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- Review count2
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- First reviewAugust 19, 2016
- Last reviewSeptember 21, 2016
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Babel17's Reviews
Get reliable and consistent performance without overheating issues with this NVIDIA Founders Edition GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card. The die-cast aluminum body and modifiable back ensure durability and rigidity, while the thermal solution provides better cooling than standard blower-style graphics cards. This NVIDIA GeForce GTX graphics card is VR-ready and delivers three times the speed of its predecessors.
Customer Rating
5
The card itself is solid, the cooling works well
on September 21, 2016
Posted by: Babel17
I won't recapitulate other reviews, I was using a GTX 970 and suffice to say the bump in performance is very nice. The Pascal based gpu does support hardware acceleration of h.265 videos, so that's a good feature to have for the future. My cpu won't have to break a sweat to play that format, which features excellent compression.
Online reviewers are finding these cards to boost as strongly as even the most custom of versions from nVidia's add in board partners like MSI, EVGA, and so on. Though cooling plays an essential part in that.
I have a Dell XPS and its case cooling is kind of "meh". I've added a bigger PSU, with its bigger fan, to it, as well as jury rigging an input fan I managed to squeeze into the front of the case. So maybe that helps but the real trick for good boost speeds with this gpu is to use a custom fan profile. From guru3d's site you can download the beta version of Afterburner which supports the new Pascal based cards. In the future Guru3D will host the final version as usual but the software is currently in beta (version 14 at the moment). But whatever software you use, just set up a more aggressive custom fan profile so as to keep your gpu temperatures down. nVidia mandates that the bios for all chips have a very conservative level of throttling enabled based on gpu temperature (and voltage, and power usage, so overvolting is often counter productive). Long story short, if your gpu is hitting 80 degrees Celsius, or even a bit lower, you won't be getting the best boost speeds. So I set my fan profile to be at 100% fan speed at 70 degrees Celsius. I'm getting great boost speeds, and the gpu stays cool. Generally I don't hit 100% fan speed as the gpu temp levels off in the 60s, temperature wise. But in a demanding game, after a lot of play, it might come close.
Now here's part of why I give this card the highest rating. To my ears the cooler never gets offensively loud. Heck, my gold rated PSU's 135 mm fan produces more volume when gaming. And the cooler really works. Even though the GTX 1070 doesn't eat a lot of power/produce a lot of heat the blower does an amazing job of pushing heat out the back of the card and out the case. I put my hand back there and I can really feel the heat when running a benchmark.
This is a great thing to have if the cooling of your case is just "meh", like mine.
While this card is a bit noisier at full blast than my previous GTX 970 with its excellent EVGA ACX 2.0+ cooler was, I think that overall the noise from my Dell has decreased. Getting that hot air out of the case means the case fan, cpu fan, and PSU fan are dealing with less heat emanating from the gpu, and thus they can run at a lower RPM. I wish I'd taken measurements before this purchase, but even with my Dell just a few feet from me, and when not using my headphones, I can't hear noise from the case when gaming, even in moments that are relatively quiet. If I'm in a stealthy moment of a game, with no noise, then I might notice a moderate hum of the fans from my case. After exiting the game the sound of the fans isn't at all bad, and quickly quiets down. The GTX 1070 is the quickest to cool down and become quiet, fwiw. Lol, even when the gpu fan is about down to idle I can still hear the other fans as they cycle down. This is partly why I know what's causing the most sound from my case. So, arguably, this card was the quietest solution to getting a GTX 1070 for me. With even the best/quietest custom card I might have more noise overall.
Great job on this card's construction, imo.
Online reviewers are finding these cards to boost as strongly as even the most custom of versions from nVidia's add in board partners like MSI, EVGA, and so on. Though cooling plays an essential part in that.
I have a Dell XPS and its case cooling is kind of "meh". I've added a bigger PSU, with its bigger fan, to it, as well as jury rigging an input fan I managed to squeeze into the front of the case. So maybe that helps but the real trick for good boost speeds with this gpu is to use a custom fan profile. From guru3d's site you can download the beta version of Afterburner which supports the new Pascal based cards. In the future Guru3D will host the final version as usual but the software is currently in beta (version 14 at the moment). But whatever software you use, just set up a more aggressive custom fan profile so as to keep your gpu temperatures down. nVidia mandates that the bios for all chips have a very conservative level of throttling enabled based on gpu temperature (and voltage, and power usage, so overvolting is often counter productive). Long story short, if your gpu is hitting 80 degrees Celsius, or even a bit lower, you won't be getting the best boost speeds. So I set my fan profile to be at 100% fan speed at 70 degrees Celsius. I'm getting great boost speeds, and the gpu stays cool. Generally I don't hit 100% fan speed as the gpu temp levels off in the 60s, temperature wise. But in a demanding game, after a lot of play, it might come close.
Now here's part of why I give this card the highest rating. To my ears the cooler never gets offensively loud. Heck, my gold rated PSU's 135 mm fan produces more volume when gaming. And the cooler really works. Even though the GTX 1070 doesn't eat a lot of power/produce a lot of heat the blower does an amazing job of pushing heat out the back of the card and out the case. I put my hand back there and I can really feel the heat when running a benchmark.
This is a great thing to have if the cooling of your case is just "meh", like mine.
While this card is a bit noisier at full blast than my previous GTX 970 with its excellent EVGA ACX 2.0+ cooler was, I think that overall the noise from my Dell has decreased. Getting that hot air out of the case means the case fan, cpu fan, and PSU fan are dealing with less heat emanating from the gpu, and thus they can run at a lower RPM. I wish I'd taken measurements before this purchase, but even with my Dell just a few feet from me, and when not using my headphones, I can't hear noise from the case when gaming, even in moments that are relatively quiet. If I'm in a stealthy moment of a game, with no noise, then I might notice a moderate hum of the fans from my case. After exiting the game the sound of the fans isn't at all bad, and quickly quiets down. The GTX 1070 is the quickest to cool down and become quiet, fwiw. Lol, even when the gpu fan is about down to idle I can still hear the other fans as they cycle down. This is partly why I know what's causing the most sound from my case. So, arguably, this card was the quietest solution to getting a GTX 1070 for me. With even the best/quietest custom card I might have more noise overall.
Great job on this card's construction, imo.
My Best Buy number: 0771073630
I would recommend this to a friend!
Share this review:
+2points
2of 2voted this as helpful.
This Sony 43-inch 4K Android TV features four times more clarity than HD for exceptional quality viewing when streaming sports, television shows or movies. Conveniently control your TV from your phone or tablet and make selections with voice search. Receive personalized recommendations from Google Play, and stream PS3 games directly to this Sony 43-inch 4K Android TV.
Posted by: Babel17
Right out of the box the picture is great, though I had to google a few things to make it better for use on the PC. The manual is OK, but it's not as in depth as it could be, like the one that came with my older XBR6.
For PC use I needed to go to use the HOME menu button on the remote and from there scroll down to "Settings". Then go to "External Inputs", "HDMI signal format", and then choose "Enhanced". Only then from within nVidia Control Panel could I select 3840 x 2160 and YcbCr444 as the Output color format. Without "Enhanced" being set we're limited to YcbCr422. We also need to use HDMI connector 2 or 3 on the back on the TV for the best PC picture.
I'm using a very inexpensive high speed HDMI 2.0 cable and it works great. Probably any HDMI cable is all one needs. But fwiw I had originally tried an old, very cheap, regular speed HDMI 1.4 cable that worked fine with the 4:2:2 color space but it couldn't handle YcbCr444 at 3840 x 2160. This might be connected to why "Enhanced" is not the default setting.
I have a great Sony Blu ray player but if I use it on either HDMI connector 2 or 3 when they are set to "Enhanced" mode I get no audio. It works amazingly well on the other connectors. Again, this could be why "Enhanced" is not the default setting. Though maybe it's needed for UHD Blu ray players?
If you want to use Game mode for its lowest latencies there is still a trick you can use to improve perceived frame rate without increasing lag. Under "Motion" in the Picture settings of the Action Menu you'll see that you can adjust "Clearness". Apparently that engages backlight flashing that can help a lot. It will dim the picture brightness a bit, but I just raise brightness in the Action Menu and it's as good as ever.
If you choose not to use game mode then latency isn't increased that much even with other processing effects engaged. It would still be under 50 milliseconds according to the site that reviewed this set.
There are two great reviews of this set online. The latest one gives the measurements of latencies. There is also a dedicated thread to this set at the avsforum. A reviewer of this set has posted there, and a couple of the people have contacted Sony with questions. I mention that to give you an idea that the thread is a great resource. I guess we're not supposed to post links? For the reviews just google the sets name along with "review". The latest one is from rtings.com. If you look closely within the review you'll see a link to the calibration settings that were used. For the avs forum thread just google "Sony 2016 XBR-43X800D / X800D Owners Thread".
The android interface/remote control occasionally become unresponsive, briefly, when I'm ripping around through it. I'm guessing a future update will take care of that. There has been one already, it came out around a week ago.
For PC use I needed to go to use the HOME menu button on the remote and from there scroll down to "Settings". Then go to "External Inputs", "HDMI signal format", and then choose "Enhanced". Only then from within nVidia Control Panel could I select 3840 x 2160 and YcbCr444 as the Output color format. Without "Enhanced" being set we're limited to YcbCr422. We also need to use HDMI connector 2 or 3 on the back on the TV for the best PC picture.
I'm using a very inexpensive high speed HDMI 2.0 cable and it works great. Probably any HDMI cable is all one needs. But fwiw I had originally tried an old, very cheap, regular speed HDMI 1.4 cable that worked fine with the 4:2:2 color space but it couldn't handle YcbCr444 at 3840 x 2160. This might be connected to why "Enhanced" is not the default setting.
I have a great Sony Blu ray player but if I use it on either HDMI connector 2 or 3 when they are set to "Enhanced" mode I get no audio. It works amazingly well on the other connectors. Again, this could be why "Enhanced" is not the default setting. Though maybe it's needed for UHD Blu ray players?
If you want to use Game mode for its lowest latencies there is still a trick you can use to improve perceived frame rate without increasing lag. Under "Motion" in the Picture settings of the Action Menu you'll see that you can adjust "Clearness". Apparently that engages backlight flashing that can help a lot. It will dim the picture brightness a bit, but I just raise brightness in the Action Menu and it's as good as ever.
If you choose not to use game mode then latency isn't increased that much even with other processing effects engaged. It would still be under 50 milliseconds according to the site that reviewed this set.
There are two great reviews of this set online. The latest one gives the measurements of latencies. There is also a dedicated thread to this set at the avsforum. A reviewer of this set has posted there, and a couple of the people have contacted Sony with questions. I mention that to give you an idea that the thread is a great resource. I guess we're not supposed to post links? For the reviews just google the sets name along with "review". The latest one is from rtings.com. If you look closely within the review you'll see a link to the calibration settings that were used. For the avs forum thread just google "Sony 2016 XBR-43X800D / X800D Owners Thread".
The android interface/remote control occasionally become unresponsive, briefly, when I'm ripping around through it. I'm guessing a future update will take care of that. There has been one already, it came out around a week ago.
My Best Buy number: 0771073630
I would recommend this to a friend!
Share this review:
+2points
3of 4voted this as helpful.
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