Msi Geforce Rtx 2070 Directx 12 Rtx 2070 Armor Review
The GeForce RTX 20-series launch in September 2022 was dominated by coverage of the GeForce RTX 2080 and flagship GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics processors (GPUs), the 2 most powerful in the lineup. The enthusiast-level RTX 2070, slated for a afterward release, largely went ignored—until now. The RTX 2070 card under review here is the MSI GeForce RTX 2070 Armor, a customized version of the reference lath that Nvidia outlines for its partner companies. Its $499 list price is the least you tin can expect to spend for an RTX 2070-based graphics card, as that'due south Nvidia's recommended starting toll for this GPU family. Enough of other RTX 2070 cards cost more; as a case in point, Nvidia sells its ain factory-overclocked RTX 2070 Founders Edition for $599. But this MSI lath indeed may be the dark horse of the RTX cards we have tested so far: It brings the idea of "value," for the first time, into the RTX discussion.
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GeForce RTX 2070 Essentials
The RTX 2070 is the intended successor of the circa-2016 GeForce GTX 1070. Our testing showed the RTX 2070 offered compelling operation improvements with an economic take hold of: It's priced $100 college than that approachable menu. The RTX 2070's pricing instead lines upwards with the GeForce GTX 1080($ane,099.99 at Amazon), a precarious situation for the newer card since the two cards showed equivalent functioning in about of our tests. This isn't a problem if you lot're upgrading from much older hardware or are buying a graphics menu for the beginning time, but it's a tougher pill to consume if you already accept i of the ameliorate 10-series "Pascal"-based cards.
First off, I'll highly recommend reading the offset half of our GeForce RTX 2080 Founders Edition($1,099.99 at Amazon) review for the complete scoop on the new Nvidia "Turing" architecture backside the RTX xx series. This article will focus on the differences between the RTX 2070 and the GTX 1070, as well as on comparisons to the pricier RTX 2080.
Similar Products
Commencement, hither are the comparable specifications between the RTX 2070 and the GTX 1070...
GeForce RTX 2070 Reference Card ("Turing") | GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition ("Pascal") | |
Nvidia CUDA Cores | 2,304 | 1,920 |
Base Clock | one,410MHz | 1,506MHz |
Boost Clock | one,620MHz | 1,683MHz |
Retentivity Speed | 14Gbps | 8Gbps |
Standard Memory Config | 8GB GDDR6 | 8GB GDDR5 |
Memory Interface Width | 256-bit | 256-scrap |
Memory Bandwidth | 448GB/s | 256GB/s |
Graphics Carte du jour Power | 175 watts | 150 watts |
Number of Transistors | x.8 billion | 7.two billion |
Dice Size | 445mmii | 314mm2 |
Manufacturing Process | 12nm FinFET | 16nm |
Power Connectors | Ane eight-pin | 1 eight-pin |
Recommended Cost | $499 | $399 |
The twenty percentage increase in the CUDA cadre count on the RTX 2070 hints at its rough performance advantage. However, the real-earth proceeds from that specification alone is probable to be greater, seeing as, according to Nvidia, the CUDA cores on Turing cards boast up to a 50 percent per-core functioning increase. Moreover, the far greater retention bandwidth from the RTX 2070'south high-tech GDDR6 memory should help when gaming at higher resolutions. The RTX 2070 has a balmy increase in its power rating but can still be powered by a unmarried eight-pin connector. Its die size is as well 42 per centum larger, a good indicator that Nvidia's yields from its 12nm FinFET procedure are good.
These are simply the comparable specifications of the RTX 2070 and the GTX 1070. The RTX 2070 adds 2 new hardware specifications non before seen in a consumer-level graphics carte du jour: Tensor cores and ray tracing (RT) cores. The erstwhile power a key characteristic of the RTX 20 series, Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS). Briefly, this AI-driven technology is designed to increase the performance of border smoothing in games while improving visual quality. Meanwhile, the RT cores enable ray tracing for enhanced visual effects. Ray tracing isn't a new thought (Pixar has been using it for years in its 3D-rendered movies), simply it'south so far gone unused in video games considering of its substantial operation overhead. The RT cores are designed to hardware-advance ray tracing to make it usable in existent-time.
Both DLSS and ray tracing take thus far gone untested in the real globe. They don't "only work" in all games; the game needs to be designed to use them. Nvidia has a list of upcoming games with support, but they're however awaiting release as I type this. Therefore, the value proposition of the GeForce RTX 20 series remains partially hedged in religion.
GeForce RTX 2070 Versus RTX 2080
Leaving Pascal behind, here are the RTX 2070 and the RTX 2080 reference cards side-past-side...
RTX 2070 Reference Card | RTX 2080 Reference Carte | |
GPU Model | Nvidia TU106 | Nvidia TU104 |
Shading Multiprocessors (SMs) | 36 | 46 |
CUDA Cores | 2,304 | 2,944 |
Tensor Cores | 288 | 368 |
RT Cores | 36 | 46 |
Giga-Rays Per 2d Rating | 6 | eight |
RTX-OPS | 42 | 60 |
Base Clock | 1,410MHz | i,515MHz |
Boost Clock | 1,620MHz | 1,710MHz |
Retention Speed | 14Gbps | 14Gbps |
Standard Retentivity Config | 8GB GDDR6 | 8GB GDDR6 |
Memory Interface Width | 256-bit | 256-bit |
Memory Bandwidth | 448GB/due south | 448GB/due south |
Graphics Bill of fare Power | 175 watts | 225 watts |
Number of Transistors | 10.8 billion | 13.6 billion |
Die Size | 445mm 2 | 545mm 2 |
Power Connectors | One eight-pin | I six-pivot, one eight-pin |
Recommended Toll | $499 | $699 |
The number of Shading Multiprocessors (SMs) is the major differentiator between the cards. Each Turing SM contains 64 CUDA cores, eight Tensor cores, and 1 RT core processing engine. Look to the RTX-OPS number for organic performance comparisons between RTX 20-series cards, Nvidia's published metric for measuring operation workloads. RTX-OPS is a combination of Tensor core, CUDA cadre, RT core, and INT32 operations in a single rendered frame.
The catch with RTX-OPS is that it's a combination of metrics. If a game doesn't utilise ray tracing, for example, then the performance no longer scales according to RTX-OPS. Assuming a game does make use of all components of RTX-OPS, the RTX 2080 could have a 43 percent performance reward over the RTX 2070. That corresponds with the roughly 40 percent price increment for the RTX 2080. As I write this, though, RTX 2080 cards are mostly parked around the $799 marking, not $699, whereas cards built around the GeForce RTX 2070 GPU are readily institute at Nvidia's recommended $499 toll.
MSI RTX 2070 Armor Walk-Around
The MSI RTX 2070 Armor is bigger than a traditional ii-slot graphics card in every dimension, measuring 12.1 inches long, six.one inches tall, and 2 inches thick. Compare that to MSI's blower-style RTX 2070 Aero 8G, which is 10.5 inches long, iv.5 inches tall, and i.6 inches thick.
The superlative view of the card is dominated by its twin-fan cooling design. The fans use ball bearings for quiet operation, which I found to exist the case in my testing. Through the fans you tin meet the large aluminum-finned heatsink and five large copper heatpipes. The shroud around the fans is plastic, but I wasn't necessarily looking for metallic at that place.
The brushed-metal backplate on the flip side of the carte is a passive heatsink. Thermal pads on its underside transfer heat from the GDDR6 retention modules.
The MSI logo on the side of the card is backlit with RGB LEDs. MSI's Mystic Light software allows yous to change the colors and patterns, or simply turn it off. This is the but lighting zone on this carte du jour. It doesn't do enough for the looks to make information technology a major selling bespeak, in my view. For existent flair and lighting gusto, the pricier MSI RTX 2070 Gaming graphics cards offering more comprehensive lighting.
Also, up here are the six-pivot and eight-pivot ability connectors. Nvidia specifies the RTX 2070 reference carte du jour with one eight-pin connector. The supplementary six-pivot connector on this card is there to provide extra power for overclocking. Absent on every RTX 2070 is an NVLink connector for SLI support. Only the GeForce RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti offer SLI support within the RTX twenty series, and just two-card SLI at that.
The connectors on the backplate lucifer those of the RTX 2080. They incorporate three DisplayPort i.4a video-out connectors, a single HDMI 2.0b video-out connector, and one VirtualLink (USB Blazon-C) connector for next-generation virtual-reality headsets. The latter have however to come to market.
So, the large question: How did it perform? PC Labs ran numerous DirectX eleven- and DirectX 12-based synthetic benchmarks and games on the RTX 2070 Armor. This will provide an illuminating comparison to current-generation graphics cards.
The spotlight will be on how the RTX 2070 compares to the GTX 1070 and GTX 1070 Ti, but equally so on how it stacks upward to the similarly priced GTX 1080.
Our exam rig is equipped with an Intel Core i7-8700K processor, 16GB of G.Skill DDR4 retentiveness, a solid-country boot drive, and an Aorus Z370 Gaming 7 motherboard. Note for a few tests we used our backup exam rig because of technical bug. It was equipped with an Intel Core i7-7700K processor, 16GB of Corsair RAM, an MSI Gaming Z270 M5 motherboard, and a solid-land boot drive. Its performance for the benchmarks nosotros run should be very close to those of the master rig.
The adjacent section goes through each benchmark footstep by stride. Skip down to the conclusion if you're looking for the TLDR version.
Synthetic Benchmarks
3DMark Burn Strike Ultra
Synthetic benchmarks can be good predictors of existent-world gaming functioning. Futuremark's circa-2013 Burn down Strike Ultra is still a go-to for 4K-based gaming. We're looking only at the graphics subscore, non the overall score.
The MSI RTX 2070 Armor held merely a xx percent lead over the GTX 1070 Founders Edition. This was the smallest difference I saw between the ii across whatsoever benchmark we ran. The RTX 2080 Founders Edition wasn't quite one-third faster, while the RTX 2070 maintained a roughly fifty-fifty keel with the GTX 1080 Founders Edition.
3DMark Time Spy and Fourth dimension Spy Extreme
The Time Spy set is Futuremark's DirectX 12-enabled benchmark for predicting the performance of DirectX 12-enabled games. It uses major features of the API, including asynchronous compute, explicit multi-adapter, and multi-threading.
Conversely to 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra, the Fourth dimension Spy and Fourth dimension Spy Extreme benchmarks showed the largest advantages for the MSI RTX 2070 over the GTX 1070 Founders Edition across our benchmarks: 53 percent. The RTX 2070 also scored a notable 16 percent higher than the GTX 1080 Founders Edition. These results betoken the RTX 20 series is more skillful at making use of the newer DirectX 12 API than the GTX 10-series cards.
Unigine Superposition
Our terminal synthetic benchmark is Unigine's 2022 release, Superposition. This criterion does incorporate ray tracing, simply it's done in software, non hardware, and thus doesn't utilize the RT cores of the RTX 20 series. (Note that we used the backup test rig for the RTX 2070 results in this test.)
The MSI RTX 2070 Armor did particularly well against the GTX 1070 Founders Edition, showing a 31 per centum functioning advantage at the 8K Optimized setting. The performance advantage progressively decreased as the resolution increased, however; I saw the opposite trend with most of our tests.
Existent-World Gaming
The following benchmarks are games that you can play. The charts themselves will list the settings nosotros used (typically, the highest in-game presets and, if available, DirectX 12).
One game notably absent-minded from our performance results is Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Despite using the latest available commuter for the MSI RTX 2070 Armor, the game consistently crashed prior to the load screen on both of our test rigs. Strangely enough, we didn't feel this behavior with the RTX 2080-based cards we reviewed.
Rise of the Tomb Raider
The 2022 predecessor to Shadow of the Tomb Raider is yet a not bad criterion.
The MSI RTX 2070 Armor's lead over the GTX 1070 Founders Edition gradually increased with screen resolution, topping 36 percent at 4K. Information technology'southward probable the fast GDDR6 memory on the RTX 2070 is partially responsible for that pattern. Meanwhile, the MSI RTX 2070 maintained pace with the GTX 1080 Founders Edition, and it was left behind by the RTX 2080 Founders Edition by 18 to 26 percent.
Although the MSI RTX 2070 produces a playable boilerplate frame rate in this game's benchmark at a 4K resolution, I found information technology could exist a choppy feel at times when I played the game myself. The RTX 2070 isn't quite powerful enough to brand the game consistently playable at 4K at Very High settings. I dialed dorsum some of the in-game shadow and shading experience to smooth information technology out. For a no-compromise 4K gaming experience, consider spending the extra for an RTX 2080. Information technology'due south non as if games are going to become less demanding in the hereafter.
Far Weep five and Far Cry Primal
The fourth and fifth installments in the Far Cry serial are based on DirectX xi, but withal demanding. We're looping the benchmark charts together since they benchmark similarly. (Note nosotros used the backup test rig for the RTX 2070 results in Far Weep Cardinal.)
The 1080p screen resolution results are probable CPU-limited. The MSI RTX 2070 Armor leads the GTX 1070 Founders Edition in Far Cry five past 41 percent at 4K, and it besides vanquish out the GTX 1080 Founders Edition by a few percentage points. As I establish with Rise of the Tomb Raider, Far Cry five was also a somewhat choppy experience at 4K with the Ultra visual-quality settings. Dialing back a few of the settings is necessary if you want to achieve an average closer to threescore frames per second (fps).
Final Fantasy Fifteen
Nosotros'll take a respite from fps-based benchmarks for Terminal Fantasy XV. (Note we used the fill-in test rig for the RTX 2070 results in this test, too.)
The MSI RTX 2070 Armor saw some of its best gains over the GTX 1070 Founders Edition in this points-based criterion. In plough, the RTX 2080 Founders Edition showed some of its nigh minimal gains over the MSI RTX 2070 Armor.
Earth of Tanks Encore
This is some other non-fps-based criterion that's available every bit a free download. Information technology'southward non super-demanding, only it is still a reliable test reflecting massively multiplayer battle games.
Chalk upwardly another win for the MSI RTX 2070 Armor; it held a 29 percentage advantage at 4K over the GTX 1070 Founders Edition. The RTX 2080 Founders Edition was 26 percent alee of the RTX 2070 at 4K, a upshot that's in line with previous benchmarks, and that correlates with its 28 percent increment in CUDA cadre count over the RTX 2070.
Tom Clancy: The Division
A 2022 release that remains tough to handle, here's our last DirectX 12-specific game test.
The MSI RTX 2070 Armor's performance relative to the GTX 1070 Founders Edition jumps from 25 pct at 1440p to 40 percent at 4K. This is another indication that the higher retentiveness bandwidth of the RTX 2070 is beneficial at higher resolutions.
The 4K numbers from the RTX 2070, however, are likewise low for consistent in-game playability. Y'all'll need to vary a few of the in-game settings to get a smoother feel. Alternatively, compromise on a 1440p resolution, at which the RTX 2070 produces buttery-polish frame rates fifty-fifty with the visual quality settings cranked.
Overclocking Performance
I used MSI'due south Afterburner software to overclock the MSI RTX 2070 Armor. The software'due south congenital-in Nvidia Scanner API tests the GPU for its ideal voltage/frequency curve. The several scans I ran were consistent, and I concluded up with this...
The base clock went from ane,410MHz to 1,574MHz, and the boost clock went from i,620MHz to i,784MHz, an increase of 164MHz on both. Those are heftier relative gains than I achieved with RTX 2080-based cards. The results I received aren't guaranteed; every GPU will be different, and then your mileage may vary.
Contrast the overclocked numbers to those of the MSI RTX 2070 Armor 8G OC card, which has an overclocked 1,740MHz boost clock from the factory. It goes for $549 at retail, or $50 more than the non-overclocked RTX 2070 Armor card I'm testing. That premium hardly seems worthwhile given the card is otherwise identical, and I surpassed its factory overclock with a few mouse clicks.
The overclocking made a substantial difference in benchmarks and games. Note the numbers in the following nautical chart aren't all comparable to the numbers in the benchmarks section since I used the backup test rig based on the Intel Core i7-7700K.
MSI RTX 2070 Armor (Stock) | MSI RTX 2070 Armor (OC via Nvidia Scanner) | Overclock vs Stock | |
| 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra (Graphics Score) | 5,095 | five,562 | +ix% |
| 3DMark Time Spy (Graphics Score) | viii,471 | ix,211 | + 9% |
| Rising of the Tomb Raider (Very High, DX12, 1,920 by 1,080) | 136fps | 145fps | +seven% |
| Rise of the Tomb Raider (Very High, DX12, 2,560 by 1,440) | 93fps | 99fps | +6% |
| Ascension of the Tomb Raider (Very Loftier, DX12, three,840 by ii,160) | 49fps | 52fps | +vi% |
| Far Cry v (Ultra, 1,920 by 1,080) | 113fps | 117fps | +4% |
| Far Cry 5 (Ultra, two,560 by 1,440) | 87fps | 92fps | +6% |
| Far Weep five (Ultra, 3,840 by 2,160) | 46fps | 49fps | +7% |
AVERAGE | +seven% |
The synthetic 3DMark benchmarks showed the maximum gains from the overclocking: 9 per centum. The built-in benchmarks in Rising of the Tomb Raider and Far Cry 5 showed vi to 7 percentage gains at 4K. Those are respectable results for automatic overclocking. A couple of extra fps at 4K makes an appreciable deviation when you're averaging under 60fps.
Thermals and Cooling
I'll be analyzing how the MSI RTX 2070 Armor controls its GPU core temperature, memory clock, and heave clock while nether stress. I used twenty loops of the 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra stability test to accomplish this, which takes almost 10 minutes to run.
Hither's the card performing at its manufactory clocks. I excluded the retentivity clock, as it maintained its 1,750MHz rating throughout the test...
The cadre clock averaged 1,722MHz, or considerably higher than its rated one,620MHz boost clock. The GPU increases the boost clock automatically if power and thermal weather let. In that location was some fluctuation in the core clock, which is normal, but it stayed in a tight range; the standard deviation was 15MHz. The most important takeaway is that information technology stayed consequent over time.
The boilerplate GPU core temperature of 62 degrees C suggests this card has enough of thermal headroom. I did the testing in a cool room (65 degrees F), just I didn't hear the fans in the RTX 2070 Armor spinning without putting my ear correct side by side to the card. I have no reason to believe this bill of fare would accept thermal problems in a warmer surround.
Now allow'south meet how the RTX 2070 Armor did in its overclocked state. I again left out the retentivity clock, which connected to maintain its factory frequency (it wasn't overclocked).
The overclock I achieved with MSI Afterburner officially set the heave clock to 1,784MHz, but hither it ran at a much higher average of ane,921MHz. The core clock still stayed in a controlled range, with the standard deviation increasing by less than 1MHz. At that place was no alter in the average GPU temperature of 62 degrees C. The fans were likely spinning faster, as the carte must have been consuming more ability, but I didn't hear them. There's no dubiousness that the RTX 2070 Armor has plenty of thermal room for farther overclocking.
Super-Solid Gamer, But a Worthy Upgrade?
The MSI GeForce RTX 2070 Armor put upwards a fine fight in our testing. Its cooling system was both quiet and constructive, and information technology showed plenty of overclocking headroom. As a matter of fact, given the relative ease of overclocking, we'd think twice earlier spending actress for a mill-overclocked RTX 2070 card. Information technology's as well priced dead-on at Nvidia's recommended $499 price, the minimum you tin expect to fork out for an RTX 2070.
The RTX 2070 is well-suited for high-refresh 1080p and 1440p gaming. Information technology'southward certainly capable of 4K gaming, although we had to lower the in-game settings in some games to get an average closer to 60fps. We'd recommend making the jump to an RTX 2080 if 4K is your aim.
The value proposition for the RTX 2070 depends on what bill of fare you're coming from. The RTX 2070 is a sensible purchase if you're upgrading from an outdated platform, as it wouldn't make sense to buy the older but similar-performing GeForce GTX 1080 at the same $499 price. That reasoning as well applies if you lot're buying a serious graphics menu for the starting time time. Moreover, the RTX 2070 can exist viewed as a sensible upgrade from the GTX 1070 if y'all want to motility upwards to the next functioning tier: It was 35 percent faster, on average, across our testing.
The pricing for the RTX 2070, though, is what turns Nvidia's home run into a ii-bagger or a triple. The generational per-dollar performance increment that Nvidia spoiled us with in the Pascal cards and that we have thus come up to look just isn't there this time. It would have been, had the RTX 2070 been priced to match the GTX 1070, but the RTX 2070 is $100 more than. Nonetheless, it's still the all-time gaming GPU you tin can purchase for $499. Its yet-untested DLSS and ray tracing features tin can just add to its appeal. We're profoundly looking forward to testing them out, just as we are the opportunity to welcome AMD'south adjacent-generation offerings into the band.
MSI GeForce RTX 2070 Armor
The Lesser Line
MSI'southward GeForce RTX 2070 Armor graphics card has keen cooling, plus overclocking headroom to spare. It's solid for 1440p play, only it performs much like the outgoing GTX 1080, and then step up to an RTX 2080 if you want a generational operation gain.
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Source: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/msi-geforce-rtx-2070-armor
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