Buying a GTX 1070: Motherboard Compatibility and Manufacturer questions

candlejack42 · Nov 23, 2016

I'm going to be buying a GTX 1070 to replace my aging GTX 770 in the next couple of weeks, and I'm wondering two things: which manufacturer I should go with (MSI, EVGA, etc.), and whether or not I'll have to buy a new motherboard to support it.

My current Mobo is: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H Z97 GA 1150 Intel Z97

Will this support a 1070 or will I need to upgrade my motherboard as well? Also, any recommendations as to which manufacturer I should go with?

candlejack42 · Nov 23, 2016

I checked using the compatibility filter on PCPartPicker, and that says it'll work, but I'm not sure how accurate that site is.

Isokolon · Nov 23, 2016

Z97 and GTX1070 are a nice fit

get the cheapest decent card. mostly it's one of those:
Palit Gamerock
Gainward Phoenix
Inno3d x2
MSI Gaming
ASUS Dual
ASUS Strix
EVGA SC
Zotac AMP

just look which you can get cheapest (and doesn't mess up your color scheme if you got one)

candlejack42 · Nov 23, 2016

So it really is safe to go with the cheapest? I'll admit, I'm not sure why sort of differences there can be between different manufacturer cards... I noticed that the MSI GTX 1070 has about 5 variants (the gaming X, the gaming Z, etc). Took me long enough to settle on the GTX 1070 as the right card for my needs and price point; had no idea the specifics would be this overwhelming. I've heard the Gainward is the best cooling wise, I'll certainly check them out as well.

Isokolon · Nov 23, 2016

the thing is, when previous series showed some greater gains with factory OCs (never forget the GTX460, those were the days of studying hours which brand and subbrand to get) with the 1070 they all ultimately perform within 2-4 fps in difference.
some cool a bit better, some overclock a bit better, ultimately any $ you spend additionally is worse value.
I wouldn't go with the extremely basic cards and for now hold off on the EVGA ACX 3.0 cards as they got some issues
otherwise they're pretty on par. all withing 2-4fps (which is honestly more of a chip variance than a brand difference), all withing 4-5°C and a few dbA with the quality cards.

like MSI: they offer 5 different cards and it's basically all marketing as they really only offer 2 cards: one blower style card and 4 cards with axial fan design that performs around the same.
the Gaming Z might overclock a bit better than the others, makes it hardly worth it

NVIDIA's boost 3.0 boosts all the cards to ~2.000MHz by default

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Buying a GTX 1070: Motherboard Compatibility and Manufacturer questions

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