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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 GDDR5X

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 GDDR5X: Review and Analysis in 2025

Introduction

Despite the release of new generations of graphics cards, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 GDDR5X remains a popular choice for budget gamers and professionals. This model, released as an upgrade to the original GTX 1070, combines the proven Pascal architecture with improved GDDR5X memory. In this article, we will explore its features, performance, and relevance in 2025.

1. Architecture and Key Features

Pascal Architecture: Tried and Tested

The GTX 1070 GDDR5X is built on the Pascal architecture (2016), manufactured using a 16nm process. It features 1920 CUDA cores with a base clock speed of 1506 MHz and a turbo mode of up to 1683 MHz. While Pascal lags behind the modern Ampere or Ada Lovelace in terms of energy efficiency, its reliability and driver optimization compensate for its age.

Lack of RTX Features

It's important to note that the GTX 1070 GDDR5X does not support ray tracing (RTX) or DLSS, as it lacks dedicated RT and Tensor cores. However, thanks to NVIDIA GameWorks technologies and FidelityFX Super Resolution (via drivers), the card manages upscaling in some games, such as Cyberpunk 2077 or Horizon Zero Dawn.

2. Memory: GDDR5X and Its Advantages

Specifications

The memory capacity is 8GB GDDR5X with a 256-bit bus. The memory speed is 10 Gbps, providing a bandwidth of 320 GB/s (compared to 256 GB/s for the original GTX 1070 with GDDR5). This improvement is particularly noticeable in games with high-detail textures (Red Dead Redemption 2, Microsoft Flight Simulator).

Impact on Performance

GDDR5X reduces latency when working with 4K textures and enhances FPS stability at 1440p and 4K resolutions. For example, in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, the performance boost is about 8-12% compared to the GDDR5 version.

3. Gaming Performance

1080p: Comfortable Gaming

In 2025, the GTX 1070 GDDR5X remains relevant for Full HD:

- Cyberpunk 2077 (medium settings): 55-60 FPS;

- Elden Ring (high settings): 60 FPS;

- Call of Duty: Warzone (medium): 75-80 FPS.

1440p: Balance of Quality and FPS

To play at 1440p, settings will need to be lowered:

- Starfield (low): 40-45 FPS;

- Forza Horizon 5 (medium): 50-55 FPS.

4K: Limited Usability

At 4K, the card can only manage less demanding titles:

- CS2 (high): 60 FPS;

- GTA V (ultra): 35-40 FPS.

4. Professional Tasks

Video Editing and Rendering

Thanks to CUDA cores, the GTX 1070 GDDR5X speeds up rendering in Blender and Adobe Premiere Pro. For example, rendering a 10-minute video in 4K takes about 25 minutes (compared to 40 minutes on a Ryzen 5 5600X CPU).

3D Modeling and Scientific Calculations

In AutoCAD and SolidWorks, the card demonstrates stability, but for complex scenes with RTX effects, a more modern model is required. For scientific tasks based on OpenCL (e.g., physical modeling), it’s suitable for educational projects but not for industrial computations.

5. Power Consumption and Heat Generation

TDP and Cooling Recommendations

The card’s TDP is 160W (10W higher than the original version). For stable operation, the following is required:

- Power supply: 500W with an 80+ Bronze certification;

- Cooling system: a case with 2-3 fans and good ventilation (e.g., NZXT H510 or Fractal Design Meshify C).

Temperature Range

Under load, the temperature reaches 72-75°C using the reference cooler. To reduce it by 5-7°C, the installation of additional case fans is recommended.

6. Comparison with Competitors

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super

A newer model with 6GB GDDR6. At 1080p, the GTX 1660 Super underperforms by 5-8% due to its smaller memory size. Price: $220 (GTX 1660 Super) vs. $200 (GTX 1070 GDDR5X).

AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT

A competitor with 6GB GDDR6. In Vulkan games (e.g., Doom Eternal), the RX 5600 XT wins by 10-15%, but loses in DX11 projects (Total War: Three Kingdoms). Price: $230.

7. Practical Tips

Power Supply and Compatibility

- Minimum PSU: 500W with an 8-pin connector;

- Platforms: compatible with PCIe 3.0/4.0, but for full speed, PCIe 4.0 is recommended (backward compatibility is maintained).

Drivers and Optimization

Use Studio Drivers for professional tasks and Game Ready Drivers for gaming. Avoid versions older than 2023 — they are not optimized for new projects.

8. Pros and Cons

Pros:

- Affordable price ($200-250);

- Reliable architecture with NVIDIA Ansel support;

- Low power consumption for its class.

Cons:

- No ray tracing;

- 8GB of memory is the minimum for modern AAA games;

- Limited performance at 4K.

9. Conclusion: Who Is the GTX 1070 GDDR5X For?

This graphics card is an excellent choice for:

- Gamers with 1080p/1440p monitors, wanting to play at high settings without RTX;

- Budget builds, where price-to-performance ratio is crucial;

- Professionals working with rendering and editing, but not requiring RTX acceleration.

In 2025, the GTX 1070 GDDR5X remains a "workhorse," despite its age. Its main advantages are stability, low price, and proven reliability. However, for upcoming projects focusing on ray tracing, consider looking at the RTX 3050 or AMD RX 6600.

Basic

Label Name

NVIDIA

Platform

Desktop

Launch Date

December 2018

Model Name

GeForce GTX 1070 GDDR5X

Generation

GeForce 10

Base Clock

1506MHz

Boost Clock

1683MHz

Bus Interface

PCIe 3.0 x16

Transistors

7,200 million

TMUs

Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) serve as components of the GPU, which are capable of rotating, scaling, and distorting binary images, and then placing them as textures onto any plane of a given 3D model. This process is called texture mapping.

120

Foundry

TSMC

Process Size

16 nm

Architecture

Pascal

Memory Specifications

Memory Size

8GB

Memory Type

GDDR5X

Memory Bus

The memory bus width refers to the number of bits of data that the video memory can transfer within a single clock cycle. The larger the bus width, the greater the amount of data that can be transmitted instantaneously, making it one of the crucial parameters of video memory. The memory bandwidth is calculated as: Memory Bandwidth = Memory Frequency x Memory Bus Width / 8. Therefore, when the memory frequencies are similar, the memory bus width will determine the size of the memory bandwidth.

256bit

Memory Clock

1001MHz

Bandwidth

Memory bandwidth refers to the data transfer rate between the graphics chip and the video memory. It is measured in bytes per second, and the formula to calculate it is: memory bandwidth = working frequency × memory bus width / 8 bits.

256.3 GB/s

Theoretical Performance

Pixel Rate

Pixel fill rate refers to the number of pixels a graphics processing unit (GPU) can render per second, measured in MPixels/s (million pixels per second) or GPixels/s (billion pixels per second). It is the most commonly used metric to evaluate the pixel processing performance of a graphics card.

107.7 GPixel/s

Texture Rate

Texture fill rate refers to the number of texture map elements (texels) that a GPU can map to pixels in a single second.

202.0 GTexel/s

FP16 (half)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy.

101.0 GFLOPS

FP64 (double)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy, while single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

202.0 GFLOPS

FP32 (float)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

6.592 TFLOPS

Miscellaneous

SM Count

Multiple Streaming Processors (SPs), along with other resources, form a Streaming Multiprocessor (SM), which is also referred to as a GPU's major core. These additional resources include components such as warp schedulers, registers, and shared memory. The SM can be considered the heart of the GPU, similar to a CPU core, with registers and shared memory being scarce resources within the SM.

Shading Units

The most fundamental processing unit is the Streaming Processor (SP), where specific instructions and tasks are executed. GPUs perform parallel computing, which means multiple SPs work simultaneously to process tasks.

1920

L1 Cache

48 KB (per SM)

L2 Cache

2MB

TDP

150W

Vulkan Version

Vulkan is a cross-platform graphics and compute API by Khronos Group, offering high performance and low CPU overhead. It lets developers control the GPU directly, reduces rendering overhead, and supports multi-threading and multi-core processors.

1.3

OpenCL Version

3.0

OpenGL

4.6

DirectX

12 (12_1)

CUDA

6.1

Power Connectors

1x 8-pin

Shader Model

6.4

ROPs

The Raster Operations Pipeline (ROPs) is primarily responsible for handling lighting and reflection calculations in games, as well as managing effects like anti-aliasing (AA), high resolution, smoke, and fire. The more demanding the anti-aliasing and lighting effects in a game, the higher the performance requirements for the ROPs; otherwise, it may result in a sharp drop in frame rate.

Suggested PSU

450W

Benchmarks

FP32 (float)

Score

6.592 TFLOPS

Blender

Score

561

OctaneBench

Score

114

Compared to Other GPU

FP32 (float) / TFLOPS

GeForce RTX 2060 12 GB

7.325 +11.1%

Tesla M40

6.969 +5.7%

GeForce GTX 1070 GDDR5X

6.592

Radeon RX 5600 OEM

6.518 -1.1%

GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER Max Q

6.11 -7.3%

Blender

Radeon RX 6800

2039.9 +263.6%

Radeon RX 6600 XT

1128 +101.1%

GeForce GTX 1070 GDDR5X

561

Radeon RX 6400

294 -47.6%

Quadro K2200

119 -78.8%

OctaneBench

GeForce RTX 4060 Ti

418 +266.7%

RTX A2000 Embedded

229 +100.9%

GeForce GTX 1070 GDDR5X

114

GeForce GTX 980MX

62 -45.6%

T400 4 GB

33 -71.1%