There are hundreds, probably thousands of GTX 1070 reviews already out there. If you are reading this article, then you should be well aware of the technology Pascal architecture provides. In this review we are focusing on the product. Our goal is to determine what makes this card better or different than the others.
We are sticking to our new review formula: single-page, lots of pictures and comparison against closest opponents. In this review we are also including our first 21:9 2560×1080 results.
Colorful iGame GTX 1070 X-TOP-8G: Product showcase
When was the last time you read a review of Colorful graphics card? Well, unless you speak Chinese, chances are.. you never did. While Colorful does not operate outside Asia, everything starting from their website to the product packaging is available in English.
Luckily, we managed to get our hands on one of these cards. It’s a great opportunity to finally compare build quality and design to other high-end models.
Let’s start with the product positioning. Colorful has few GTX 1070 cards in their portfolio, with X-TOP being the most high-end. Product was well packed, bundled with stuff that could literally kill their competition (it comes with a multitool equipped with a knife).
Card is equipped with triple-fan cooling solution, which is actually slightly longer than its PCB.
The whole back-plate you see on the picture below includes two plates, both made of metal. The plate at the top is here only for aesthetics, while the ‘counter pull rear plate’ is here to reinforce the the PCB.
Here’s the side of the card showing LED illuminated iGame logo (colors can be modified with bundled software), and further to the right we have two 8pin power connectors. In case you don’t know, there aren’t that many GTX 1070 with dual 8-pins.
The I/O bracket has default set of display connectors, but it also comes with an OC button. There are two modes, one enabling stock GTX 1070 experience at (1506/1683 MHz) and the other with factory-overclocking at 1607/1797 MHz.
The cooler is designed as i-MSD (iGame-Modular structure design). What this means is that the ‘appearance module’ is separated from the actual functional cooler. Uhm, and what does that actually mean? It means that if you remove the cooler shroud, the fans will still be attached to the heat sink and fully operational. So in other words, you can still use the card without the shroud being attached.
The card is equipped with 8+2 phase power design (called I.P.P — iGame Pure Power).
NVIDIA Pascal GP104-200 in all its glory.
A better view on power section.
Here are the IPP chokes and solid capacitors. In case you’re wondering, there was no audiable coil whine in games and benchmarks.
The iGame logo will light up in red. On the right you can see Samsung K4G80325FB memory modules.
While the official description claims that X-TOP has four 7mm pure nickel-plated heat pipes, our sample only has 3 heat pipes.
The GPU base is made of copper. It looks as if someone used low-grit sandpaper here. Thermal paste was hard to remove.
Now here’s the illumination of the iGame logos. It’s really subtle addition to the card.
The journey from China has left some marks on the packaging.
Here’s what you will find in the box: two high-quality molex to 8-pin adapters, cotton gloves, multitool, manual in English and CD with the drivers.
Colorful iGame GTX 1070 X-TOP-8G: Specifications
| Colorful iGame GTX 1070 X-TOP-8G Specifications | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GeForce GTX 1060 6GB | GeForce GTX 1070 | Colorful iGame GTX 1070 X-TOP | GeForce GTX 1080 | |
| GPU | GP106-400 | GP104-200 | GP104-200 | GP104-400 |
| CUDA Cores | 1280 | 1920 | 1920 | 2560 |
| Base Clock | 1506 MHz | 1506 MHz | 1607 MHz | 1607 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1708 MHz | 1683 MHz | 1797 MHz | 1733 MHz |
| Memory Clock (Effective) | 2002 MHz (8 GHz) | 2002 MHz (8 GHz) | 2002 MHz (8 GHz) | 1250 MHz (10 GHz) |
| Memory Configuration | 6GB GDDR5 | 8GB GDDR5 | 8GB GDDR5 | 8GB GDDR5X |
| Memory Bus Width | 192-bit | 256-bit | 256-bit | 256-bit |
| Thermal Design Power | 120W | 150W | 150W+ | 180W |
| Power Connectors | 6-pin | 8-pin | 2x 8-pin | 8-pin |
Testing platform
| Component | Provided by | |
|---|---|---|
| CPU : | Intel Core i7 6800K @ 4200 MHz | |
| CPU Cooler : | NZXT Kraken X61 | NZXT |
| Motherboard : | ASUS X99-A II | |
| Memory : | G.Skill Trident Z DDR4 3200 MHz 16-18-18-38-2N | G.SKILL |
| Display : | Yamakasi Catleap Q270 | |
| SSD : | Samsung 950 Pro 512GB M.2 | |
| PSU : | EVGA SuperNova 850 G2 | |
| OS : | Windows 10 x64 PRO | |
| GPUs : | Colorful iGame GTX 1070 X-TOP-8G (GeForce 368.81) | COLORFUL |
| MSI GTX 980 Ti Lightning (GeForce 368.81) | MSI | |
| MSI GeForce GTX 1080 GAMING X (GeForce 368.81) | MSI | |
| MSI GeForce GTX 1060 6G TOC (GeForce 368.81) | MSI | |
Other card configurations (base/boost):
- NVIDIA GTX 1080: 1607/1734 MHz
- NVIDIA GTX 1070: 1506/1683 MHz
- MSI GTX 980 Ti Lightning (Stock): 1203/1304 MHz
- MSI GTX 980 Ti Lightning (OC): 1253/1354 MHz (Memory at 8GHz).
- MSI GTX 1060 (Stock): 1544/1749 MHz
- MSI GTX 1060 (OC): 1719/1934 MHz
Colorful iGame GTX 1070 X-TOP-8G: Overclocking
Before we talk about overclocking, I should mention that Colorful developed its own monitoring and overclocking tool called iGameZone. With this tool we can monitor, overclock and modify all important aspects of the graphics card. This program is in fact based on Afterburner license, so it basically offers the same features, but Colorful also added built-in LED illumination control, as seen on the right side.
Although it was not really necessary to modify fan profiles (the cooler was already doing an amazing job even with some extra MHz) I still decided to increase the airflow just a bit, just to ensure we are not reaching temperature limits. On the left you can see the defaul fan profile that ships with the card, and on the right we have our customized profile.
Finally after few tests, this is what we came up with: +150 MHz on core, +225 MHz on memory. The voltage was not modified as it provided no extra headroom (oc would still fail at the same clock). The TDP is increased to 110%. Please refer to the next paragraph for the exact boost clock speeds achieved with this overclocking configuration.
Colorful iGame GTX 1070 X-TOP-8G: Stability and thermal testing
In this chart we can see the advantage from overclocking and increasing power limit (which has priority here).
In all scenarios GPU temperature did not exceed 82C.
From my experience fan speed at 2600 RPM is acceptable fan speed for daily use. There is however no 0db technology here.
| Colorful iGame GTX 1070 X-TOP-8G Stress testing | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Idle | Fire Strike Stress Test | Furmark | |
| GAMING BIOS | |||
| Max. GPU Temperature | 37 C | 79 C | 82 C |
| Fan Speed | 1620 RPM | 2010 RPM | 2060 RPM |
| Typical Clock Speed | 202 MHz | 1873 MHz | 1721 MHz |
| Memory Clock | 202 MHz | 2002 MHz | 2002 MHz |
| OVERCLOCKING | |||
| Max. GPU Temperature | 36 C | 75 C | 78 C |
| Fan Speed | 2000 RPM | 2680 RPM | 2790 RPM |
| Typical Clock Speed | 202 MHz | 2038 MHz | 1860 MHz |
| Memory Clock | 202 MHz | 2276 MHz | 2276 MHz |
Colorful iGame GTX 1070 X-TOP-8G: Performance
The final chart shows overall performance in all tests.
So here’s what you need to know: out of the box, Colorful iGame GTX 1070 is marginally faster than stock GTX 980 Ti, but GTX 980 Ti Lightning was still faster in most tests. There is no ultimate answer to which card is better. One ships with 8GB memory, while the other only has 6GB. The GTX 1070 has lower TDP, but it also costs more.
Conclusion
Performance: Factory-overclocked GTX 980 Ti Lightning was faster than Colorful iGame GTX 1070 in most tests. However once we applied manual overclocking, the performance gap was really small. On the plus side, the iGame is using more power efficient architecture.
Cooling and design: The cooler generates audible noise only at very high RPM (2600+), so it’s actually really quiet. The unique i-MSD modular system separates the shroud, heatsink with the fans attached directly to it, PCB, and two backplates. Despite bulky design, there was no sagging thanks to reinforced PCB.
Overclocking: Manual overclocking is easy to achieve and unlocks more performance with just few clicks. Built-in overclocking button does not always work (it may require few restarts for PC to read correct clocks).
Price and bundle: Colorful iGame graphics cards ships with very unique bundle. You get a knife and white gloves.. I think they should’ve included a copy of Hitman.. As for the price, it’s actually cheaper than GTX 1070 Founders Edition (3500 Yuans). It will cost you 3000 Yuans, while the MSRP is 2900 Yuans in China. Unfortunately, you will not find this this card in European or American stores, but we are not here to review how regional sales restrictions work.
After using this card for few weeks, I can only say that I’m looking forward to seeing more of these cards in our test bench. The iGame GTX 1070 X-TOP is simply a solid, hassle-free product that I had pleasure using.
