The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Founders Edition Review: Mid-Range Turing, High-End Price
by Nate Oh on October 16, 2018 9:00 AM ESTPower, Temperature, and Noise
As always, we'll take a look at power, temperature, and noise of the RTX 2070 Founders Edition, especially considering its atypically large GPU, new cooler design, new fixed-function hardware, and higher TDPs. For the most part, the dual axial fan open air design provide straightforward benefits in lower noise and cooling, though with drawbacks as mentioned earlier.
As this is a new GPU, we will quickly review the GeForce RTX 2070's stock voltages and clockspeeds as well.
| GeForce Video Card Voltages | |||||
| RTX 2070 Boost | GTX 1070 Boost | RTX 2070 Idle | GTX 1070 Idle | ||
| 1.050v | 1.062v | 0.718v | 0.625v | ||
The voltages are broadly comparable to the preceding 16nm GTX 1070. In comparison to pre-FinFET generations, these voltages are exceptionally lower because of the FinFET process used, something we went over in detail in our GTX 1080 and 1070 Founders Edition review. As we said then, the 16nm FinFET process requires said low voltages as opposed to previous planar nodes, so this can be limiting in scenarios where a lot of power and voltage are needed, i.e. high clockspeeds and overclocking. Of course, Turing (along with Volta, Xavier, and NVSwitch) are built on 12nm "FFN" rather than 16nm, but there is little detail on the exact process tweaks.
| GeForce Video Card Average Clockspeeds | ||||
| Game | RTX 2070 | RTX 2070 FE | GTX 1070 | |
| Max Boost Clock |
2160MHz
|
2160MHz |
1898MHz
|
|
| Boost Clock | 1620MHz | 1710MHz | 1683MHz | |
| Battlefield 1 | 1723MHz | 1825MHz | 1787MHz | |
| Far Cry 5 | 1734MHz | 1824MHz | 1784MHz | |
| Ashes: Escalation | 1775MHz | 1853MHz | 1774MHz | |
| Wolfenstein II | 1644MHz | 1719MHz | 1728MHz | |
| Final Fantasy XV | 1690MHz | 1786MHz | 1749MHz | |
| Grand Theft Auto V | 1802MHz | 1881MHz | 1832MHz | |
| Shadow of War | 1669MHz | 1775MHz | 1768MHz | |
| F1 2018 | 1780MHz | 1826MHz | 1787MHz | |
| Total War: Warhammer II | 1743MHz | 1833MHz | 1786MHz | |
In terms of clockspeeds, the RTX 2070 isn't bringing any surprises. Like Pascal and the GTX 1070, the boost clock reading is used liberally, usually boosting beyond, and varies per game/workload. With the +90MHz Founders Edition OC, the RTX 2070 dutifully ramps up. What remains to be seen is how these clockspeeds hold when RT cores or tensor cores are actively and steadily utilized. In any case, at its Founders Edition specs, the RTX 2070 has perhaps another 100MHz or so to push, but otherwise is out of headroom (or power).
The steady TDP creep has taken its toll, and the 2070 is no longer a power-sipper of the likes of the 1070 or 970. At the very least, it is far from the excesses of its older 2080 Ti and 2080 siblings. Of note is its additional power draw over the GTX 1080, which in certain games trades blows with the 2070.
Temperature
The adoption of an open air cooler with dual axial fans has immediate benefits, especially with a lower temperature target.
Noise
In turn, the open air cooler allows for quieter, slower spinning axial fans.
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rtho782 - Wednesday, October 17, 2018 - link
I can't wait for the GTX960 review to finally come out so I can see how it compares!!Meteor2 - Thursday, October 25, 2018 - link
:-Dbtb - Tuesday, October 16, 2018 - link
Should have been compared to the 1070 TI FE imo, they dont even sell the 1070 anymore, at least not in the nvidia store in my country. 1070 TI FE is the best bang for your buck right now IMO, if you dont want/need the raytracing capapility and play at 1920x. Personally I recently bought the 1070 TI FE, and have been quite happy with it. Only cost 75% of what a 2070 FE cost, and maxes out my FPS at the resolution I play(1920x1200)TheinsanegamerN - Tuesday, October 16, 2018 - link
Just because the 1070 isnt sold in "the nvidia store in your country" doesnt mean it has ceased to exist, or that it is no longer the market the 2070 is now targeting.btb - Tuesday, October 16, 2018 - link
Well, that might be the case. But does not change that 1070 TI is much better value for money then 1070(and 2070 for that matter). The review not including the "in between" option is not helpful for prospective buyers.. all IMO of course.Death666Angel - Tuesday, October 16, 2018 - link
"1070 TI is much better value for money then 1070"Taking the Techpowerup summary of the relative performance (compared to a 2080Ti) and running it through the cheapest model available from a respectable retailer in Germany, the 1070 is less than .15% better performance/€ in 1080p titles than the 1070, 1.8% better performance/€in 1440p titles and a whopping 3.2% better performance/€ in 2160p titles. "much better value for money" looks different to me. Then there is the fact that there are 53 1070 products and only 36 1070ti ones listed here. And I have to question the sanity and your financial sense of anyone who looks to upgrade from a 1070ti to a 2070. Generational upgrades are usually not worth it without a corresponding process node shrink and the same is true here, especially since the 1070ti is more a 1080 in disguise than a true midrange card.
Kakti - Tuesday, October 16, 2018 - link
At least for me, it's not at all about upgrading from a 1070TI to a 2070, but rather which should I purchase to replace my 970. The 1070Ti is roughly $400-450 while the 2070 is $600. That's a huge difference and it's hard to know how big the performance delta is when the article keeps comparing to the 1070 that's effectively been supereseded.If you're buying a 1000 series card, it's a 1060, 1070ti, 1080 or 1080ti; virtually no one is buying a regular 1070 at this point. Honestly I think I'm going to sit out this generation until we have an idea of what this hardware can do for ray tracing and DLSS. I have a feeling these cards (especially the 2070) will struggle mightily to run those settings anywhere near 60fps. So, if I personally don't believe the 2070 will be able to deliver acceptable performance for RTX tech, then I'm leaning towards grabbing a 1000 series for (relatively) cheap.
Death666Angel - Wednesday, October 17, 2018 - link
"If you're buying a 1000 series card, it's a 1060, 1070ti, 1080 or 1080ti; virtually no one is buying a regular 1070 at this point" Any data on this? Or just made up to further your point? What about second hand cards? With a performanc/€ delta of less than % at 1080p, you are making quite bold claims here.Cellar Door - Wednesday, October 17, 2018 - link
The 1070Ti is far better value then 1080 or 1070. Your comparison uses a stock 1070Ti - a card which only makes sense overclocked(due to Nvidia banning any factory OC models). When overclocked, 1070Ti is 7% lower perf then an OC 1080 for a lot less.Oh and since 1070Ti was just launched last October, they are perfect to grab on the used market as all cards will still have 2 years of warranty left. I picked up a mint used 1070Ti for $300.
GreenReaper - Thursday, October 18, 2018 - link
Unfortunately, it's not your warranty, so you don't get to benefit from it:https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/4xmewv/ps...
https://www.nvidia.com/object/manufacturer_warrant...
This warranty applies only to the original purchases of the Warranted Products from a retailer, mail order operation, or on-line retail store; this warranty will not extend to any person that acquires a Warranted Product on a used basis.