ASUS GTX 1080 & GTX 1070 STRIX OC Review

Conclusion; The Best Got Better!

I’m well on my way towards reviewing over a dozen GTX 1080’s and GTX 1070’s and I have a feeling regardless how many I eventually look at, the ASUS STRIX OC cards will stand out in my mind. In a market that’s completely saturated with different looking but in the end very similar options, they may not be unique in their individual abilities but these GPUs do almost everything perfectly.

When looking at the competitive landscape within the high end GPU segments right now, there’s obviously a few leaders that spring to mind for various reasons. For example, the MSI GTX 1080 Gaming Z combines an astounding number of features into a card which has a stratospheric price to match its performance metrics. On the other side of that coin we have the Zotac GTX 1070 AMP! Extreme, another eye-wateringly expensive graphics card that boasts a titanic heatsink that lowers temperatures and acoustics to some very impressive levels. I’ve gone on long diatribes about both products but after experiencing what ASUS has to offer here, some revisionist history is in order methinks.

You see, ASUS may not make a big deal about the STRIX OC series with shouty graphics or flamboyant marketing lingo but both the GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 versions are dominating presences in their own respect. Let’s start with that GTX 1070 STRIX OC since I have a feeling it’s the one most folks will gravitate towards.

When compared directly against Zotac’s AMP! Extreme, not only does it provide slightly more performance but, despite a much more compact design it also boasts identical temperatures and very comparable (to the ears at least) acoustical results. This flies directly in the face of Zotac’s “bigger is better” mantra and proves that awesome results can be achieved through great engineering. Did I mention the GTX 1070 STRIX OC is also less expensive? Yeah, there’s that too.

Moving on to the GTX 1080 STIX OC and my observations are very much the same. It costs a whole thirty bucks less than MSI’s Gaming Z and yet one-ups its competitor in every domain except acoustics. There’s slightly more performance on tap and –now take this with a grain of salt since sample to sample variance will play a big role- I achieved a higher core overclock on the ASUS card. Other than the fan speeds which could easily be brought to task with the well-executed GPU Tweak, I’m struggling to find anything that stands out as particularly problematic with this card.

With the GTX 1070 STRIX OC and GTX 1080 STRIX OC, ASUS has accomplished something special. They now have a one-two knockout punch that competitors will be hard pressed to match. There’s absolutely no denying these two cards are the absolute pinnacle of modern GPU design since they’re able to accomplish everything their competitors can and more while costing less money.

Due to the premium costing involved with so many board partners’ solutions, in the past I’ve been extremely hesitant of awarding any GTX 1070 or GTX 1080 our Dam Good Value award but this time it shines through for both of these cards. If you are looking for a high end NVIDIA GPU, you’d be hard pressed to find a better fit.