INTRODUCTION

   With VR gaming advertised 24/7 not only by VR headset manufacturers but also by both NVIDIA and AMD in order to promote their newest graphics cards (GeForce GTX 1080/1070/1060 models by NVIDIA and Radeon RX480/470/460 models by AMD) and even system builders it doesn't really come as a surprise that everyone's looking to get ready for this "revolution". Now we do all believe that VR gaming has come a long way since the models released in the early 2000's and can help gamers experience their favorite games like never before (can also be used in medical and professional applications) but it still feels that it has a long way to go before it becomes the means to really immerse ourselves into that world (full dive systems perhaps?). Still right now this is what current technology has to offer and so owning a graphics card capable of handling one of the new and upcoming VR headsets actually makes sense especially from a gamers perspective. That being said no matter how one feels about NVIDIA the GeForce GTX 1080 currently sits at the top of the charts but since it's still quite expensive for most people today we're going to test the GeForce GTX 1070 Phoenix GLH (Goes Like Hell) 8GB model by Gainward which promises similar performance levels (through a substantial factory overclock) but at a much lower price point.

   Gainward was founded in 1984 with a commitment to develop the most advanced graphics accelerators in the industry and ensuring the highest level of customer satisfaction. Received great reputation for manufacturing of leading edge products for the enthusiastic market. Gainward “Golden Sample” (GS) and “Golden Sample Goes Like Hell” (GS-GLH) are two signature synonyms for aggressive over-clocked and extreme over-clocked graphics cards in the gaming society. As one of the top graphics cards leading brands, Gainward continues to provide cutting edge products with excellent quality. Furthermore, Gainward brand name symbolizes our belief in gaining trusts and respects from our valued customers. With Headquarter based in Taipei, Taiwan, factory in Shenzhen, China and European Headquarter in Munich, Germany. Gainward is ambitious to address worldwide market and cooperates closely with its globally localized channel partners.

   The GeForce GTX 1070 is based on a cut-down version of NVIDIA's brand new Pascal architecture (GP104 processor) and so unlike the more powerful GeForce GTX 1080 this model features 1920 CUDA cores, 120 TMUs (texture mapping units), 64 ROPs (raster operations pipelines) and a 256 bit memory interface along with a total of 8GB GDDR5 RAM clocked at 2GHz (8GHz effective). Of course even though this is a cut-down version of the GP104 processor it still offers the same technologies including Fast Sync (eliminates frame-tearing), Simultaneous Multi-Projection (optimal surround-view output), Ansel (in-game snapshots), HDR (10/12-bit High-dynamic-range imaging) and Asynchronous Compute (ability to run graphics and compute workloads concurrently). Much like most factory overclocked cards thanks to its custom dual-fan cooling system the Phoenix GLH GeForce GTX 1070 by Gainward features a good performance boost (compared to the "stock" founders edition model) so the base clock is set at 1671MHz (165MHz over the stock base clock) while the memory clock is set at 2127MHz (125MHz over the stock clock).