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.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
121 Comments
View All Comments
thestryker - Tuesday, October 16, 2018 - link
I feel much the same as you, and honestly I'd bet most people who buy the upper-mid range feel the same way. I also have a GTX 970 and as I told a couple of my friends while laughing at the new RTX pricing "this makes it so much easier to wait for 2020 to see if Intel can compete". I stick by that statement and barring a pricing revolution or my 970 dying here's to 2020.Lazlo Panaflex - Friday, October 19, 2018 - link
@thestryker, same here. I got a 970 a couple years ago, and won't be upgrading any time soon. I'm sure it'll run Doom Eternal just fine...thanks Vulcan ;-)Targon - Tuesday, October 16, 2018 - link
New consoles have been hitting $600 at release, and then come down after a year or two. So, $600 for a new card is still in that range of being the price of an entire console. When I see $700+, that is when I really question how much faster the card is to justify the higher price.cfenton - Tuesday, October 16, 2018 - link
The most expensive console launch recently was the Xbox One X at $500. The PS4 and PS4 Pro were $400 at launch.eva02langley - Tuesday, October 16, 2018 - link
The thing is that MS, Sony or Nintendo can sell their consoles at a lost because they are going to get it back on software... a GPU doesn`t work this way.@cfenton, 599$? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOHqG1nc_tw
wr3zzz - Wednesday, October 17, 2018 - link
Count me the same as well. With AAA developers no long pushing technology beyond console envelops, instead of a new GPU every other gen I am likely going with just one GPU (980) for this entire current console cycle.colonelclaw - Thursday, October 18, 2018 - link
Completely agree. For the cost of the most expensive games console you should at least get the most powerful gfx card. Have Nvidia forgotten that you basically need to spend the same amount again to get a working computer? $500 for a 'mid-range' card is utter lunacy.adlep - Tuesday, October 16, 2018 - link
Used, 2nd hand market price breakdown for both 1070ti and 1080 are going to be a major headache for Nvidia. I bought my MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X for the "buy it now price" of $320.00 and 1070ti cards go for less than $300.00 on the 2nd hand market such us ebay, facebook marketplace, and FS/FT sections of AT Forum.The_Assimilator - Tuesday, October 16, 2018 - link
1080 Ti as well - the fastest cards from the previous gen usually get the largest % discount.brunis.dk - Tuesday, October 16, 2018 - link
i get dizzy from turning my head to read the labels. i loved that you made the AMD bar in the compute benches red, helps me identify red team. maybe make a repeating bg with barely discernible logo's. Just saw i dont get dizzy, help an old man out :) If you need help with the web dev, let me know.