Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 Gaming OC 8G Review: Faster Than Nvidia's FE Alternative

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Software and Overclocking

Gigabyte bundles the GeForce RTX 2070 Gaming OC 8G with its own utility for overclocking, fan control, and lighting. The latest version of this software, called Aorus Engine, was 1.47 at the time of writing.

From its home screen, Aorus Engine allows you to toggle between OC mode (1,740 MHz GPU frequency), the default Gaming mode (1,725 MHz), Silent mode (1,620 MHz), and a customizable User mode.

Three buttons on the bottom-right corner correspond to RGB Fusion (lighting control), hardware monitoring, and a toggle to turn the semi-passive fan mode on or off.

If you click the text “Professional Mode” at the top-right, Aorus Engine switches into a different interface complete with GPU Boost control, a memory clock rate slider, GPU voltage adjustment, a manual fan speed dial, and linked power target/temperature target sliders.

In this mode, you also have access to an Auto Scan button that leverages Nvidia Scanner functionality to tune the voltage / frequency curve. Although the feature completed its scan on our test bed, it didn’t seem to make any changes to the GeForce RTX 2070 Gaming OC 8G’s GPU Boost frequency. So, we fired up EVGA's Precision X1 tool and scored a 66. The resulting performance was about 1 percent higher through our Metro: Last Light benchmark at 2560 x 1440, and we still recommend going this route for overclocking Turing-based cards.

It’s also worth noting that, for a limited time, the GeForce RTX 2070 Gaming OC 8G includes a free copy of Battlefield V, allowing you to toy around with real-time ray tracing in the first game optimized for Nvidia’s RT cores.

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Chris Angelini
Chris Angelini is an Editor Emeritus at Tom's Hardware US. He edits hardware reviews and covers high-profile CPU and GPU launches.