NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 4K & Ultrawide Gaming Performance

ASUS GeForce RTX 2070 STRIX
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by Rob Williams on November 5, 2018 in Graphics & Displays

NVIDIA’s third GeForce RTX card has landed, coming to us in the form of the $499 RTX 2070. In some regards, this card could be considered the most interesting of the three, as it’s not only powerful, it offers the least-expensive way to take advantage of RTX feature sets – ray tracing and DLSS. We’re taking a look at ASUS’ Republic of Gamers STRIX model, sporting three big fans and customizable RGBs.

Page 1 – A Look At GeForce RTX 2070 & Our Test Suite

The third GeForce RTX from NVIDIA is the RTX 2070, and in some ways, it could be the most interesting Turing GeForce so far. How could that be? Well, it’s the most affordable, for starters, priced at $499. That becomes the least-expensive way for people to join the RTX world, which of course includes special RTX features not found on other cards – including last-gen Pascal.

It’s hard to call the RTX 2070 a “replacement” for another, because there are multiple angles to look at it. From a raw performance standpoint, the RTX 2070 should come behind the GTX 1080 most often, but the opposite is true in testing. Ultimately, the RTX 2070 falls behind the GTX 1080 Ti, but in some cases, it’s not that far behind.

This review is going to be a lot quicker than I’d like, so if you have any questions that I haven’t tackled, please holler in the comments. As I’ve been focusing rather ardently on workstation stuff lately, the gaming stuff hasn’t gotten as much attention as I’d like to give it. Fortunately, workloads are clearing out, and once RTX-capable Windows comes out, it’ll be a good time to retest the whole kit and kaboodle.

ASUS GeForce RTX 2070 ROG STRIX Feature

As just mentioned, the RTX 2070 technically falls behind the GTX 1080 from a raw performance standpoint, but Turing brings some optimizations that help propel the card ahead quite often.

Here’s the current and last-gen lineup from NVIDIA:

NVIDIA’s GeForce Gaming GPU Lineup
Cores Base MHz Peak FP32 Memory Bandwidth TDP Price
RTX 2080 Ti 4352 1350 13.4 TFLOPS 11GB 1 616 GB/s 250W $999
RTX 2080 2944 1515 10.0 TFLOPS 8GB 1 448 GB/s 215W $699
RTX 2070 2304 1410 7.4 TFLOPS 8GB 1 448 GB/s 175W $499
TITAN Xp 3840 1480 12.1 TFLOPS 12GB 2 548 GB/s 250W $1,199
GTX 1080 Ti 3584 1480 11.3 TFLOPS 11GB 2 484 GB/s 250W $699
GTX 1080 2560 1607 8.8 TFLOPS 8GB 2 320 GB/s 180W $499
GTX 1070 Ti 2432 1607 8.1 TFLOPS 8GB 3 256 GB/s 180W $449
GTX 1070 1920 1506 6.4 TFLOPS 8GB 3 256 GB/s 150W $379
GTX 1060 1280 1700 4.3 TFLOPS 6GB 3 192 GB/s 120W $299
GTX 1050 Ti 768 1392 2.1 TFLOPS 4GB 3 112 GB/s 75W $139
GTX 1050 640 1455 1.8 TFLOPS 2GB 3 112 GB/s 75W $109
Notes 1 GDDR6; 2 GDDR5X; 3 GDDR5; 4 HBM2
Architecture: GTX & TITAN = Pascal; RTX = Turing

Nowadays, it feels like specs only tell half the story, which is actually pretty important when it comes to Turing. In some workloads, namely DirectX 12 (but including others), Turing can push GeForce quite a bit ahead over last-gen, leading a card like the 2070 to almost catch up to a 1080 Ti. Unfortunately, those are rare cases, and most seen in synthetic tests, but it gives us hope for better game optimization for the architecture in time.

ASUS’ Republic of Gamers STRIX version RTX 2070 sports a factory overclock, triple fans, customizable RGB, and a cooler that takes up just a bit more than 2 slots. It’s a good thing 2070 doesn’t support SLI… right?

Because this is a pre-overclocked card, please be aware that scores will be slightly higher than the reference design.

A Look At Test Methodology

Techgage Gaming GPU Test PC
Processor Intel Core i7-8700K (3.7GHz, 6C/12T)
Motherboard EVGA Z370 FTW
CPU tested with BIOS 1.09 (August 20, 2018)
Memory G.SKILL TridentZ (F4-3400C16-8GSXW) 8GB x 2
Operates at DDR4-3400 16-16-16 (1.35V)
AMD Graphics AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 (8GB; Radeon 18.8.2)
AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (8GB; Radeon 18.8.2)
AMD Radeon RX 580 (8GB; Radeon 18.8.2)
AMD Radeon RX 570 (4GB; Radeon 18.8.2)
AMD Radeon RX 550 (2GB; Radeon 18.8.2)
NVIDIA Graphics NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (11GB; GeForce 411.51)
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (8GB; GeForce 411.51)
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (8GB; GeForce 416.34)
NVIDIA TITAN Xp (12GB; GeForce 399.07)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (11GB; GeForce 399.07)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (8GB; GeForce 399.07)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti (8GB; GeForce 399.07)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (8GB; GeForce 399.07)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB; GeForce 399.07)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4GB; GeForce 399.07)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (2GB; GeForce 399.07)
Storage Kingston SSDNow V310 960GB (SATA 6Gbps)
Power Supply Corsair RM650x (650W)
Chassis NZXT S340 Elite Mid-tower
Cooling Corsair Hydro H100i V2 AIO Liquid Cooler (240mm)
Et cetera Windows 10 Pro (64-bit; build 17134)

Games Tested & Vendor Neutrality

A total of eight games are included in our current test suite. Some have appeared here before, while others make their first appearance: Monster World Hunter, Fortnite, and F1 2018. I had planned to include PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds as a ninth title, but the results were too sporadic to inspire any sort of confidence (an issue not seen in Fortnite, by comparison).

Here’s the full list of tested games and developer allegiances, as well as synthetic tests also used:

  • Battlefield 1
  • Deus Ex: Mankind DividedAMD partner
  • F1 2018
  • Far Cry 5AMD partner
  • Fortnite
  • Monster Hunter World
  • Rise of the Tomb RaiderNVIDIA partner
  • Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon WildlandsNVIDIA partner
  • UL 3DMark & VRMark
  • Unigine Superposition

Battlefield 1 - Techgage Tested Settings (1) Battlefield 1 - Techgage Tested Settings (1)
Battlefield 1 as-tested settings
Battlefield 1 - Techgage Tested Settings (1)
Battlefield 1 - Techgage Tested Settings (2) Battlefield 1 - Techgage Tested Settings (2)
Battlefield 1 as-tested settings
Battlefield 1 - Techgage Tested Settings (2)
Deus Ex Mankind Divided - Techgage Tested Settings (1) Deus Ex Mankind Divided - Techgage Tested Settings (1)
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided as-tested settings
Deus Ex Mankind Divided - Techgage Tested Settings (1)
Deus Ex Mankind Divided - Techgage Tested Settings (2) Deus Ex Mankind Divided - Techgage Tested Settings (2)
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided as-tested settings
Deus Ex Mankind Divided - Techgage Tested Settings (2)
Deus Ex Mankind Divided - Techgage Tested Settings (3) Deus Ex Mankind Divided - Techgage Tested Settings (3)
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided as-tested settings
Deus Ex Mankind Divided - Techgage Tested Settings (3)
F1 2018 - Techgage Tested Settings (1) F1 2018 - Techgage Tested Settings (1)
F1 2018 as-tested settings
F1 2018 - Techgage Tested Settings (1)
F1 2018 - Techgage Tested Settings (2) F1 2018 - Techgage Tested Settings (2)
F1 2018 as-tested settings
F1 2018 - Techgage Tested Settings (2)
Far Cry 5 - Techgage Tested Settings (1) Far Cry 5 - Techgage Tested Settings (1)
Far Cry 5 as-tested settings
Far Cry 5 - Techgage Tested Settings (1)
Far Cry 5 - Techgage Tested Settings (2) Far Cry 5 - Techgage Tested Settings (2)
Far Cry 5 as-tested settings
Far Cry 5 - Techgage Tested Settings (2)
Far Cry 5 - Techgage Tested Settings (3) Far Cry 5 - Techgage Tested Settings (3)
Far Cry 5 as-tested settings
Far Cry 5 - Techgage Tested Settings (3)
Fortnite - Techgage Tested Settings Fortnite - Techgage Tested Settings
Fortnite as-tested settings
Fortnite - Techgage Tested Settings
Monster Hunter World - Techgage Tested Settings (1) Monster Hunter World - Techgage Tested Settings (1)
Monster Hunter World as-tested settings
Monster Hunter World - Techgage Tested Settings (1)
Monster Hunter World - Techgage Tested Settings (2) Monster Hunter World - Techgage Tested Settings (2)
Monster Hunter World as-tested settings
Monster Hunter World - Techgage Tested Settings (2)
Rise of the Tomb Raider - Techgage Tested Settings (1) Rise of the Tomb Raider - Techgage Tested Settings (1)
Rise of the Tomb Raider as-tested settings
Rise of the Tomb Raider - Techgage Tested Settings (1)
Rise of the Tomb Raider - Techgage Tested Settings (2) Rise of the Tomb Raider - Techgage Tested Settings (2)
Rise of the Tomb Raider as-tested settings
Rise of the Tomb Raider - Techgage Tested Settings (2)
Rise of the Tomb Raider - Techgage Tested Settings (3) Rise of the Tomb Raider - Techgage Tested Settings (3)
Rise of the Tomb Raider as-tested settings
Rise of the Tomb Raider - Techgage Tested Settings (3)
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands - Techgage Tested Settings (1) Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands - Techgage Tested Settings (1)
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands as-tested settings
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands - Techgage Tested Settings (1)
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands - Techgage Tested Settings (2) Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands - Techgage Tested Settings (2)
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands as-tested settings
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands - Techgage Tested Settings (2)

For our apples-to-apples testing, the graphics settings seen above apply to every one of our tested resolutions so as to deliver standard apples-to-apples results. In most cases, each configuration is tested twice, with more runs added if the initial results make the extra testing necessary. Fortnite is the only game tested three times by default due to its variable nature.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider will replace Rise of the Tomb Raider in our suite as soon as its RTX enhancements come along. Similarly, those same RTX enhancements can’t be taken advantage of until Microsoft releases its DXR API to the wild, something expected to happen with the Redstone 5 fall update. For now, we’re largely stuck to traditional testing. Speaking of, let’s get on with it.

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Rob Williams

Rob founded Techgage in 2005 to be an 'Advocate of the consumer', focusing on fair reviews and keeping people apprised of news in the tech world. Catering to both enthusiasts and businesses alike; from desktop gaming to professional workstations, and all the supporting software.

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