All of GIGABYTE’s GTX 10 Series G1 Gaming graphics cards make use of the same theme with only minor adjustments between each model. The GTX 1070 has a black plastic shroud with orange accents. From a top view its clear to see the GTX 1070 variant adopts a triple fan configuration with GIGABYTE’s 3D active design. The cooler fixed to the card is the renowned WindForce 3X which uses composite copper heatpipes and direct touch baseplate.
For the shroud, we’d have preferred metal over plastic. The plastic cheapens the look and overall quality of the card.
The actual size of this graphics card is: 280 x 114 x 41 mm.
Flipping the card over, on the reverse we have a large steel backplate which protects the components on our graphics card and also prevents it from flexing or bending. Having such a feature on a graphics card is great because the overall size and weight of the unit can cause warping so this backplate provides some rigidity.
Along the edge of the GTX 1070 we have the GIGABYTE logo which illuminates when the card has power. We have the option to modify the colour of this logo since GIGABYTE has included RGB LEDs (OC Guru can be used to tweak this). GIGABYTE also includes “Fan Stop” which also illuminates too, but only when the cooling fans stop spinning. As we’ve seen on previous generations of GIGABYTE graphics cards this G1 Gaming card has the ability to reduce noise when the system is idle by causing the fans to remain motionless. This icon lights up to notify you of this.
The GTX 1070 also has multi-SLI ports which allows us to pair up this card with more than one other graphics card.
The GTX 1070 arrives with an assortment of video out ports which include:
• 1x Dual Link DVI-D port (Up to 3K)
• 3x DisplayPort 1.4 (8K @ 60Hz)
• 1x HDMI 2.0 port (4K @ 60 Hz)
The selection of ports here should be sufficient for most users, it’s great to see DP 1.4 being used as this now supports up to 8K output and was only released a matter of months ago.
The Founder’s Edition of GTX 1070 requires a single 8pin PCI express connection and likewise, this G1 Gaming edition also arrives with an 8pin connector – which comes as a surprise given the custom PCB, factory overclock, upgraded components and not to mention the RGB functionality.
This graphics card requires a minimum of a 500W PSU.
Other things to mention: GIGABYTE has kept the memory clock speeds on GTX 1070 G1 Gaming at their stock/default settings, but the GPU clocks have recieved a factory overclock taking the base to 1620 MHz and therefore the boost to 1822 MHz.
