Galax Gtx 1070 Exoc Sniper Impressions And Brief Review

Hey all,

I’m fairly new to the forums here but I just wanted to share a fantastic video card with you all that I think few of you are aware of: GALAX GTX 1070 EXOC SNIPER black edition. There is also a white edition available which looks way cooler than the black. The black version can be found here: http://www.galax.com/en/graphics-card/sniper-edition/galax-geforcer-gtx-1070-exoc-sniper-black.html. GALAX is a company based in Asia and they are breaking into the Western market by offering fantastic cards at reasonable prices. Their cards are usually factory overclocked, too, which is an added bonus. This 1070 is OC’d at 1594 core 1784 boost and when benchmarking it hit 2012 MHz.

This fantastic card has completely changed my gaming experience. I ran a few tests with UNIGINE Heaven 4.0 and the Hitman built-in DX11 benchmark and the results are outstanding. I have a pretty old rig, too, and this graphics card alone brought me into the modern gaming realm:

Intel i7-2600K OC’d at 4.4 GHz
Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3
8 GB DDR3-2133
GALAX GTX 1070 EXOC SNIPER
Cooler Master 850W PSU
OCZ Vertex 3 SSD
Windows 7 Pro x64

I was running a GTX 670 FTW edition before I upgraded to this card and the benchmark results are the 670 FTW OC’d 50/50 in clock and memory versus the stock 1070 (1594/1784, 8008 Mem) from GALAX. The 670 runs at 1224 Max Boost and 6008 Memory. This 1070 is close in performance expectations to the reference 1080, so bear in mind the value ratio you’ll get in terms of price/performance. This card is solidly in the 1080 range given its overclock while being significantly cheaper than even the reference, let alone overclocked, versions of the 1080.

Before I get into the benchmarks, some great features of this card include: 5+2 Power design, dual 100 mm cooling fans, and for you colour snobs, custom RGB lighting. There’s the standard array of connectivity with 3 DP 1.4 and 1 HDMI 2.0b, as well as one DVI-D.
Probably the best part about the card’s design is the Silent Extreme Technology which only engages the fans at 45 degrees C. This feature alone is incredible: under full load of Unigine I hit 66 degrees C and the fans were running at 30%. After a solid 30 minutes with Hitman the temps jumped to 71 and the fans were spinning at 43%. QUIETLY spinning, I should say. I have yet to set a custom fan curve but having the fans run at 40% when the temps are at 65 or so will help to keep the temps down, but the target for the card is 83 which is just a bit high for my liking. The card is inaudible even under heavy load. I idle at 27-31 degrees also. Wow. This is by far the one component that you’ll least notice in your system. I have a HAF X with a few case fans, so this might have something to do with the lower-than-expected idle and load temps, but damn I’m impressed anyway.

Onto the benchmark scores, the 670 FTW OC’d first. All scores are for 1920x1200 resolution given my current monitor’s limitations (Dell U2410):

UNIGINE Heaven 4.0 DX11 – Ultra settings, all options maxed: 18.5 FPS Min, 78.5 Max, 34 Avg – Score: 857
Hitman 30 seconds of DX11 Benchmark at Ultra – the 670 has Shadow Maps and Shadow Resolutions locked to Medium: 11 FPS Min, 239 Max, 41 Avg

OK – brace yourselves for the 1070 results, again at 1920x1200:

UNIGINE Heaven 4.0 – 31 FPS Min, 178 Max, 85.5 Avg – Score: 2148 (2148!!!)
Hitman Benchmark – all values Maxed including Shadows: 11 FPS Min, 252 Max, 100 Avg

Without a question this is a beast of a card taking my gaming experience from decently playable (especially a slow-paced game like Hitman) to buttery smooth. And all that smoothness comes without even the slightest whirring noise from the fans on the GALAX 1070. That is by far the best part.

In conclusion, I’ve gotta say that if you’re looking to upgrade your current setup and are worried about which component will make the biggest difference if you’re a gamer or just got a nice new monitor and want to maximize it, I would STRONGLY suggest you take a look at the GALAX 1070 EXOC SNIPER, available to US customers at: http://galaxstore.net/GALAX-GeForce-GTX-1070-EXOC-SNPR-BLACK-8GB_p_114.html. Other cards can be found at: http://galaxstore.net/Graphics-Cards_c_1.html. It looks like currently the store is limited to US customers.

The bottom line is if you want to upgrade your older rig to play the newest games at 1080p without any frame drop whatsoever, then this is the card for you. If you’ve got a newer rig and are looking to get good quality, smooth 1080p graphics, the 1070 will likely be slightly overkill and you could get away with a 1060 in this case. But again, the older rigs will benefit more from the GALAX 1070’s strength.
Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to check their website to order! Here is a more thorough review of the GALAX 1070 EXOC SNIPER: http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/galax_gtx_1070_exoc_sniper/

Thanks for reading and hope you consider this card for your rig!
--Mike