Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition Review

For the original German review, see here.

26.6 cm long (~10.5 in), 2 slots wide, 1x 8-pin power-in, and a 65 mm (~2.6 in) radial fan are the visible key features of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founder's Edition. The cooling unit is more or less identical to that of the larger sibling. Only the label reveals which components are hidden behind it. Subjectively, the graphics card appears very high-end. The full cover back plate does not only contribute to this impression, but also protects the components. A green glowing "GEFORCE GTX" label decorates the side, which is an eye-catcher in cases with side window.

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founder's Edition features a dual-link DVI port, an HDMI 2.0 port and three DisplayPorts on the external side. Inside, the performance can be increased by connecting a second graphics card via the SLI interface. However, it is necessary that games support SLI for a performance gain.

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founder's Edition is the reference model from Nvidia. This model carries the suffix "Founder's Edition". This graphics card will always be sold with standard clock rates and the same cooling system.

Our test system:

Intel Core i7-4790K (non-overclocked), 16 GB DDR3, Asus Z97-Deluxe, Asus PB287Q 4K Monitor, Intel SSD 530 (240 GB, System), OCZ Trion 100 SSD (480 GB, benchmarks), Microsoft Windows 10 64-bit

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founder's Edition features a base clock of 1506 MHz. Nvidia specifies a Turbo clock of 1683 MHz. Our GPUz render test reported a maximum clock of 1898 MHz. However, this is a theoretical value, which can only be reached for a few seconds when the GPU temperature is very low. Later in the tests, the clock frequency hovers at 1835 MHz. The reference card's clock rates are often significantly above 1700 MHz in the gaming benchmarks.

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founder's Edition ranks in just above the older GTX 980 Ti in the synthetic benchmarks. However, graphics cards of the GTX 980 Ti series, which are overclocked out-of-the-box, are able to outperform the GTX 1070 reference cards. Nevertheless, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 is the more modern graphics card and significantly more energy efficient than the predecessor generation. The GTX 1080 is somewhat faster than its smaller sibling by up to 24%.

As with the GTX 1070 from MSI, the Founder's Edition also ensures decent performance. Most games run smoothly in 4K with high preset. Depending on game and preset, the GeForce GTX 1070 Founder's Edition is about 10% slower than the MSI card, which, however, is overclocked out-of-the-box. In terms of gaming performance, the two rivals, GeForce GTX 1070 Founder's Edition and GeForce GTX 980 Ti are on par.