MSI GTX 1070 Gaming X 8 GB Review

Name: MSI GTX 1070 Gaming X 8 GB
Brand: MSI

W1zzard

on Jun 28th, 2016,

in Graphics Cards.

Manufacturer: MSI

(56 Comments) »

Introduction

NVIDIA released their GeForce GTX 1070 and GTX 1080 not long ago, featuring the company's new Pascal architecture, a brand-new 16 nanometer production process, and GDDR5X memory. In our launch-day review, we were truly impressed by how well NVIDIA claimed the performance throne with the 1080, but also the GTX 1070 managed to impress with its high-end performance at an attractive sub-$400 price-point. The reference-design card, however, is sold at a $70 premium over the GTX 1070 Founders Edition sitting at $449.

The GeForce GTX 1070 uses the same Pascal GP104 graphics processor as the GTX 1080, with just 1920 enabled shaders instead of 2560, which also affects the number of texture units that are down to 120 from 160. With 64, the number of ROPs is the same, and so is the memory capacity at 8 GB. However, today's review subject, like all GTX 1070 variants, uses GDDR5 memory, unlike the GTX 1080 that comes with GDDR5X. GDDR5X offers twice the bandwidth at the same operating frequency, so NVIDIA is running the GeForce GTX 1070's memory at a frequency of 2 GHz in order to make up for that.

In this review, we are taking a close look at the MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Gaming X, which uses the company's new TwinFrozr VI cooling solution, which is mated with a custom-designed PCB by the company. The two enable a significant factory overclock for more performance and, hopefully, less noise than the GTX 1070 Founders Edition. We also hope that the thermal throttling of the Founders Edition is a thing of the past, which would yield additional performance.

With a retail price of $459, the MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Gaming X in this review is more expensive than the Founders Edition.

GeForce GTX 1070 Market Segment Analysis
	GeForce GTX 970	Radeon R9 290X	Radeon R9 390X	GeForce GTX 780 Ti	GeForce GTX 980	Radeon R9 Fury	Radeon R9 Fury X	GeForce GTX 980 Ti	GeForce GTX Titan X	GeForce GTX 1070	MSI GTX 1070 Gaming X	GeForce GTX 1080
Shader Units	1664	2816	2816	2880	2048	3584	4096	2816	3072	1920	1920	2560
ROPs	56	64	64	48	64	64	64	96	96	64	64	64
Graphics Processor	GM204	Hawaii	Hawaii	GK110	GM204	Fiji	Fiji	GM200	GM200	GP104	GP104	GP104
Transistors	5200M	6200M	6200M	7100M	5200M	8900M	8900M	8000M	8000M	7200M	7200M	7200M
Memory Size	4 GB	4 GB	8 GB	3 GB	4 GB	4 GB	4 GB	6 GB	12 GB	8 GB	8 GB	8 GB
Memory Bus Width	256 bit	512 bit	512 bit	384 bit	256 bit	4096 bit	4096 bit	384 bit	384 bit	256 bit	256 bit	256 bit
Core Clock	1051 MHz+	1000 MHz	1050 MHz	876 MHz+	1126 MHz+	1000 MHz	1050 MHz	1000 MHz+	1000 MHz+	1506 MHz+	1582 MHz+	1607 MHz+
Memory Clock	1750 MHz	1250 MHz	1500 MHz	1750 MHz	1750 MHz	500 MHz	500 MHz	1750 MHz	1750 MHz	2002 MHz	2002 MHz	1251 MHz
Price	$265	$270	$310	$390	$360	$530	$600	$440	$1150	$379 / $449	$459	$599 / $699

Packaging

You will receive:

Graphics card + driver CD
Documentation
Stickers

The Card

MSI has conducted a slight refresh of their TwinFrozr cooler design. The differences are small, but the card definitely looks good. On the back, you will find a metal backplate with an MSI Dragon. Dimensions of the card are 28.0 cm x 14.5 cm.

Installation requires two slots in your system.

Display connectivity options include a DVI port, an HDMI port, and three DisplayPorts. Unlike previous NVIDIA cards, the DVI port no longer includes the analog signal, so you'll have to use an active adapter. NVIDIA also updated DisplayPort to be 1.2 certified and 1.3/1.4 ready, which enables support for 4K at 120 Hz and 5K @ 60 Hz, or 8K @ 60 Hz with two cables.

The GPU also comes with an HDMI sound device. It is HDMI 2.0b compatible, which supports HD audio and Blu-ray 3D movies. The GPU video-encoding unit has been updated to support HEVC at 10 and 12-bit.

NVIDIA made some changes to SLI. Two-way SLI is now the only officially supported configuration for gaming. Three-way or Quad SLI can no longer be enabled in games; however, it does work in a few benchmarks. Also, for 4K at 60 Hz and above, NVIDIA recommends a new high-bandwidth SLI bridge called "SLI HB," which occupies both SLI fingers. The old bridges will work fine at lower resolutions.