NVIDIA just launched their new GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards, based on the new NVIDIA Ampere architecture!
Here is a quick primer on what you need to know about the latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, RTX 3080 and RTX 3070 graphics cards!
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series : Virtual Launch
Thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang launched the GeForce RTX 30 series in a virtual event.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series : 2nd Generation RTX
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards is built on the new NVIDIA Ampere architecture, giving them 2nd Gen Ray Tracing cores and 3rd Gen Tensor Cores.
New Streaming Multiprocessors : Delivering 2X the FP32 performance of NVIDIA Turing, and 30 Shader-TFLOPS of processing power
2nd Gen RT Cores : Delivering 2X the performance of NVIDIA Turing, plus concurrent ray tracing and compute, with 58 RT-TFLOPS of processing power.
3rd Gen Tensor Cores : Up to 2X the performance of NVIDIA Turing, with 238 Tensor-TFLOPS of processing power.
NVIDIA RTX IO : Enables rapid GPU-based loading and game asset decompression, accelerating I/O performance by up to 100X. When used in conjunction with Microsoft DirectStorage API, it offloads the work to the RTX GPU, improving frame rates and enabling near-instantaneous game loading.
GDDR6X Memory : Delivers close to 1 TB/s of memory bandwidth, improving gaming performance.
Custom Samsung 8N Process Technology : Delivers higher transistor density and greater efficiency.
HDMI 2.1 : Delivers single-cable connection to 8K HDR TVs and monitors for ultra-high resolution gaming.
AV1 Decode : First discrete GPUs to support hardware decoding of the new AV1 codec, allowing for up to 8K HDR videos at 50% less bandwidth.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series : Founders Edition Cards
NVIDIA will introduce three GeForce RTX 30 Series Founders Edition graphics card models, with a new 12-pin power connector.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090
At the top of the stack is the RTX 3090, which NVIDIA nicknames as BFGPU – Big Ferocious GPU. Doom fans will probably disagree…
Priced at a whopping US$1,499, it is a massive three-slot design with a dual-axial flow-through cooler, that is 10x quieter than the TITAN RTX, while keeping the GPU up to 30°C cooler.
With 24GB of GDDR6X memory, the RTX 3090 is up to 50% faster than the TITAN RTX, allowing gamers to finally experience what it’s like to game in the 8K resolution at 60 fps!
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080
Starting at US$699, the GeForce RTX 3080 will be up to 2X faster than the RTX 2080.
With 10GB of GDDR6X memory running at 19 Gbps, it will be able to consistently deliver 4K gaming at 60 fps.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
Starting at US$499, the RTX 3070 is faster than the RTX 2080 Ti at less than half the price, and is 60% faster than the RTX 2070.
With 8GB of GDDR6 memory, it will be fast enough to handle both 4K and 1440p gaming.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series : Specifications
Here are the known specifications of the three GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards :
Specifications
GeForce
RTX 3090
GeForce
RTX 3080
GeForce
RTX 3070
CUDA Cores
10,496
8,704
5,888
Base Clock
1.40 GHz
1.44 GHz
1.50 GHz
Boost Clock
1.70 GHz
1.71 GHz
1.73 GHz
Memory Size
24 GB
10 GB
8 GB
Memory Type
GDDR6X
GDDR6
Memory Speed
19.5 MT/s
Memory Interface
384-bit
320-bit
256-bit
Memory Bandwidth
936 GB/s
780 GB/s
624 GB/s
NVLink (SLI)
Yes
No
Card Size
3-Slot
2-Slot
Card Power
350 W
320 W
220 W
Card Connectors
2 x 8-pin
1 x 8-pin
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series : Price + Launch Deal
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, RTX 3080 and RTX 3070 will be available as Founders Edition cards.
In addition, custom boards – both stock-clocked and overclocked variants – will be available from brands like ASUS, Colorful, EVGA, Gainward, Galaxy, GIGABYTE, Innovision 3D, MSI, Palit, PNY and Zotac.
They will be made available at these price points, at these dates :
RTX 3090 : US$1,499, starting 24 September 2020
RTX 3080 : US$699, starting 17 September 2020
RTX 3070 : US$499, starting October 2020
For a limited time, every purchase of a GeForce RTX 30 Series graphics card or system will receive a FREE digital copy of Watch Dogs : Legion.
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In the lead-up to their major GeForce reveal on 1 September 2020, NVIDIA shared how their team designs and creates the NVIDIA Founders Edition graphics cards!
NVIDIA Founders Edition : What Is It?
NVIDIA Founders Edition graphics cards are designed to be the ultimate expression of NVIDIA’s gaming vision.
They are crafted with premium materials and components, including a faceted die-cast aluminium-framed shroud for strength, rigidity and looks.
Aesthetics aside, they come with an improved cooler built around a radial fan and an improved aluminium heatsink with two copper heat pipes and over 50% more surface area.
They also come with dual FETs for both GPU and memory power supplies, coupled with a low-impedance power delivery network and custom voltage regulators for better power efficiency.
All the better to deliver better performance and higher overclocking headroom, at lower noise levels.
How An NVIDIA Founders Edition Graphics Card Is Designed!
But a lot has changed over the years, and it now takes a combination of expertise in architecture development, thermal, mechanical, electrical, and product design to make it all happen.
To lift the shroud on this process, some of NVIDIA’s best and brightest detailed the art and science behind graphics card design today, with a look towards the possibilities of the future.
In this video, NVIDIA offers a first glimpse at some of the strides they made in designing graphics cards, so that they can reach their maximum potential and remain cool and quiet.
The next-generation NVIDIA Founders Edition graphics cards will feature these improvements :
Thermal : An airflow-optimised cooling solution, redesigned to overcome existing constraints and move more air through the system for maximum cooling efficiency.
Mechanical : A stronger mechanical structure, including a new low profile leaf spring that leaves room for a back cover.
Electrical : A compact electrical design, with a new 12-pin power connector that allows more space for components and cooling, and is compatible with 8-pin connectors in existing power supplies with an included adapter.
Product Design : A no-compromise, cohesive design that embraces the revolutionary thermal solution while beautifully harmonising each element of the graphics card.
We can’t wait to see what the next-generation NVIDIA Founders Edition graphics card will deliver!
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Black Friday and Cyber Monday are just around the corner. Here are the latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX price list and offers in the US, UK and Malaysia!
Check the online deals against these latest prices and make sure you don’t get cheated!
Updated @ 2018-11-22 : Added the latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX price lists in the US, UK and Malaysia. Accurate as today. Also added some details of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales offer!
Updated @ 2018-09-23 : Added the latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX price list in the US, UK and Malaysia. Accurate as today.
First posted @ 2018-08-21
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX Models
Built on the new NVIDIA Turing architecture, these are the world’s first ray-tracing graphics cards. They come with not just CUDA cores, but also Tensor cores and RT (Ray Tracing) cores.
Three models were announced, each with a Founders Edition variant. That’s a total of six models. Let’s take a look!
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti has 4,352 CUDA cores and 11 GB of GDDR6 memory. It delivers an amazing 10 Giga Rays/sec, 78 Tera RTX-OPS per second, and 616 GB/s of memory bandwidth.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 has 2,944 CUDA cores and 8 GB of GDDR6 memory. It delivers a whopping 8 Giga Rays/sec, 60 Tera RTX-OPS per second, and 448 GB/s of memory bandwidth.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 has 2,304 CUDA cores and 8 GB of GDDR6 memory. It delivers a whopping 8 Giga Rays/sec, 45 Tera RTX-OPS per second, and 448 GB/s of memory bandwidth.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX Price + Availability
These new GeForce RTX graphics cards are available for pre-order starting 20 August 2018, with retail availability on 20 September 2018.
NVIDIA will also offer the GeForce RTX NVLink Bridge at US$ 79.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX Black Friday + Cyber Monday Offers
For Black Friday and Cyber Monday, NVIDIA is giving away Battlefield V when you buy any GeForce RTX graphics card, from 23 November until 7 January 2019… while supplies last!
They are also hosting an Ansel screenshot contest for Battlefield V, although it’s not open to all regions… 🙁
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At Gamescon 2018, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang took the covers off NVIDIA Turing, and announced the NVIDIA GeForce RTX series, the first gaming GPUs based on the new NVIDIA Turing architecture and the NVIDIA RTX platform. Find out how Turing delivers new RTX hybrid graphics capabilities for the next-generation of games!
NVIDIA Turing enables a new hybrid graphics capability, which fuses next-generation shaders with real-time ray tracing and all-new AI capabilities. This hybrid graphics capability represents the biggest generational leap ever in gaming capability.
NVIDIA Turing claims to deliver 6X more performance than its predecessor, Pascal, allowing it to deliver 4K HDR gaming at 60 frames per second on even the most advanced titles.
“Turing opens up a new golden age of gaming, with realism only possible with ray tracing, which most people thought was still a decade away,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “The breakthrough is a hybrid rendering model that boosts today’s computer graphics with the addition of lightning-fast ray-tracing acceleration and AI. RTX is going to define a new look for computer graphics. Once you see an RTX game, you can’t go back.”
New RT Cores to enable real-time ray tracing of objects and environments with physically accurate shadows, reflections, refractions, and global illumination.
Turing Tensor Cores to perform lightning-fast deep neural network processing.
New NGX neural graphics framework integrates AI into the overall graphics pipeline, enabling AI algorithms to perform amazing image enhancement and generation.
New Turing shader architecture with Variable Rate Shading allows shaders to focus processing power on areas of rich detail, boosting overall performance.
New memory system featuring ultra-fast GDDR6 with over 600 GB/s of memory bandwidth for high-speed, high-resolution gaming.
NVIDIA NVLink, a high-speed interconnect that provides higher bandwidth (up to 100 GB/s) and improved scalability for multi-GPU configurations (SLI).
Hardware support for USB Type-C and VirtualLink, a new open industry standard being developed to meet the power, display and bandwidth demands of next-generation VR headsets through a single USB-C connector.
New and enhanced technologies to improve performance of VR applications, including Variable Rate Shading, Multi-View Rendering and VRWorks Audio.
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NVIDIA Turing Game Support
The world’s top game publishers, developers and engine creators have announced support for the NVIDIA Turing and the NVIDIA RTX platform to bring real-time ray tracing and the power of AI to gamers everywhere. They include Battlefield V, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Metro Exodus, Control, and Assetto Corsa Competizione.
The NVIDIA RTX platform is also being adopted by a large number of developers of professional rendering applications, including Adobe, Autodesk and Pixar.
GeForce RTX Price + Availability
The new RTX 2080 Ti and RTX 2080 graphics cards are available for pre-order starting 20 August 2018, with retail availability on 20 September 2018. The RTX 2070 graphics cards will be available only in October 2018.
NVIDIA will also offer the GeForce RTX NVLink Bridge at US$ 79.
Founders Edition
NVIDIA is releasing special Founders Edition versions of the new GeForce RTX GPUs. Designed and built to the company’s high standards, the GPUs’ key features include:
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Factory-overclocked design out of the box, with a next-gen 13-phase iMON DrMOS power supply and sub-millisecond power management for maximum overclocking.
Dual 13-blade axial fans produce 3x higher airflow and ultra-quiet acoustics.
Forged and machine-finished diecast aluminum cover with diamond-cut edge detailing provides a rigid, lightweight frame for an open design with beautifully smooth, continuous curves.
First full-card vapour chamber, which is 2x larger to maximize heat spreading and heat transfer to the finstack.
Enhanced DisplayPort 1.4a with DSC allows a single connector to drive an 8K monitor at 60Hz.
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NVIDIA Turing + GeForce RTX Presentation Slides
Here is the complete set of NVIDIA Turing and GeForce RTX presentation slides that Jensen Huang used in his presentation at Gamescon 2018.
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Ever since AMD launched the Radeon RX Vega family of graphics cards, NVIDIA was expected to respond with a new graphics card (or two), or a price cut. As we revealed last month, NVIDIA decided to introduce the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti to take on the Radeon RX Vega 56 (Price Check).
Now get the full details on the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti here – from the initial leaks to the final specifications, and launch price.
Updated @ 2017-10-31 : Added nine additional GeForce GTX 1070 Ti models and their prices [7].
Updated @ 2017-10-28 : Added the final details and pictures of the Founders Edition [6], and updated the launch prices. Also added some purchase links [7].
Updated @ 2017-10-23 : Added the ASUS ROG teaser puzzle [5].
Updated @ 2017-10-22 : Added a new page with pictures and specifications of the leaked GALAX [3] and KFA2 GeForce GTX 1070 Ti [4] graphics cards.
Updated @ 2017-10-07 : Added the confirmed launch and availability dates, as well as additional specifications [1]. Updated the specification comparison [2].
Originally posted @ 2017-09-23
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti is targeted at the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56. It is designed to comfortably beat the Radeon RX Vega 56 (Price Check), with a 12.5% price premium. NVIDIA has made available the photos of the Founders Edition :
Here is a summary of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti’s key features:
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It uses the same NVIDIA GP104 GPU used in the GeForce GTX 1080 and GeForce GTX 1070.
It has 2432 CUDA cores, with 152 TMUs (Texture Mapping Units), and 64 ROPs.
It has a base clock speed of 1607 MHz and a boost clock of 1683 MHz.
It has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory running at 2002 MHz (8008 MHz QDR).
It has the same TDP of 180 W as the GeForce GTX 1080, 30 W higher than the GeForce GTX 1070.
The Founders Edition has a recommended retail price of US$ 449, US$50 more than the Radeon RX Vega 56.
It was revealed on 26 October 2017, with availability on 2 November 2017.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti Specifications
Here is a comparison table to show how the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti compares against other GeForce 10 Series graphics cards.
Earlier, we were told that the launch price would be US$ 429. However, NVIDIA decided in the end to introduce the premium Founders Edition at US$ 449 – the same launch price as the GeForce GTX 1070 (Price Check).
This makes the Founders Edition about US$ 50 more expensive than the Radeon RX Vega 56 (Price Check), but the “regular” version should be priced around US$ 379. Of course, the actual street prices will be somewhat higher, and there will be different overclocked versions offered at higher prices.
This lower price point means a price cut for the GeForce GTX 1070 (Price Check), which despite rumours to the contrary, is still listed and sold on NVIDIA’s website.
As we leaked earlier, NVIDIA officially revealed the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti on 26 October 2017, with the cards only shipping from 2 November 2017 onwards.
If you are looking to buy one, here are some purchase links to get you started. Technically, these are currently pre-order links, because the cards will only ship on 2 November.
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The Halloween Leak
Our availability leak was somewhat confirmed by a GIGABYTE leak (caught by Hexus) that hinted at a launch around Halloween (31 October).
Screenshot credit : Hexus.net
The now-removed teaser image showed an AORUS graphics card with the word Ti (the title of the horror movie It flipped) scrawled in red. There was even a red balloon lifting a $100 bill from a wallet, alluding to the money you will save with this card…
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ASUS ROG Teased The GeForce GTX 1070 Ti!
The ASUS ROG team decided to get in on the action by releasing this puzzle on Twitter as a teaser (thanks, Cedric Samonte!). Obviously, the answer is 1070 Ti.
Two GALAX GeForce GTX 1070 Ti Cards Leaked!
The specifications and pictures of the GALAX GeForce GTX 1070 Ti EX and GALAXY GeForce GTX 1070 Ti EX-SNPR White graphics cards have just been leaked.
Both GALAX cards will have a 1607 MHz base clock, a 1683 MHz boost clock and come with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory over a 256-bit interface and a memory bandwidth of 256 GB/s. Curiously, their specifications list a maximum TDP of 150 W, which is most likely a typo.
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The KFA2 GeForce GTX 1070 Ti EX Pictures & Details Leaked!
Just a week before the official announcement, KFA2 leaked the details and pictures of the upcoming KFA2 GeForce GTX 1070 Ti EX graphics card. Take a look!
The KFA2 GeForce GTX 1070 Ti EX specifications confirm what we revealed earlier. It will have a 1607 MHz base clock, a 1683 MHz boost clock and come with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory over a 256-bit interface and a memory bandwidth of 256 GB/s.
The pictures also confirm that the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti will have both 6-pin and 8-pin power connectors, which further proves that the TDP is 180W, not 150W as listed in the GALAX cards’ specifications.
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Here are additional photos that KFA2 “accidentally” released of the card. Unfortunately, the page has now been taken down…
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In conjunction with the new NVIDIA Pascal architecture, NVIDIA also introduced the Founder’s Edition graphics cards. These are not the reference design cards of yesteryears, but premium editions designed and built by NVIDIA. Hence, they are priced at a premium over regular GeForce cards.
This specification comparison will show you how the GeForce GTX 1070 compares against the flagship GeForce GTX 1080, and the lower-end GeForce GTX 1060.
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The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Founder’s Edition Up Close
Gamers with older monitors will be glad to note that the GeForce GTX 1070 will come with a dual-link DVI port, in addition to 3 DisplayPorts and a HDMI 2.0B port.
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 has a TDP of just 150 W, so it only comes with a 8-pin PCI Express power connector. It also has SLI connectors, in case you want to pair two GeForce GTX 1070 cards in SLI mode.
Founder’s Edition Advantage
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The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Founder’s Edition was designed to be the ultimate expression of NVIDIA’s gaming vision. Hence, they crafted it with premium materials and components, including a faceted die-cast aluminium-framed shroud for strength, rigidity and looks.
Aesthetics aside, the GeForce GTX 1070 Founder’s Edition comes with an improved cooler built around a radial fan and an improved aluminium heatsink. The new heatsink features two copper heat pipes and over 50% more surface area than the GeForce GTX 960.
It also comes with dual FETs for both GPU and memory power supplies, coupled with a low-impedance power delivery network and custom voltage regulators for better power efficiency. All these Founder’s Edition features provide greater overclocking headroom, allowing these cards to hit clock speeds of 2 GHz!
GeForce GTX 1070 Founder’s Edition Thermal Output
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 uses the new NVIDIA GP104 GPU, which is fabricated on the 16 nm FinFET process. The smaller process technology allowed NVIDIA to stuff almost 50% more transistors into a die that is almost 12% smaller than the previous-generation GPU.
Thanks to the more efficient FinFET process, and the new NVIDIA Pascal architecture which is designed for power efficiency, the GeForce GTX 1070 has a TDP (Thermal Design Power) of just 150 W. We tested this out by recording the peak exhaust temperature of the GeForce GTX 1070 Founder’s Edition, and compared it to the GeForce GTX 1060 and Radeon RX 480 graphics cards, as well as the previous-generation GeForce GTX 980 Ti and Radeon R9 380 graphics cards.
Note that these are not the recorded temperatures, but how much hotter the exhaust air is above ambient temperature.
As you can see, it is a surprisingly cool-running card, producing significantly (6.2°C and 4°C respectively) cooler exhaust air than the previous-generation GeForce GTX 980 Ti and Radeon R9 380 graphics cards.
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Benchmarking Notes
Our graphics benchmarking test bed has the following specifications :
3DMark Time Spy is a new DirectX 12 benchmark that was released just days ago, just in time for this review. It supports new API features like asynchronous compute, explicit multi-adapter, and multi-threading.
For Direct 11 performance, we started testing the graphics cards using 3DMark at the most common gaming resolution – 1920 x 1080.
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Founder’s Edition only had a slim 4%-5% performance advantage over the previous generation GeForce GTX 980 Ti. This shows that the NVIDIA Pascal microarchitecture is more optimised for DirectX 12, than the Maxwell microarchitecture.
It was also 34% to 53% faster than the GeForce GTX 1060, and 42% to 67% faster than the Radeon RX 480. Very impressive!
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3DMark (2560 x 1440)
Then we took 3DMark up a notch to the resolution of 2560 x 1440. Let’s take a look!
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Ashes of the Singularity (1920 x 1080)
We tested Ashes of the Singularity in the DirectX 12 mode, which supports the new Asynchronous Compute feature. We started with the full HD resolution.
This chart shows you the minimum and maximum frame rates, as well as the average frame rate, recorded by Total War : Warhammer‘s internal DirectX 12 benchmark.
In this DirectX 12 benchmark, the GeForce GTX 1070 Founder’s Edition did well, delivering about 101 frames per second. This makes it slightly (4%) faster than the GeForce GTX 980 Ti, which is an impressive feat.
Warhammer (2560 x 1440)
This chart shows you the minimum and maximum frame rates, as well as the average frame rate, recorded by Total War : Warhammer‘s internal DirectX 12 benchmark.
This chart shows you the minimum and maximum frame rates, as well as the average frame rate, recorded by Total War : Warhammer‘s internal DirectX 12 benchmark.
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The Witcher 3 (1920 x 1080)
This chart shows you the minimum and maximum frame rates, as well as the average frame rate, that FRAPS recorded in The Witcher 3.
This chart shows you the minimum and maximum frame rates, as well as the average frame rate, that FRAPS recorded in Fallout 4.
When we took the resolution to the next level though, the extra performance started to count. The frame rate of the GeForce GTX 1070 Founder’s Edition only dropped by 9%, even with the much higher resolution.
This chart shows you the minimum and maximum frame rates, as well as the average frame rate, that FRAPS recorded in Fallout 4.
Boosting the resolution all the way to 4K really taxed the cards. Even the GeForce GTX 1070 Founder’s Edition could not deliver an average frame rate of 60 fps.
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The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Founder’s Edition is, on average, about 40% faster than the GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition. That makes it perfect for 1440p gaming, with average frame rates of 60 fps. It can deliver playable frame rates at the 4K resolution, but you should disable some image quality features for smoother gameplay. 4K gaming is really best handled by the GeForce GTX 1080.
The new NVIDIA Pascal microarchitecture, coupled with the 16 nm FinFET process technology, really helped NVIDIA deliver a significantly better graphics card.
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The GeForce GTX 1070 is, in most cases, about 3%-5% faster than the GeForce GTX 980 Ti in DirectX 11 games, and up to 15-18% faster in DirectX 12 games. This is astounding because the GeForce GTX 980 Ti is a much more expensive higher-end card in the previous generation line-up. And it draws a lot more power too.
What the GeForce GTX 1070 now delivers is GeForce GTX 980 Ti-class performance at a fraction of the cost, and power consumption. Believe it or not, it only has a TDP of 150 W and uses a single 8-pin power connector! Thanks to Kudos on that, NVIDIA!
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Founder’s Edition is a guarantee of quality, with a great design. There is no doubt you are buying the best graphics card NVIDIA can produce. But if you don’t need a nice-looking graphics card, you can always opt for the regular GeForce GTX 1070, and save US$70.
For its amazing performance and value, we think it deserves nothing less than our Reviewer’s Choice Award. Congratulations, NVIDIA!
More GeForce GTX 1070 Information
For more information on the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070, or the NVIDIA Pascal architecture, please take a look at our previous articles :
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In conjunction with the new NVIDIA Pascal architecture, NVIDIA also introduced the Founder’s Edition graphics cards. These are not the reference design cards of yesteryears, but premium editions designed and built by NVIDIA. Hence, they are priced at a premium over regular GeForce cards.
Today, we are really excited to reveal our review of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition graphics card. Discover what’s so special about the Founder’s Edition, and find out how the GeForce GTX 1060 performs against the Radeon RX 480!
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Specification Comparison
This specification comparison will show you how the GeForce GTX 1060 compares against the higher-end GeForce GTX 1070 and the flagship GeForce GTX 1080.
This is our video showing the unboxing of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition graphics card. This is exactly what you can expect if you purchase the Founder’s Edition card from NVIDIA.
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition comes in a really nice cardboard box that doubles as a display stand. Not that anyone would actually leave the card there just for display!
There is nothing else in the box. Just the GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition graphics card in an anti-static bag.
In this video, we are going to take a quick look at the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition graphics card, and its faceted die-cast aluminium cooler.
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition Up Close
Here are close-up pictures of the various aspects of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition graphics card.
Gamers with older monitors will be glad to note that the GeForce GTX 1060 will come with a dual-linked DVI port, in addition to 3 DisplayPorts and a HDMI 2.0B port.
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 has a TDP of just 120 W, so it only comes with a 6-pin PCI Express power connector. However, it does not support SLI, so there is no SLI connector.
Founder’s Edition Advantage
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition was designed to be the ultimate expression of NVIDIA’s gaming vision. Hence, they crafted it with premium materials and components, including a faceted die-cast aluminium-framed shroud for strength, rigidity and looks.
Aesthetics aside, the GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition comes with an improved cooler built around a radial fan and an improved aluminium heatsink. The new heatsink features two copper heat pipes and over 50% more surface area than the GeForce GTX 960.
It also comes with dual FETs for both GPU and memory power supplies, coupled with a low-impedance power delivery network and custom voltage regulators for better power efficiency. All these Founder’s Edition features provide greater overclocking headroom, allowing these cards to hit clock speeds of 2 GHz!
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition Size
For those already measuring their cases to see if the GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition will fit, we measured the card and added the measurements for your convenience.
As you can see, the GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition is “technically” a 7″ long card, but its cooler extends 7.5 cm or 2.95″ beyond the PCB.
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participate in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donate to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
Benchmarking Notes
Our graphics benchmarking test bed has the following specifications :
We used the GeForce driver version 368.64 for all three NVIDIA graphics cards used in our tests. NVIDIA released a newer GeForce driver 368.81 several days ago but it does not support the GeForce GTX 1060.
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 uses the new NVIDIA GP106 GPU, which is fabricated on the 16 nm FinFET process. The smaller process technology allowed NVIDIA to stuff almost 50% more transistors into a die that is almost 12% smaller than the previous-generation GeForce GTX 960.
Thanks to the more efficient FinFET process, and the new NVIDIA Pascal architecture which is designed for power efficiency, the GeForce GTX 1060 has a TDP (Thermal Design Power) of just 120 W. We tested this out by recording the peak exhaust temperature of the GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition, and compared it to the new GeForce GTX 1070 and Radeon RX 480 graphics cards, as well as the previous-generation GeForce GTX 980 Ti and Radeon R9 380 graphics cards.
Note that these are not the recorded temperatures, but how much hotter the exhaust air is above ambient temperature.
As you can see, it is a really cool-running card, producing significantly (6.4 °C) cooler exhaust air than the Radeon RX 480 graphics card. However, this is partly because the GeForce GTX 1060 exhausts both ends of the card, while the Radeon RX 480 only exhausts its heat out one end.
GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition Noise Level
Of course, the lower exhaust temperature might be due to a more powerful, and therefore, noisier, fan. Let’s see how noisy the GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition fan really is…
In the video above, the GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition was recorded while it was running the 3D Mark Fire Strike Ultra benchmark. As you can hear, it is very quiet even in our open testbed. It will be virtually silent inside an actual PC chassis.
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participate in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donate to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
3DMark DirectX 12 Benchmark (2560 x 1440)
3DMark Time Spy is a new DirectX 12 benchmark that was released just days ago, just in time for this review. It supports new API features like asynchronous compute, explicit multi-adapter, and multi-threading.
In Time Spy, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition was slightly (about 4%) faster than the Radeon RX 480. They would actually tie if the Compatibility Mode was not enabled for the Radeon RX 480.
3DMark (1920 x 1080)
For Direct 11 performance, we started testing the graphics cards using 3DMark at the most common gaming resolution – 1920 x 1080.
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition did very well in this full HD test. It was 49% to 57% faster than the Radeon R9 380, and 5% to 10% faster than the new Radeon RX 480.
3DMark (2560 x 1440)
Then we took 3DMark up a notch to the resolution of 2560 x 1440. Let’s take a look!
Despite having 2 GB less memory than the Radeon RX 480, the GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition did even better at this higher resolution. It was now 12% to 16% faster than the new Radeon RX 480, and 57% to 66% faster than the Radeon R9 380.
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participate in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donate to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
Full HD Gaming
We had some problems with the BenQ XR3501 gaming monitor, which prevented us from using virtual resolution to test the four graphics cards. So we benchmarked Total War : Warhammer, The Witcher 3 : Wild Hunt and Fallout 4 in full HD resolution – 1920 x 1080. Here are their average frame rates :
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition is perfect for full HD gaming. It delivers frame rates well in excess of 60 fps, even in The Witcher 3, which was the most arduous game for it. In Fallout 4, it actually averaged 94 frames per second!
Surprisingly, the GeForce GTX 1060 was slightly (1%) slower than the Radeon RX 480 in the DirectX 12 (beta) benchmark of Total War : Warhammer. In the DirectX 11 test, it was actually 25% faster. This shows that the Radeon RX 480 has real potential to improve its standing as more DirectX 12 games are released.
Of course, these are average frame rates. Let’s take a closer look at those games!
Warhammer (1920 x 1080) – DirectX 12
This chart shows you the minimum and maximum frame rates, as well as the average frame rate, recorded by Total War : Warhammer‘s internal DirectX 12 benchmark.
In this DirectX 12 benchmark, the GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition did well, delivering an average of 80 frames per second. This makes it just a tad (1%) slower than the Radeon RX 480, but 42% faster than the Radeon R9 380.
Warhammer (1920 x 1080) – DirectX 11
This chart shows you the minimum and maximum frame rates, as well as the average frame rate, recorded by Total War : Warhammer‘s internal DirectX 11 benchmark.
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition did better in the DirectX 11 test, where it was 25% faster than the Radeon RX 480, but a whooping 83% faster than the Radeon R9 380!
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Fallout 4 (1920 x 1080)
This chart shows you the minimum and maximum frame rates, as well as the average frame rate, that FRAPS recorded in Fallout 4.
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition actually showed a higher frame rate range than the GeForce GTX 980 Ti, but its average frame rate was 7% slower. Still, this is very impressive performance for a graphics card that costs only US$299. The GeForce GTX 980 Ti cost US$649 at launch.
The Witcher 3 (1920 x 1080)
This chart shows you the minimum and maximum frame rates, as well as the average frame rate, that FRAPS recorded in The Witcher 3.
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition did well in The Witcher 3 : Wild Hunt, delivering an average frame rate of almost 70 frames per second. This makes it 8% faster than the Radeon RX 480, and 59% faster than the Radeon R9 380!
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Of course, it is nowhere as fast as its two bigger brothers, but make no mistake – this is the gaming graphics card for the masses. Priced at just US$299 (US$249 for regular versions), it is far more affordable. Yet, it is no performance slouch, delivering 42% to 83% better performance than the Radeon R9 380.
The GeForce GTX 1060 was also 8% to 25% better performance than the new Radeon RX 480 (8 GB) in DirectX 11, and its equal match in DirectX 12.
The GeForce GTX 1060 actually held up quite well against the GeForce GTX 1070. When it comes to 1080p gaming, it was just 9% to 29% slower. Since the GeForce GTX 1070 costs 50% more, the GeForce GTX 1060 definitely offers better value for your money.
If you are gaming at 1080p, the GeForce GTX 1060 will virtually guarantee you average frame rates in excess of 60 fps. It is powerful enough to tackle 1440p gaming if you are not fussy about achieving 60 fps.
More impressively though is its low power consumption and silent operation. The new NVIDIA Pascal architecture, coupled with the 16 nm FinFET process technology, really helped NVIDIA deliver a really cool-running graphics card for the masses. It only has a TDP of 120 W and uses a single 6-pin power connector.
Do note though that the GeForce GTX 1060 does NOT support SLI. Otherwise, two GeForce GTX 1060 graphics cards in SLI would be a cheap alternative to a GeForce GTX 1080. 😀
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition is a guarantee of quality, with a great design. There is no doubt you are buying the best graphics card NVIDIA can produce. We love it so much, we are giving it our Editor’s Choice Award. Congratulations, NVIDIA!
But if you don’t need a nice-looking graphics card, you can always opt for the regular GeForce GTX 1060, and save US$50. That puts it in the same price range as the Radeon RX 480 (8 GB). Since it is significantly faster than the Radeon RX 480 (8 GB) in DirectX 11, and equally fast in DirectX 12, the regular GeForce GTX 1060 is an RX 480 killer.
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More GeForce GTX 1060 Information
For more information on the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060, or the NVIDIA Pascal architecture, please take a look at our previous articles :
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participate in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donate to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
We recently received a surprise delivery – the upcoming NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition graphics card! This is definitely one of the first few GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition graphics cards in the country! W00t!
Our non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with NVIDIA forbids us from revealing any benchmark results or performance indications, other than it will be faster than the GeForce GTX 980. However, we are allowed to show off the yet-to-be-released graphics card publicly.
So this is our unboxing and hands-on preview of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition graphics card. Something for you to drool over until the launch day on July 19, 2016. 😀
Unboxing The GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition
This is our video showing the unboxing of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition graphics card. This is exactly what you can expect if you purchase the Founder’s Edition card from NVIDIA when it’s launched on July 19, 2016.
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition comes in a really nice cardboard box that doubles as a display stand. Not that anyone would actually leave the card there just for display!
There is nothing else in the box. Just the GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition graphics card in an anti-static bag.
In this video, we are going to take a quick look at the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition graphics card, and its faceted die-cast aluminium cooler.
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participate in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donate to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition Up Close
Here are close-up pictures of the various aspects of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition graphics card.
Gamers with older monitors will be glad to note that the GeForce GTX 1060 will come with a dual-linked DVI port, in addition to 3 DisplayPorts and a HDMI 2.0B port.
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 has a TDP of just 120 W, so it only comes with a 6-pin PCI Express power connector. However, it does not support SLI, so there is no SLI connector.
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition Size
For those already measuring their cases to see if the GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition will fit, we measured the card and added the measurements for your convenience.
As you can see, the GeForce GTX 1060 is “technically” a 7″ long card, but its cooler extends 7.5 cm or 2.95″ beyond the PCB.
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participate in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donate to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
