Is the GTX 1070 worth it?

[DamZe]

The GTX 1070 is a solid purchase with your hardware and should offer some legroom to spare. I jumped from a 780 to a 1080 and it was a huge leap in performance, I imagine a 960 to a 1070 would be a similar jump. Others may correct me if I'm wrong, but a 480 will likely pump out more heat than the 1070. If you can wait 3-4 months, it can't hurt to see what Vega does to bring down prices/offer competition.

God forbid the average AIB RX480 pumps out one or two degrees Celsius more than the 1070, what on earth does that have to do with anything? They are a good $150-200 apart, so anything you gain in a miniscule temperature increase you more than make up with money saved. If the OP needs a Card for 1080p, a quality AIB RX480 8GB is all that is needed.

Back to the GTX 1070, this card is the modern-day equivalent of a x50Ti product bracket, taking into consideration that the Titan X(P) isn't even a full GP102 chip, which means it would be in your best interest to get the 1070 as close to MRSP as possible. Outside of the US that is nigh impossible, so you have my sympathy. Is it worth the premium over the RX 480 8GB for 1080p to the average Joe, not in a million years. I predict a RX480 8GB will outperform the 1070 in DX12/Vulkan in 1-2 years, for now 1440 and up is the ideal scenario for the 300+ GPU price segment. and where the 1070 can flex it's muscles.

 

[thxdd]

God forbid the average AIB RX480 pumps out one or two degrees Celsius more than the 1070, what on earth does that have to do with anything?

Apparently you missed the OP's first post, "If you guys could give me some advice it'd be greatly appreciated, but I'd prefer to avoid cards that get particularly hot, as I'm in Australia and it's summer over here, so my house is always hot to begin with."

AIB 480's do run hotter under load than AIB 1070's from what I recall. As someone who used to run a gaming rig in a house without AC, every few degrees counts in the hot summer months...

 

[Headfoot]

Apparently you missed the OP's first post, "If you guys could give me some advice it'd be greatly appreciated, but I'd prefer to avoid cards that get particularly hot, as I'm in Australia and it's summer over here, so my house is always hot to begin with."

AIB 480's do run hotter under load than AIB 1070's from what I recall. As someone who used to run a gaming rig in a house without AC, every few degrees counts in the hot summer months...

Mountain out of a molehill. It's a complete and total waste of time to try and eke out tens of watts out of a video card purchase while ignoring significantly more important power-wasters. It's a point that's so irrelevant that the only reason I can see that people bring it up in a normal desktop computer build (e.g. desktop, not htpc, not mobile) is to fabricate some negative point out of nothing.

You'd save MASSIVELY more power by simply unplugging your printer(s) and DVR/Cable Box when you're not using it instead of letting it go to standby. They have outlet level switches you can install for very cheap to do this. If you actually care about power and heat creation then look at the things that matter.

That's not even mentioning that turning off your computer, all the way to off and not just to "sleep" will save you more power in a year by miles than tens of watts on a loaded GPU. That's not mentioning buying a Nest or other smart HVAC device

 

[SteveGrabowski]

I would wait for CES to see if AMD gives a launch date for Vega. If they don't then it's a reasonable guess that it would be months away and you might as well just get the 1070 then. I wouldn't think a 960 would be all that great to game on in 2017 and I'd be wanting to replace the card ASAP instead of waiting 3-6 months if we don't get a firm Vega date at CES. It sucks seeing how high gpu prices are and I'm actually surprised we have seen the 1070 start to near MSRP in the US. The GTX 970 stayed at $330 firm from September 2014 until what, April 2016?

 

[thxdd]

Mountain out of a molehill. It's a complete and total waste of time to try and eke out tens of watts out of a video card purchase while ignoring significantly more important power-wasters. It's a point that's so irrelevant that the only reason I can see that people bring it up in a normal desktop computer build (e.g. desktop, not htpc, not mobile) is to fabricate some negative point out of nothing.

Huh? I don't think the OP is trying to save power at all, but rather trying to prevent the area he games in from turning into a sauna any more than it already is if possible.

 

[Headfoot]

Huh? I don't think the OP is trying to save power at all, but rather trying to prevent the area he games in from turning into a sauna any more than it already is if possible.

Yup. Watt is a measurement of heat. You leave power wasting devices on and all of that energy is going to heat since they are performing no useful function. If he wants to "stop turning it into a sauna" he should look at the useless vampire devices that create heat 24/7/365.

Per my numbers above, the worst offender DVRs and Cable boxes waste as much power (and create as much heat) as an Energy Star refrigerator. It's a ton. Newer models (2013 and later) are better but not everyone has these, and not all newer models are better.

 

[thxdd]

Yup. Watt is a measurement of heat. You leave power wasting devices on and all of that energy is going to heat since they are performing no useful function. If he wants to "stop turning it into a sauna" he should look at the useless vampire devices that create heat 24/7/365.

Per my numbers above, the worst offender DVRs and Cable boxes waste as much power (and create as much heat) as an Energy Star refrigerator. It's a ton. Newer models (2013 and later) are better but not everyone has these, and not all newer models are better.

Ah, OK - I see what you're getting at. While I agree with you that it's important to think holistically and that a GPU is chump change compared to other devices in a home, proximity to those sources of heat is also a consideration. Upgrading my refrigerator to a more efficient model would certainly help my entire house's ambient temperatures in the summer (and electrical bill), but it is quite far away from the small office my computer is in. I'm also not sitting next to the refrigerator's heat exchangers for a few hours while gaming. What is sitting next to me while gaming is my computer blowing warm air out under my desk that in the summer warms my office to a much higher temp than the rest of my home (unless I kick on the A/C). If I were in a studio apartment, things would be very different.

All that being said, I double checked and my memory was wrong - the difference between AIB 480s and 1070s in wattage consumed at load is negligible (some 480s are even more efficient than 1070s too) making this whole point moot.

 

[bystander36]

God forbid the average AIB RX480 pumps out one or two degrees Celsius more than the 1070, what on earth does that have to do with anything? They are a good $150-200 apart, so anything you gain in a miniscule temperature increase you more than make up with money saved. If the OP needs a Card for 1080p, a quality AIB RX480 8GB is all that is needed.

Back to the GTX 1070, this card is the modern-day equivalent of a x50Ti product bracket, taking into consideration that the Titan X(P) isn't even a full GP102 chip, which means it would be in your best interest to get the 1070 as close to MRSP as possible. Outside of the US that is nigh impossible, so you have my sympathy. Is it worth the premium over the RX 480 8GB for 1080p to the average Joe, not in a million years. I predict a RX480 8GB will outperform the 1070 in DX12/Vulkan in 1-2 years, for now 1440 and up is the ideal scenario for the 300+ GPU price segment. and where the 1070 can flex it's muscles.

Considering that both cards are quite close on price to performance, I'm not sure why it would not be worth the premium. Normally, the higher end you go, the worse price to performance ratio you get, but there is little drop in price to performance in this case.

 

[RussianSensation]

Can't say I agree here. Looking at the prices, I see now as the best time to buy a 1070. Aftermarket, factory Oc'd cards with good coolers for around 379 when you'd be extremely lucky to find them for $400 not long ago, and closer to $429-449

In the latest HardwareUnboxed videos, Steve Walton noted they ordered GTX1070 directly from US and it cost significantly less than buying it in Australia/New Zealand, even with expensive shipping. I wonder if any of you guys from Oceania region have tried this? The OP might be able to save some $$$ buying the card directly on Amazon US. It would be much easier to recommend a $370-400 1070 but based on the OP's implication the card costs $700 Australian (~$500 US)? $500 US is way too expensive for a 7+ month old card that has $380 MSRP.

How much is a used Fury X/980Ti and a new RX 480/1060 in New Zealand/Australia? We would be able to determine the price/performance for 1080p gaming vs. GTX1070 if the OP provided us with pricing if AIB 480 8GB & 1060 6GB.

 

[Zorander]

I haven't directly compared in this case but shipping fee often brings the total close to local pricing (at which point it makes more sense to buy locally for the local warranty).

You can use staticice.com.au to gauge prices in Australia. The 480 8gb cam be had for around aud400. The 1060 6gb is typically higher by 20-30aud. No idea about the 1070 but pretty sure they are around 550aud.

In the latest HardwareUnboxed videos, Steve Walton noted they ordered GTX1070 directly from US and it cost significantly less than buying it in Australia/New Zealand, even with expensive shipping. I wonder if any of you guys from Oceania region have tried this? The OP might be able to save some $$$ buying the card directly on Amazon US. It would be much easier to recommend a $370-400 1070 but based on the OP's implication the card costs $700 Australian (~$500 US)? $500 US is way too expensive for a 7+ month old card that has $380 MSRP.

How much is a used Fury X/980Ti and a new RX 480/1060 in New Zealand/Australia? We would be able to determine the price/performance for 1080p gaming vs. GTX1070 if the OP provided us with pricing if AIB 480 8GB & 1060 6GB.

 

[ronss]

remember one thing...if u are going to go to 4k someday, ,,,it needs lots of video horsepower if you game....lots of pixels to move around, like 4 1980x 1080 screens

 

[OatisCampbell]

God forbid the average AIB RX480 pumps out one or two degrees Celsius more than the 1070, what on earth does that have to do with anything? They are a good $150-200 apart, so anything you gain in a miniscule temperature increase you more than make up with money saved. If the OP needs a Card for 1080p, a quality AIB RX480 8GB is all that is needed.

Back to the GTX 1070, this card is the modern-day equivalent of a x50Ti product bracket, taking into consideration that the Titan X(P) isn't even a full GP102 chip, which means it would be in your best interest to get the 1070 as close to MRSP as possible. Outside of the US that is nigh impossible, so you have my sympathy. Is it worth the premium over the RX 480 8GB for 1080p to the average Joe, not in a million years. I predict a RX480 8GB will outperform the 1070 in DX12/Vulkan in 1-2 years, for now 1440 and up is the ideal scenario for the 300+ GPU price segment. and where the 1070 can flex it's muscles.

That's a pretty bold prediction:

http://wccftech.com/battlefield-1-directx-12-benchmarks-amd-nvidia/

http://techreport.com/review/30639/...x-12-performance-in-deus-ex-mankind-divided/3

RX480 is way behind 1070 at DX12 now, and most games are DX11 now.

The cards seem to have similar load temps, so I'd say the answer to this question is "If the OP wants a card that will let him run really high AA at 1080P, or upgrade to a 1440P monitor, the 1070 is the current best choice. If a big 1080p upgrade for less is the goal, a GTX1060 will run cooler and perform higher." (than a 480)

 

[Keysplayr]

1070 and 480 aren't even in the same clubhouse. 480 knocks on 1060s door.

 

[casiofx]

That's a pretty bold prediction:

http://wccftech.com/battlefield-1-directx-12-benchmarks-amd-nvidia/

http://techreport.com/review/30639/...x-12-performance-in-deus-ex-mankind-divided/3

RX480 is way behind 1070 at DX12 now, and most games are DX11 now.

The cards seem to have similar load temps, so I'd say the answer to this question is "If the OP wants a card that will let him run really high AA at 1080P, or upgrade to a 1440P monitor, the 1070 is the current best choice. If a big 1080p upgrade for less is the goal, a GTX1060 will run cooler and perform higher." (than a 480)

It is funny to see him spewing things that are baseless.
RX480 can outperform GTX1060 in DX12 and vulkan in some cases, just look at the raw power both card holds (RX480 5.8 teraflops @ 1266Mhz vs GTX1060 4.4 teraflops @ 1709Mhz, or stock custom boosted GTX1060 4.95 teraflops @ 1920Mhz). Now that you look at GTX1070 6.5 teraflops @ 1683Mhz or stock custom boosted GTX1070 7.3 teraflops @ 1900Mhz, you can see that GTX1070 had the raw power to stomp the RX480 even when RX480 is running at its best in DX12. The only time RX480 can win over GTX1070 is when Nvidia releases Volta and decided to not give a dam on pascal optimizations anymore like what happened on Kepler, but by the time a $300 card will offer even crazier performance, RX480 class performance would drop to lower end.

 

[happy medium]

1070 and 480 aren't even in the same clubhouse. 480 knocks on 1060s door.

True, My gtx1070 will mop the floor with the 480 and use about the same power doing it.

 

[maevinj]

So not to completely hijack the thread, but is now not a good time to buy a 1070? Should I wait until the summer to get the "newer" cards? I'm using a 660 now.

 

[happy medium]

So not to completely hijack the thread, but is now not a good time to buy a 1070? Should I wait until the summer to get the "newer" cards? I'm using a 660 now.

We need your cpu speed, and resolution you game at first.
A gtx1070 will be 3x faster than a 660 with a fast cpu.
If your system plays the games you have now well, then wait, if not, upgrade.

 

[maevinj]

We need your cpu speed, and resolution you game at first.
A gtx1070 will be 3x faster than a 660 with a fast cpu.
If your system plays the games you have now well, then wait, if not, upgrade.

Sorry.
i5-6600K 6M Skylake 16GB ram, SSD and 1080P resolution.
I'm mainly playing Fallout 4 and Forza 6: Apex at the moment. It seems to do ok.

 

[tential]

Sorry.
i5-6600K 6M Skylake 16GB ram, SSD and 1080P resolution.
I'm mainly playing Fallout 4 and Forza 6: Apex at the moment. It seems to do ok.

It's 6 months til summer GPU releases....

So it really depends on whether you want to wait 6 months with your current GPU. Only you can be the judge of if you can't wait any longer with your GPU. None of us can, especially since many of us in your situation ALREADY upgraded.

Is a GTX 1070 a worthwhile GPU in its cycle right now AGAIN depends on the person.

If you want to buy a GTX 1070, the "best" time to do so would be utilizing the best ongoing sale that actually gives a significant discount to the normal price the 1070 sells for.

This is basically a non answer, because I don't want to actually be a person recommending you to do something when it's really up to you.

Personally, I wouldn't wait 6 months of GTX 660 performance and would instead enjoy the GTX 1070. No GPU should be held on to for a long period of time. Buy it, sell it, repeat, enjoy great performance all the time. That's the best "Deal".

 

[Bacon1]

Personally, I wouldn't wait 6 months of GTX 660 performance and would instead enjoy the GTX 1070. No GPU should be held on to for a long period of time. Buy it, sell it, repeat, enjoy great performance all the time. That's the best "Deal".

Yep, the best time to buy a card is either at release, or at a massive discount. Waiting 6+ months for ~10-20% off means you aren't getting very good "return on your investment" since the card is a good ways through its lifespan. Buying early and "turning over" the cards is a great way to stay with high end for cheaper, and buying those discounted cards is a good way to stay mid-range on a budget.

If you can get a 1070 for closer to $300 than $400 it could be a good deal. The cards coming out in the next few months will all be >$300-400 so unless you want an existing card at decreased cost or the new cards will be in your price range, waiting is all upto you.

 

[happy medium]

The cards coming out in the next few months will all be >$300-400

This is blatant lies, you have no idea about anything that's coming out in the next 6 months.

 

[Bacon1]

This is blatant lies, you have no idea about anything that's coming out in the next 6 months.

Lies? What new cards are you expecting?

Vega is high end. 1080 Ti would be high end as well.

Or are you expecting NVidia/AMD to replace their existing cards already?

What proof do you have of a new card coming out under $300 in the next few months?

 

[happy medium]

Lies? What new cards are you expecting?

Vega is high end. 1080 Ti would be high end as well.

Or are you expecting NVidia/AMD to replace their existing cards already?

What proof do you have of a new card coming out under $300 in the next few months?

You said 300 to $400 ,Small Vega will be under $400.
No way is AMD leaving a gap from $240 to over $400. no way.

And release is the worse time to buy a card. About 3 months after release is good, to avoid the price gouging.

 

[bystander36]

You said 300 to $400 ,Small Vega will be under $400.
No way is AMD leaving a gap from $240 to over $400. no way.

And release is the worse time to buy a card. About 3 months after release is good, to avoid the price gouging.

I'm confused by this post. He said $300 to $400, not over $400. Going from $240 to $300 seems like a reasonable jump to me.

 

[happy medium]

I'm confused by this post. He said $300 to $400, not over $400. Going from $240 to $300 seems like a reasonable jump to me.

He said nothing will be released in the next few months in the 300 to $400 range.
First he has nothing to base that fact on and there will be a small Vega releasing some time this half of 2017 that will be priced under $400.
The gtx1070 is about $380 now and small Vega should be cheaper.
AMD always undercuts Nvidia prices and they will have a card as fast or a bit slower than a gtx1070 for a bit cheaper.

No way will AMD leave a huge gap in their lineup between the Big Vega (gtx1080 performance) and a rx480. And they will never leave a $350 gtx1070 card without competition.