Tomorrow's RTX 3070 launch is fast approaching, and in preparation, Best Buy has begun to reveal RTX 3070 listings in its online store. So far they have released pricing and product information on the Nvidia RTX 3070 Founders Edition, Gigabyte RTX 3070 Eagle, Gigabyte RTX 3070 Gaming, and two PNY RTX 3070 models.
The Founders Edition will cost $499.99 and is the cheapest out of the five right now, it features a compact dual-fan design with a similar cooler to the RTX 3080 Founders Edition. The card is pretty small, measuring just 9.5" in length, so it should fit in a lot of compact cases. It also comes with a single 8-pin power connector with a 12 pin adapter if required.
Next is the Gigabyte RTX 3070 Eagle, which will also cost $499.99. The Eagle brand of products is Gigabyte's new lineup for Ampere, aiming to be a new budget-oriented option for buyers. The card includes a triple-fan cooler measuring 2 slots in thickness. It's not as fancy as the higher trims, but it'll do its job well in cooling the 3070 GPU.
Gigabyte also has the slightly more advanced RTX 3070 Gaming, and that will be $569.99. The Gaming brand is Gigabyte's mid-range product with a bit more cooling power vs. the Eagle. It's also a triple-fan cooler but slightly thicker at 2.5 slots and features a slick black and silver theme. One feature setting this card apart is its dual-BIOS capability. One BIOS provides a factory OC for better performance and the second runs on a silent mode, presumably with a slower fan curve for quiet operation.
Up next is the PNY RTX 3070 XLR8 Gaming Epic-X, coming in at $539.99. This is PNY's top trim RTX 3070 right now. It also has a triple-fan cooler design, which means it's pretty large at 11.57 inches in length. Fortunately, it's not taller than the PCIe brackets, so compatibility in that area is strong. The front features rings of RGB lighting around the center fan, with metal bars around all three fans which serve as wire guards to help protect the blades.
Best Buy also lists PNY's more compact 3070, the PNY RTX 3070 Dual fan. This card (like its namesake) is a compact dual fan design resembling the dimensions of the 3070 Founders Edition. It is slightly bigger though, at almost 3 slots in thickness. Pricing is the same as the XLR8 at $539.99.
Best Buy's prices should hopefully give you some baseline expectations as to where the rest of the RTX 3070 AIB partner cards will land. It seems the cheapest cards, like the Eagle, will cost the same as the Founders Edition, while mid-range models like the Gaming will get a slight uptick in price to the mid-$550 range. The Founders Edition looks to be the best card in terms of price and form factor, as it's the smallest of the five (including the PNY Dual Fan). But if it's anything like the other FE Ampere cards, availability will probably be slim. Striking is that both PNY cards share the same $539.99 price. With how much larger the XLR8 is, I'd expect it to cost more.
The RTX 3070 Founders Edition and its AIB partners officially release tomorrow, so expect full details on 3070 prices then. For a full list of RTX 3070 models as we find them, check our guide on where and how to buy RTX 3070 cards.
