NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1070 Ti is probably the final graphics card released on the 18-month old "Pascal" architecture. Just like the GTX 1080, it is based on the GP104 silicon, with a negligibly reduced shader count, but paired with slower GDDR5 memory instead of GDDR5X. The memory change makes sense as GDDR5X seems to be available in limited quantities only and NVIDIA surely wants to sell more cards. GTX 1070 performance is beat by AMD's Vega offerings, though, which is why they came up with the GTX 1070 Ti.

The ASUS GTX 1070 Ti Strix is a custom-design, but is reference-clocked - just like all other GTX 1070 Tis out there, NVIDIA doesn't allow board partners to overclock their cards out of the box, probably to protect the GTX 1080. Small performance differences are still to be expected due to slightly different boost ranges, power limits, and thermals. When looking at averages, we see nothing of that. The ASUS GTX 1070 Ti Strix is exactly as fast as the GTX 1070 Ti Founders Edition. Compared to the GTX 1080, the GTX 1070 Ti is 5% slower, which makes it 13% faster than the GTX 1070. AMD's Vega 56 is 6% behind and Vega 64 is 4% faster. The mighty GTX 1080 Ti takes the lead with 36% faster performance. These results make the GTX 1070 Ti an excellent choice for maximum-detail 1440p gaming, or 1080p when using a high-refresh-rate monitor.

ASUS is using a large triple-slot cooler on their card, which we've seen on other Strix models from the company before. It provides massive cooling potential and keeps the card at excellent temperatures that are not even close to throttling. In terms of fan noise, the card is also extremely quiet, matching the MSI GTX 1070 Ti Gaming. This makes the ASUS thermal solution the best we've seen so far, it having the best temperatures and best fan noise at the same time, but ASUS is using three slots instead of the two the MSI Gaming can do with. Like most other custom designs, ASUS included the crucial idle-fan-off feature, which turns off the fans completely during idle, Internet browsing, and light gaming. Excellent!

Power efficiency of Pascal is amazing, and the GTX 1070 Ti is no exception. Performance per watt is similar to the GTX 1080 Ti, a bit lower than the GTX 1080 and GTX 1070, by roughly 10%. It's still heaps more efficient than AMD Vega. ASUS made some changes to the VRM circuitry, which, unlike other custom design, didn't negatively effect power efficiency. I also like the choice to stick with a single 8-pin power connector as the additional power input on other cards makes no difference at all.

Early reports claimed that overclocking is locked on the GTX 1070 Ti. This is absolutely not true. All our samples overclock very well and reach clocks above 2 GHz after boost, easily beating GTX 1080 performance. As mentioned before, board partners are not allowed to include out of the box overclocks with their cards, which makes things difficult for less experienced people, or people who just don't want to waste time overclocking. Overclocking has become quite easy these days, so don't worry and give it a try.

The ASUS GTX 1070 Ti Strix is currently listed online for $500, which is a $50 increase over the Founders Edition for basically a fantastic cooler as no out of the box overclock is allowed. This brings its price dangerously close to the RX Vega 64 and GTX 1080. The cheapest GTX 1080 variant won't be that quiet and probably won't include the fan-stop feature, but neither will be a problem if you are willing to do additional tweaking. Vega 64 does offer a few percent more performance, but has high power draw and noise and limited overclocking potential. This only leaves a small window to justify GTX 1070 Ti cards for around $500, which is too high in my opinion. A more realistic price point would be in the $450-$480 range, depending on the bells and whistles of the card. Currently, NVIDIA game promos are only for the GTX 1080 and GTX 1080 Ti, so shelling out some extra money for a GTX 1080 could get you a $60 game, or some money back if you sell the game.