NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti Review: Gunning For Radeon RX Vega 56

For the purposes of this article, we got our hands on a pair of GeForce GTX 1070 Ti cards, a Founder’s Edition that epitomizes everything NVIDIA envisions for the card and a custom EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti FTW2, that’s packing some cool proprietary technology.

NVIDIA’s reference specifications are listed in the table directly below, if you’d like to check out the particulars. And then we’ve got a full tour of the cards on tap along with an array of benchmarks, overclocking, and power data.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti Specifications & Features

---

The GeForce GTX 1070 Ti is based on the same GP104 GPU employed in the original GeForce GTX 1070 and 1080, and as such, it supports all of the features enabled by NVIDIA’s Pascal architecture, including Simultaneous Multi-­Projection, advanced memory compression, GPU Boost 3.0, and others. For more detailed information regarding Pascal, and the changes / enhancements NVIDIA introduced with the architecture last year, we suggest checking out our GeForce GTX 1080 launch article. We covered Pascal’s new technologies in that piece, so we won't rehash that again here. 

The GP104 GPU employed on the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti, however, falls somewhere in between the ones used on the GTX 1070 and 1080. Specifically, the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti has 4 active GPCs (Graphics Processing Clusters) with 19 SMs (streaming multi-processors), which results in a total of 2432 active CUDA cores, versus the GTX 1080’s 2560 and 1070’s 1920. The GeForce GTX 1070 Ti also has 152 active texture units, whereas the base GTX 1070 has 120 and GTX 1080 has 160. The GeForce GTX 1070 Ti, however, has similar reference clocks to the GTX 1080, 1607MHz base and 1683MHz boost specifically, though like the GTX 1070, the new TI employs standard GDDR5 memory. If you recall, the GeForce GTX 1080 employs more advanced GDDR5X. The GTX 1070 Ti still has a 256-bit interface, though.

All told, the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti ends up with a 244.3GT/s fillrate and 256GB/s of peak memory bandwidth, which, along with all of those cores, give the card plenty of oomph. The additional GPU resources and horsepower available to the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti result in a higher TDP than the base 1070 (150 watts vs 180 watts), though the Founder's Edition card requires only a single supplemental 8-pin power feed.
The GeForce GTX 1070 Ti Founder’s Edition looks virtually identical to its older cousins – it’s only the model number branding that’s changed on the outside. Like the GTX 1080 and original GTX 1070, the GTX 1070 Ti Founder’s Edition has a faceted fan-shroud with black and silver elements, a thin, sleek modular back-plate, and an aggressive overall design language. Should you setup dual GeForce GTX 1070 Ti cards in SLI, in adjacent slots, the rear portion of the backplate is removable to allow for better airflow between the cards.

Underneath the shroud, the 1070 Ti is packing the same cooler setup and 5-FET dual-phase power array as the more powerful GTX 1080. The thermal solution on the card features a radial fan and a relatively large vapor chamber linked to a dense heatsink fin array. The fan pulls air in from above, blows it across the heatsink, and then vents warm air outside the chassis. At the rear of the card, a second, small heatsink helps wick heat away from the VRM.

The GeForce GTX 1070 Ti Founder’s Edition also features a die cast aluminum body which is machine finished and heat treated for strength and rigidity. The top edge of the card has NVIDIA’s signature, lighted "GeForce GTX" logo that's adorned cards from the last few generations as well.
The outputs on the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti are identical to its Pascal-powered counterparts as well. They consist of a trio of DisplayPorts, an HDMI 2.0b output, and a dual-link DVI output. The DisplayPorts are 1.2 certified and DP 1.3/1.4 ready, which enables support for 4K displays at 120Hz, 5K displays at 60Hz, and 8K displays at 60Hz (using two cables and multi-stream transport). Up to four display outputs can be used simultaneously for multi-monitor or VR setups.
Which brings us to the EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti FTW2. The GeForce GTX 1070 Ti FTW2 features EVGA’s iCX technology, and doesn’t look all that much different to SC edition cards with ACX 3.0 cooling we’ve showed you in the past.

The fan shroud on the EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti FTW2 with iCX looks much like what’s found on other ACX 3.0-equipped cards, but it is somewhat taller, and the underlying heatsinks and baseplate are different. If you look at the back of the card, you’ll see that it’s comprised of two pieces, and has thermal pads to better cool the components on the PCB. There is customizable lighting on the card as well, including the individual letters G, P, and M along the top edge, that can be tweaked to reflect the operating temperature of the GPU, voltage regulators, and memory, respectively.

GPU and memory frequencies on the EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti FTW2 are similar to the Founder’s Edition card, but the more aggressive cooler and more robust power delivery seem to give it an ever-so-slight edge in performance, as you’ll see a little later. The card seems to be able to remain at max boost longer than the FE.

Outputs on the card are similar to the Founder’s Edition as well, and consist of a DVI output, three full-sized DP outputs, and an HDMI output. There are, however, dual 8-pin power connectors onboard to feed a beefier 10+2 power phase design, and its TDP has been bumped up to 235W. That extra power connector is just to ensure there is always plenty of juice available when overclocking the card.
What you don’t see in these pictures are 9 additional sensors integrated into the PCB that form the foundation of EVGA’s iCX cooling and hardware monitoring technology. There is also a fused protection circuit on board that will prevent damage to vital components in the event of a power surge. Finally, there are a combination of microcontrollers, firmware, and software that make it all work. For more details on EVGA’s ICX technology, we suggest checking out our coverage here.

But forge ahead if you want to see how these GeForce GTX 1070 Ti cards perform...