a system called Zero Frozr in 2008. Its purpose is to minimize noise from the cooling system. The fans stop spinning when the temperature doesn't exceed 60°C. Therefore, they generally don't operate when the PC is in sleep mode, running a light game, or during office use. MSI has also made several improvements to the cooling system for greater efficiency: a rubber strip to prevent kinking, a cooling plate near the memory for more advanced overclocking, and micro-grooves on the PWM heatsink for enhanced cooling.
The MSI GTX 1070 Gaming card performs well in cryptocurrency mining. It manages to generate 832 Mh/s in Bitcoin (Sha256), 2.83 Gh/s in Decred, 28.69 Mh/s in Ethereum, 1.75 Gh/s in Siacoin, 0.65 kh/s in Zcash and 435.21 Sol/s in Zcash.
GTX 1070 graphics card benchmarking
Tested on Fortnite, the GTX 1070 displays 425 frames per second at 720p (425 FPS). This card is not designed for QHD/1440p gaming, as the average frame rate at this resolution is around 0.5.
When comparing the performance of the GTX 1070 with similar cards, the following cards show equivalent performance: Radeon R9 Fury , GeForce GTX 980 Ti , Titan X Pascal , Radeon R9 Nano , GeForce GTX 980 and Radeon R9 390X .
By analyzing the performance of the GTX 1070 card (G3D Mark score 13,330) on G3D Mark compared to various commonly used cards, we find that it performs better than the following cards: Radeon RX 580 (G3D Mark score 8,766), Radeon RX 470 (G3D Mark score 7,944), Radeon HD 7970 / R9 280X (G3D Mark score 5,257), Radeon HD 7950 / R9 280 (G3D Mark score 4,775), Radeon R9 270 / R7 370 (G3D Mark score 4,269). However, it is less powerful than the following cards: GeForce RTX 2060 (G3D Mark score 14,001), GeForce GTX 1080 (G3D Mark score 14,806), Radeon RX 5700 XT (G3D Mark score 16,739), GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER (G3D Mark score 18,092).
On 3DMark, the GTX 1070 card obtains a score of 9107. It is therefore -6.2% behind the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary , -4.8% behind the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT , +2.7% behind the AMD Radeon VII and 3.4% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER .
In short, the MSI GeForce GTX 1070 is appreciated for its quiet operation and support for a wide range of features. The cooling system is well-designed to prevent the graphics card from overheating, allowing for overclocking. While ray tracing isn't yet supported, the existing features, including NVIDIA GameWorks, deliver stunning and realistic graphics. The MSI GeForce GTX 1070 is ideal for 720p gaming, not QHD. This card is available online, notably on Amazon, for approximately $577. The MSRP is $379.
