Fundamental to the Phoenix design is Gainward’s dual-fan cooling solution. This cooler surrounds the PCB and internal components and is the first thing which takes the attention.

We’ve seen that most graphics card brands will opt for a neutral asthetic – choosing black or grey but Gainward has made a bold move by choosing red/orange and gold for their scheme. While this may not pair up with a wide range of other components it’s nice to see something distinct.

The actual size of this graphics card is: 285mm x 133mm.


Over on the reverse of the graphics card we have a rather large steel backplate which protects the components and prevents the PCB from flexing or bending. The serial code is on this backplate – in case you need to contact Gainward regarding any technical assistance.

Gainward also provide a cut-out towards the top of this backplate where they have placed a dual-BIOS switch. This switch allows the user to choose between two different BIOS – so if a manual overclock goes pear shaped there is still an option to recover.

Note: removing the cooler will void the warranty – stickers cover the screws.


Phoenix GS arrives with a large LED strip which provides lighting to add some ambience to your system. This strip (which features the Gainward logo) have its colour modified via the ExperTool app. Different effects can be applied and if desired the LED can be disabled.

Along this edge we also have SLI slots for pairing this card up with another GTX 1070.


Taking a look at the rear IO section of our graphics card, there are a nice selection of ports to choose from. They are as follows:

• 1x DVI-I port (Up to 2K)
• 3x DisplayPort 1.4 (8K @ 60Hz)
• 1x HDMI 2.0 port (4K @ 60 Hz)


NVIDIA’s 10-series graphics cards operate much more efficiently compared to the previous generation and our GTX 1070 therefore only requires a single 8-pin connection from the power supply and that power supply needs to be 500W.

Over the page we’ll take a closer look at the cooling solution and PCB.