Asus gtx 1070 strix review (full review)

Today we bring you an exclusive review of the Asus GTX 1070 Strix with a 16nm Pascal GP104 core, 8GB of GDDR5 memory. Its new STRIX RGB AURA design and powerful DirectCU III heatsink will keep this powerful graphics card at bay.

We appreciate the trust and the transfer of the product to Asus:

Asus GTX 1070 Strix technical features

Design and unboxing

Asus gives us a gala presentation. On the cover we see an image of the new STRIX heatsink for the GTX 1070 and GTX 1080 series, compatibility with virtual reality glasses, DirectX12 and its new AURA lighting system. While on the back they indicate all the technical characteristics of the product.

The Asus Strix GTX 1070 graphics card uses a powerful GPU with the revolutionary Nvidia Pascal graphics architecture, specifically it is the GP104-200 that It is manufactured in 16nm FinFET and features a very compact die size of just 314mm2. Despite being a chip of small dimensions, it includes a whopping 7.2 billion transistors, so we are dealing with a really very complex and advanced design. These transistors are distributed within the chip in a total of 15 Streaming Multiprocessors units, these in turn contain the large number of 1920 CUDA cores with Pascal architecture. We also found no less than 120 texturizing units (TMUs) and 64 crawling units (ROPs). The Asus Strix GTX 1070 operates at frequencies on its 1, 153 MHz GPU in base mode that goes up to 1, 183 MHz under Turbo Boost 3.0 for unprecedented performance.

The GDDR5 memory has been with us since the arrival of the GeForce 500 but it is already starting to show signs of exhaustion, so it is time to change to a new, more advanced standard. With HBM memory ruled out due to low availability and high cost, the GeForce GTX 1070 card debuts the veteran GDDR5 memory manufactured by Micron and promising a significant leap in performance and energy efficiency. The GeForce GTX 1070 mounts a total of 8GB of GDDR5 memory that promises to maintain the performance of high-end graphics cards. The GDDR5 provides high bandwidth thanks to its high operating frequency.

It is time to look at the cooling of the card which does not disappoint us at all, the Asus ROG STRIX GeForce GTX 1070 arrives with the brand new and powerful DirectCu III heatsink. It is a huge heatsink consisting of a dense monolithic aluminum radiator, several nickel-plated copper heatpipes and three Cooltech fans with PWM control and 0dB operating mode. With all this, it promises to keep the Pascal GP104 core at a much lower operating temperature than the reference model with very low noise. Plus, fans include Asus Wing-Blade technology to generate up to 105% more air pressure. This heatsink has the peculiarity that it keeps the fans off until the GPU reaches a certain temperature, with all this, it promises a great cooling capacity.

It also includes the AURA lighting system that is located on the heatsink chassis and is made up of numerous RGB LEDs that can be customized by the user using Asus AURA software that can be downloaded directly from the Asus website.

We show you the artwork of the PCB.

Asus GTX 1070 Strix engineers have assembled all components on a fully customizable PCB with a robust VRM consisting of 8 + 2 Phase Super Alloy Power II. They have also integrated premium alloy components into their graphics card designs to enhance overall reliability, thus generating boards that are approximately 50% cooler than their previous designs.

Finally we show you the rear connections made up of:

• 1 DVI connection, 2 DisPlayPORT connections, 2 HDMI connections.

Test bench and performance tests

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	i7-6700k @ 4200 Mhz..
Base plate:	Asus Maximus VIII Formula.
Memory:	32GB Kingston Fury DDR4 @ 3000 Mhz
Heatsink	Cryorig H7 heatsink
HDD	Samsung 850 EVO SSD.
Graphic card	Asus GTX 1070 Strix
Power supply	Antec HCP1000

For benchmarks we will use the following titles:

• 3DMark Fire Strike normal.3DMark Fire Strike version 4K.Heaven 4.0.Doom 4.Overwatch.Tomb Raider.Battlefield 4.

All tests have been passed with the filters to the maximum unless we indicate otherwise. In order to have adequate performance, we have carried out three types of tests: the first is the most common at Full HD 1920 x 1080, the second resolution is making the leap to 2K or 1440P (2560 x 1440P) gamers and the most enthusiastic with 4K (3840 x 2160). The operating system we have used has been Windows 10 Pro 64 bit and the latest drivers available from the Nvidia website.

What are we looking for in the tests?

First, the best possible image quality. The most important value for us is the average FPS (Frames per second), the higher the number of FPS the more fluid the game will go. To differentiate the quality a bit, we leave you a table to assess the quality in FPS, but we will also have the minimum Fps in the tests that were thus possible:

FRAMES BY SECONDS
Frames for Seconds. (FPS)	Gameplay
Less than 30 FPS	Limited
30 - 40 FPS	Playable
40 - 60 FPS	Good
Greater than 60 FPS	Fairly Good or Excellent

Synthetic benchmarks

This time, we've narrowed it down to three tests as we consider them to be more than enough as synthetic performance tests.

Game Testing

We have decided to make the leap to checking various games manually. The reason? Very simple, we want to give a much more realistic vision and cover tests with current games. Since we make an effort, it is consistent with the level of the website and that of our readers. Let's see how the Asus GTX 1070 Strix performs!

Doom 4 Gameplay in 4K resolution

Overclock and first impressions

Note: Remember that overclocking or manipulation carries a risk, we and any manufacturer are not responsible for improper use, use the head and always do so at your own risk.

We have increased the overclocking capacity by +50 MHz in the core to the Asus GTX 1070 Strix, leaving a maximum of 2088 MHz and the memories in stock. EYE: they are already running at 2020 MHz as standard.

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Although according to our tests they reach up to 5500 MHz without any complaint. The improvements we find are minimal since at best we get about 2 FPS . One of the drawbacks of this new output of the GTX 1070 and GTX 1080 is that the voltage is blocked, so we can not stretch the power of these excellent graphics cards to the maximum. With the level that currently offers us little we can complain, apart from the price.

Temperature and consumption

The temperatures of the Asus GTX 1070 Strix could not have been better. At rest we have obtained 42ºC since the fans are in passive mode until some game is activated and the temperature rises. While playing we do not exceed 64ºC in any case. Since the overclock has been so slight, the temperatures do not rise.

Another of the great advantages of this range is the reduced consumption that we have in the equipment. Until very recently it was unthinkable to have a high-end graphics and get 64W at rest and 250W playing with an Intel i7 processor. Incredible!

Final words and conclusion about Asus GTX 1070 Strix

The Asus GTX 1070 Strix is a high-end graphics card that meets the needs of the most demanding users. Specifically to gamers who use 2560 x 1440 pixels resolution at 144 Hz and lovers of virtual reality.

Its Direct CU III heatsink with RGB AURA lighting system offers a great fascination to the user, since it allows us to create personalized profiles or keep up with the music. As we have seen, the temperatures are brutal and inaudible. What a wonder!

As we have seen as standard it comes quite up in MHz, although on paper it is only 1860 MHz with Boost, this unit alone has reached up to 2020 MHz without touching any value. Then over the overclock we have only raised +50 MHz but more than enough to scratch in a game 1-2 FPS… it is not a brutal improvement, but if we did not have the voltage blocked (Nvidia thing) we could easily reach 2200 or 2250 MHz.

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Its performance can be compared to the GTX 980 Ti passed through water with almost 1600 MHz and that if they unlock the voltage it will go through enough, in addition to including a very low TDP and a consumption of up to 30% less. An SLI can be mounted with an i7 6700k with a quality 650W source!

Its store price is still unknown, but we believe that the first units will come out above 550 euros and once stable stock will drop to 499 euros. We loved this unit?

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ EXCELLENT COMPONENTS.	- COULD COME WITH VOLTAGE UNLOCKED.
+ HIGH QUALITY HEATSINK.
+ LOW TDP.
+ 0DB SYSTEM.
+ INSURED PERFORMANCE FOR 2K AT 144 Hz.

And after carefully evaluating both the evidence and the product, Professional Review awards him the platinum medal:

Asus GTX 1070 Strix

COMPONENT QUALITY

DISSIPATION

GAMING EXPERIENCE

SONORITY

PRICE

9.1 / 10

POWERFUL GTX 1070