Sorry, we just need to make sure you're not a robot. For best results, please make sure your browser is accepting cookies. Show Type the characters you see in this image: Try different image Conditions of Use Privacy Policy © 1996-2014, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates It should come as no surprise that the shipping container for the ASUS STRIX 1070 OC Gaming 8GB is massive. After all, this video card itself is rather large and ASUS needed to ensure that it would not be damaged in transit. In this regards ASUS has obviously cut zero corners; however, they have given this box the usual STRIX flare. This means eye catching colors, a veritable ton of information and infographics to help make your decision easier, and even a large picture of the STRIX 1070 08G itself. Like all good video card shipping containers, the interior of the shipping container has been broken into two sections. The top half is a large cardboard box that contains the accessories and acts as a secondary protection layer for the card that is housed underneath it. The card itself is wrapped in a anti-static bag and then nestled into form-fitting high density foam. Further adding to the overall protection of the card while in transit these two sections are further separated by a sheet of that selfsame foam. Honestly, even during the silly season that we all call Christmas/ Hanukkah /Kwanza/etc. this video is going to survive even the angriest of mailmen’s tantrums. We would have zero qualms about shipping it across the continent, secure in the knowledge that it will arrive safe and sound. Put simply, this is how all shipping containers should be designed and ASUS really has set the bar high here. One area that on the surface does not appear to be as impressive is the list of accessories included. In grand total you get four STRIX branded Velcro cable wraps (for decluttering your entire systems wire’s), a pamphlet, instruction manual, and a driver disc. There is actually no stickers, door knob hangers, or other goo-gaws included so if you really had your heart set on some ‘free swag’ that made the card cost more than it should… this is not the card you are looking for. To be fair, this video card does not need a 8-pin to dual 6-pin power adapter or anything else in along those lines – and that is why none are included. Yes this is an overclocked video card but even a factory overclocked GTX 1070 is not going to pull anywhere close to the 225 watts it has access to (150 watts the 8pin cable + 75 watts PCIe slot). Instead at stock settings it will pull upwards of 175-180 watts of power and when overclocked to ‘the limit’ (of what NVIDIA allows) will demand 200’ish watts of power. This is why ASUS did not include a secondary 6-pin connector like the STRIX 1080 series comes with – even it would give the appearance of even further overclocking headroom. We personally think this is the right call as NVIIDIA has locked down how far you can push their precious GTX 10-series GPUs and it would have been downright dishonest to allude to overclocking headroom that simply does not exist. Basically you will hit the boundaries of what NVIDIA have ordained long before you hit a true wall with this card. This is not ASUS’ fault, and as we will show you later in this review, this is easily the most impressive GTX 1070 series model we have ever tested. It is a beast, even if it is still a caged beast. So much so we doubt anyone will be disappointed in ASUS for following NVIDIA’s decree on what is and is not allowed – but more on that later. As an added bonus it makes the ASUS GTX 1070 STRIX series a lot easier to add to a mining rig. With the typical mining rig you are not plugging the card directly into a PCIe slot, instead you are plugging them into an adapter that then is plugged into the PCIe slot. As the adapters only require 1 PCIe lane this allows for a lot more cards to be used per system. The downside is that the PCIe slot from the motherboard can not provide the expected 75 watts of power. As such the adapter itself has to be powered. This means either a 6-pin PCIe cable is used (optimal), a MOLEX cable (max one adapter card per cable) or a SATA connector (if you are insane and like having a fire hazard). This really can be a cabling headache when dealing with more cards than there are cables on a PSU. Thankfully, since this card is a single 8-pin based card this means that the ‘tail’ of your typical PSU’s 8+8pin PCIe cable can be used to power the adapter. All that is needed is a cheap 8-pin PCIe extension cable and it is good to go. Or put another way each PCIe power cable your 850 watt PSU has can be used without worry, stress, or even hassle. Not everyone thinks about the nuts and bolts of a mining rig before purchasing their cards, and luckily this lack of foresight will not come back to bite you if you pick the GTX 1070 STRUX 08G. Equally impressive is the location and layout of this 8-pin power connector on the STRIX GTX 1070 08G. Usually this connector ‘sticks out’ from the edge of the video card making the overall footprint of the card bigger than the paper specifications. ASUS has not done that. Instead they have recessed the connector so that they could use the ‘real’ footprint of the card to make the custom CPU cooling solution that much bigger. In other words this card appears to take up much, much more room than most but in reality it takes up the same amount… ASUS is just being honest with how much room this card needs. This additional room does indeed pay dividends as it allows for bigger fans and allows the card to run so cool that it is scary. In testing, the stock fan profile kept it at or below 60 degrees Celsius even after being used for weeks of 24/7 mining. Considering the fan was only at 40 percent or so that is amazing. Honestly, the STRIX GTX 1070 08G is one of the few cards where miners and hard-core gamers will not feel the need to mess with the fan profile in order to keep temperatures in check. That is how good this custom cooling solution is. Of course, these amazing temperatures should not come as a surprise as this card is massive. ASUS had to make it is 29.8 x 13.4 x4cm so that they could fit three fans atop their new creation. However, when they designed this custom ‘DirectCU III’ cooling solution they did not do so with the 180 watt TDP GTX 1070 in mind. Instead it was designed around the GTX 1080Ti and its 250 TDP. Yes, this means it is overkill for a ‘mere’ GTX 1070 class card, but we doubt anyone will complain that ASUS is ‘reusing’ a uber high end cooling solution for a mere ‘mainstream’ card. This overkill is why even when overclocked to the limits of what NVIDIA allows the card never broke the 70-degree mark and the fans never spun up above 66 percent. Yes there was obviously more ‘gas in the tank’ but NVIDIA does not allow it. This overkill also helps explain the factory overclock on the GPU. It is rather unfortunate that ASUS did not feel the need to push the memory side of the equation and instead left it at 8008Mhz. On the positive side these numbers are mere suggestions as the 10-series from NIVIDA will overlock themselves in higher if they can and stay inside the thermal limits of the reference TDP specifications. That is why buyers of the STRIX GTX 1070 08G need do nothing more than plug it in and let it do its magic to get 1900+ boost levels that stay at this heightened state virtually constantly (while under load of course… it does down clock when idle). To help feed this hungry beast ASUS has gone with 6+1 phase all-digital power delivery sub-system that too is best described as ‘over-kill’. It however should put any concerns over pushing this series to its limits to rest. As long as you connect it to a good PSU this card will provide the memory and CUDA cores with clean, stable, and consistent power. To further help keep the power subsystem temperatures in check ASUS has included one of the thickest backplates we have seen on a 70- class card. Once again this entire cooling design was never meant to cool such a relatively cool running class of cards – it was meant to cool much higher TDP cards! Color us impressed. This combination of excellent cooling with excellent power delivery is why the STRIX GTX 1070 08G does not perform like a typical GTX 1070. It performs well above what this series is known to do and the results are impressive. This is also why it is one of the most sought after models – and why finding one will be a touch difficult this time of year. We know it did take a bit of effort to find one instead of opting for a MSI or PNY that are more widely available. Yes ASUS is a bit of a victim of their own success in this regards but we do recommend taking the time to find one. The effort does pay dividends. For those interested in such things, we personally consider it a nice bonus but would never base a purchasing decision on it, the STRIX GTX 1070 08G includes multiple RGB LEDs that allow the card to light up in a rather pretty display of lighting. Of course, all these included RGBs are completely controllable and can easily be set to one of many themes. We personally set them to reflect the temperature of the core so that with just a quick glance we can see if it is over-heating. The downside to such a decision in color schemes means that it basically never changes color… so you may want to think about a different theme if you want it to really show off what it can do. As not everyone will want to use their shiny new video card to make money and instead will just want to use it for video gaming (an equally laudable endeavor) ASUS has included a nice selection of I/O ports that covers all the bases nicely. In grand total you get two HDMI, two DisplayPort, and one DVI-D. Better still all are full size and not ‘mini’ versions so no one should be displeased with this section. Is ROG Strix GTX 1070 good?Outshine the Competition. ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1070 gaming graphics cards are packed with exclusive ASUS technologies, including DirectCU III Technology with Patented Wing-Blade Fans for 30% cooler and 3X quieter performance, and Industry-only Auto-Extreme Technology for premium quality and the best reliability. How good is a GTX 1070 for gaming?With the Pascal architecture and the aforementioned features, the GeForce GTX 1070 delivers outstanding performance in the latest games, and up to 3X the performance of the GeForce GTX 970 in Virtual Reality titles that utilize VRWorks performance-boosting technologies. Is ASUS dual GTX 1070 good?10 Aug 2021 - Graphics card reviewed This computer hardware provides top end graphics. The GeForce GTX 1070 Asus Dual will easily meet recommended system requirements of games released today. This is a strong benchmarker on modern games and can often return excellent frame rates at high and ultra 1080p. How much power does a 1070 Strix use?In the gaming loop, the power consumption of 177.2 watts is almost... Overclocking The limits of this card are those of the competitor with similar Power Target, which is of course also due to the already mentioned GPU quality. With an adjustable Power Target of 216 watts, the card was approved for... |
