Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Gaming OC 8G Review

There’s no denying that NVIDIA has always been very well prepared when it comes to countering the new graphics card release from its competitor, AMD. The release of the RTX 20 SUPER series to counter AMD’s Radeon RX 5000 series is another good example of that. The GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER as we all know, exists not only to replaces the existing GeForce RTX 2070 but also to counter the Radeon RX 5700 XT.

The Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Gaming OC 8G we have here is based on the same TU104-410-A1 GPU as the reference GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER but with a slightly higher GPU clock and is equipped with Gigabyte’s very own triple-fan cooler. Let’s see what kind of performance advantage can we expect from the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Gaming OC 8G, as compared to the reference model.

Specifications

Unboxing

Apart from the features highlight i.e Turing GPU, GDDR6 memory, RT cores, and support for NVIDIA DLSS which you’ll normally find on an RTX 20 series graphics card, you’ll also find Gigabyte’s usual highlighted features such as the RGB Fusion 2.0, WindForce cooling fan design, and the extra-long 4-year warranty.

At the back of the box, you’ll find more information on the highlighted features such as the Windforce cooling fan design, direct contact Copper heatpipes design for better cooling performance, RGB Fusion 2.0 lighting, and the included metal backplate at the back of the PCB.

Accessories

Accessories wise, you’ll find the usual Driver CD and Quick Start Guide in the accessories box but that’s pretty much it. With HDMI and DisplayPort now going mainstream and it’s very unlikely for one to cheap out on the power supply nowadays,  most graphics cards we’ve seen nowadays don’t come with the PCIe Y-splitter cable and DVI to VGA converter anymore.

The Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Gaming OC 8G

Design wise, the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Gaming OC 8G is equipped with the triple-fan WindForce cooler which you’ll normally find on a Gigabyte branded Gaming OC card. As many of you already know, the cooler features three fans with unique fan blade design and a middle fan rotating in a reversed direction to further improve the cooling performance.

From the side view of the card itself we can see that the heatsink is actually pretty thick despite its dual-slot design. So it’s very unlikely for it the face any clearance issues that most of the 2.5 slot cards would have when it comes to PC cases with space constraints. The heatsink has a total of four Copper heatpipes, with the Copper base in direct contact with the GPU die which helps to improve the cooling performance and to keep the GPU temperature in check.

Unlike its AORUS counterpart that has more fancy RGB lightings, the only RGB lightings on the RTX 2070 SUPER Gaming OC 8G is on the Gigabyte logo located at the side of the cooler shroud, which can be configured or disabled with RGB Fusion 2.0 software.

For the power requirement, the RTX 2070 Super Gaming OC 8G requires a 650W power supply as according to the specifications from Gigabyte’s official product page. Similar to the reference RTX 2070 SUPER, the RTX 2070 Super Gaming OC 8G also requires a 6-pin and 8-pin PCIe power connector to power up.

A metal backplate is included at the back of the card to improve the overall rigidity of the PCB. The backplate is not as thick as we hope it would be, but it’ll still get the job done. Since the heatsink isn’t that heavy.

For the display output, the RTX 2070 Super Gaming OC 8G supports 2 x DisplayPort, 1 x HDMI, 1 x DVI-D, and 1 x Type-C connector.

Test System Setup

For our games benchmark test, we’ve selected a number of AAA titles to run at its highest possible settings using the following setup under an ambient temperature of 30°C:

The test is done separately for games that support both DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 at the resolution of 1920×1080, 2560×1440, and 3840×2160.

Games Benchmark

Starting off with 1080P gaming, the RTX 2070 SUPER can handle all of our selected titles with ease. Even for very demanding titles like Red Dead Redemption 2, Metro Exodus, and Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, the RTX 2070 SUPER still manages to handle these titles with an average 70 FPS.

Moving on to 1440P gaming, both RTX 2070 SUPER can still handle most of the titles at ease with 70 FPS and above. For titles that the card struggles to maintain a stable 60 FPS i.e Red Dead Redemption 2, Metro Exodus, and Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, lowering the settings from ultra to high will definitely give you some performance boost without sacrificing too much on the graphics settings.

Scaling up to 4K gaming, we can see that both the RTX 2070 is struggling a lot with pretty much all the selected titles running on high/ultra settings. Despite barely touching the bar for 4K gaming on ultra settings, the card is pretty still capable of 4K gaming, that is, if you don’t mind lowering the settings to high or medium settings.

Temperature

The temperature recorded during idle is around 43°C,  and 70°C  is the maximum load temperature recorded for the FurMark benchmark and games benchmark. The idle temperate as what we’ve observed is slightly higher than the reference RTX 2070 SUPER due to the silent fan design which will only start spinning when the temperature reaches around 50°C. Since we can barely hear the fan noise when everything is running on default, we do recommend manually adjusting the fan curve 60% will help the card to run cooler at 60°C range, in case if you’re not comfortable with the 70°C load temperature.

Final Thoughts

Marketed as the ideal graphics card for the 1440P gaming segment in high settings, the GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER can definitely deliver the performance just as expected. One thing to take note is that manufacturers tend to use high settings as the benchmark and if you’re looking for anything beyond high settings at 1440P, the GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER will start to struggle a bit with some of the notorious titles that are known to give a lot of hard times even for higher-end graphics cards like the RTX 2080 SUPER and RTX 2080 Ti. Don’t get us wrong – as the GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is still a really capable graphics card for 1440P on high settings, but going ultra settings with notorious titles such as Red Dead Redemption 2, Metro Exodus, and Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey is just too much for it to handle.

Looking at the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 Super Gaming OC 8G, it’s basically a buffed up version of the GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER with a slightly higher GPU clock and beefier custom cooler. It packs all the performance a reference GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER has but runs quieter and cooler. It’s not as fancy as other GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER that has exaggerated design and RGB lightings that will probably turn your build into a Christmas tree but it’s definitely a considerable choice for those who are into the minimalistic style build – if you’re good with the RM 2699 price tag.

Pros

• Basically an RTX 2080 with a small nerf
• Good performance on both 1080P and 1440P gaming
• Good cooling performance and runs quietly
• Support the latest RTX games
• Support for NVLink
• Price remains the same as the previous GeForce RTX 2070 Gaming OC 8G

Cons

• Price is a bit steep