Aorus XTREME RTX 2070 Graphics Card Review

Aorus XTREME RTX 2070 There's been quite an impressive range of new graphics cards hitting the market this last few weeks. However, one of our favourites had to be the Aorus Xtreme RTX 2080 we reviewed a while back. It's a stunning high-end entry to the RTX range. However, now Aorus think they can push the RTX 2070 to new highs with the same extreme... or Xtreme even, high-end cooler design, overclocked out of the box, addressable RGB fun packed madness. Features With a massive overclock to 18915 MHz right out of the box, the Xtreme sounds like it will live up to its name. Of course, it's also got the latest iteration of the award-winning Windforce cooler on top, which will not only help the card reach those high speeds but also stay cool and quiet (we hope). Powered by GeForce® RTX 2070 Integrated with 8GB GDDR6 256-bit memory interface WINDFORCE Stack 3X 100mm Fan Cooling System RGB light reinvented 7 Video Outputs Metal Back Plate with RGB AORUS LOGO Illumination Built for Extreme Overclocking 10+2 Power Phases 4 Years Warranty (Online registration required) 1815 MHz Core Clock (Reference Card: 1620 MHz) Specifications For in-depth specifications, please visit the official AORUS product page here. What AORUS Had to Say "AORUS provides the all-around cooling solution for all key components of the graphics card. We take care not only GPU but also VRAM and MOSFET, to ensure a stable overclock operation and longer life. WINDFORCE STACK 3x 100mm cooling system is the most innovative cooling solution that provides the most efficient thermal performance for the graphics card." What's in the Box? Included in the box, you'll find the GPU (obviously), a GPU support brace which screws together to the desired size, and all the usual documentation. Oh, and don't forget your case sticker! A Closer Look Just like the RTX 2080 Xtreme, the RTX 2070 Xtreme uses the same cooler design. In fact, if you put the cards side by side, you would struggle to tell which is which. Of course, that's no bad thing, as both cards look freaking awesome. That cooler is one of the best Aorus has ever made. and on the less demanding 2070 chipset, it should have no issues keeping this graphics card at its best performance. The card is packed with addressable RGB lighting. There are lights on the side Aorus logo, on the tips of the fan blades, and on the fan surrounds, giving you extensive customisation options. The shroud is fairly minimal, so there's ample room for airflow around the card. Of course, that means that air can get in very easily, but also means heat can be removed very easily too. To integrate three 100mm fans in a shorter form factor, the middle fan uses special cut-away blades. This design allows the outter fans to pass over the middle fan. It's a simple, but very clever design, and it looks pretty cool too. On the reverse of the card, you'll find a huge backplate. This does make the heavy GPU a bit heavier, but also makes it a lot stronger too. With the backplate, as well as the included support bar, it shouldn't droop. The backplate also provides further passive cooling to the PCB. Finally, we have another innovation on the rear. There are extra display outputs on this card, which can be used in two configurations; one with a focus on DP one with a focus on HDMI. Either way, triple displays + USB Type-C VR outputs are easy here. How We Test Testing Procedure We continue to update our testing methods around once per year. As such, we re-test older hardware to reflect changes over time. These can be driver updates, Windows updates, game patches, and more; all of which have an impact on performance figures. Furthermore, we update our test bench to newer and more relevant hardware. This means that our new reviews aren't always comparable to those of older reviews, so please compare the testing methodology on older reviews should you be trying to compare them with newer ones. Replicate Our Results When it comes to our benchmarks in our reviews, the benchmarks are pretty self-explanatory and kept as simple as possible, although there are a few exceptions. Remember that your choice of graphics card, CPU, the silicon lottery, and other factors can yield different numbers, and there's always a margin for error when using any software. Links are provided below, as well as the settings we use. We encourage you to not just look at how one product compares to any other, but how it compares to your own. If you're looking to build a new system, you should benchmark your current PC using the benchmarks available to you. You should then look at the percentage improvement from your current hardware to the hardware tested here to give you a ballpark figure of how much of an upgrade this will provide you with. Graphics Card Test System Motherboard – Aorus Z390 Gaming Master Processor – Intel Core i9-9900K (Stock) RAM – Crucial Ballistix Gaming 32GB (4 x 8GB) 3000 MHz CPU Cooler – Noctua NH-D15S Power Supply – Be Quiet Power Zone 1000W Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB Chassis – Thermaltake Core P5 TG Operating System – Windows 10 64-bit Monitor – AOC 28-Inch 4K Gaming Monitor Additional Hardware Killawatt style electricity usage meter wall plug Precision Gold N05CC Decibel meter Gaming To gauge performance levels which are easily reproduced time after time, by both ourselves and our readers, we now stick strictly to games default profiles. With our previous reviews, we used the "Medium or Normal" preset. However, as GPUs get faster, we've now moved that up to "High" profiles for all games, at all resolutions. V-Sync is always disabled in our testing, as is FreeSync and G-Sync technologies or similar. Graphics card power usage set to optimised or balance, and the system power mode set to High Performance within Windows and the available GPU driver software. Identical settings are used for all resolutions unless otherwise stated. Games and Settings Used Shadow of the Tomb Raider DX12 High Preset 1080p 1440p 2160p Deus Ex: Mankind Divided DX12 High Preset 1080p 1440p 2160p Ghost Recon: Wildlands High Preset 1080p 1440p 2160p Middle Earth: Shadow of War High Preset 1080p 1440p 2160p Battlefield V DX12 High Preset (DXR Disabled 1080p 1440p 2160p Battlefield V DX12 High Preset (DXR Enabled) NVIDIA RTX Cards ONLY 1080p 1440p 2160p Soul Calibur High Preset CPU Vs CPU Battle 2160p Software Used 3DMark Fire Strike (download) FireStrike (1080p) Benchmark Unigine Superposition (download) 1080p Extreme Benchmark HWMonitor (download) GPU-Z Nvidia Star Wars RT Demo Noise Everyone has a reasonable noise level preference when it comes to comes to components on a computer. Some can handle all fans at 100% load to keep temperatures down; some want an entirely silent computer. To accurately gauge the noise output of a graphics card, we position a Precision Gold N05CC one meter above our open-air test bench and take an average reading at idle and load. Gaming noise levels are taken during a CPU vs CPU match a preset match in Soul Calibur VI. Power Consumption We take power readings during idle state with no background applications running. Then again at 50% completion of the Unigine Superposition benchmark, using the average as the final published result. Gaming power consumption is taken during a CPU vs CPU match a preset match in Soul Calibur VI. Temperatures We take temperature readings after 10 minutes of desktop idle with no background programs running, then take the recorded maximum delivered from Unigine Superposition after a 4K optimised run, confirming the numbers are accurate with HWMonitor. Furthermore, the ambient temperature is always kept +/- 1c from 21c. Gaming temperatures are taken during a CPU vs CPU match a preset match in Soul Calibur VI. 3DMark & Unigine 3DMark FireStrike Straight away, the RTX 2070 is the fourth fastest card we've ever tested, and it edged out a lead on all the other RTX 2070 cards we've tested so far; Xtreme living up to its name. 3DMark TimeSpy It stuck with fourth place in TimeSpy too, although the RTX 2070 from MSI judge edged the lead here, both cards performed superbly; both beating out the GTX 1080 Ti too. Unigine Superposition Again, sticking firmly in fourth place, the RTX 2070 Xtreme is just ahead of the MSI card. The 1080 Ti and RTX 2080 cards are still the 4K performance kings in this test though. What is cool is just how far ahead of the GTX 1070 the new card is. Gaming Performance Shadow of the Tomb Raider The Aorus Xtreme pushed some superb gaming performance in Shadow of the Tomb Raider too, breaking past 100 FPS at 1080p. It also delivered very playable rates at 1440p, scoring 79 FPS. It's no slouch at 4K either, scoring 51 FPS at high settings is impressive, and reaching 60 should be a few tweaks away. Keep in mind, only the 2080 Ti exceed 60 FPS at these settings. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided It may be an older game, but Deus Ex is still an absolute monster of a game for testing graphics cards. The performance was great at 1080p and 1440p, but 4K saw the frame rate drop to 41.4 FPS; perhaps stick with medium settings at 4K for this one. Ghost Recon: Wildlands The Aorus Xtreme did even better in Ghost Recon: Wildlands though, scoring our third highest frame rate ever at 1080p, fourth at 1440p, and fourth again at 4K. This isn't an easy game to run, but the Xtreme makes light work of it. Middle Earth: Shadow of War Another new entry to our revised review format, and a great one too. This game reports very low minimum FPS on all cards, which may be a glitch in the scene transition. However, the average FPS from the Xtreme is solid up to 1440p. It's very much playable at 4K too, with 49 FPS at High settings; tweak a few settings and 60 FPS is surely achievable. Battlefield V Some of the best performance yet here, with the RTX 2070 holding firmly onto fourth place in all three tests here. It even reached 54 FPS at 4K, which is mighty impressive for such a visually stunning game. Ray Tracing Ray Tracing The performance for the RTX 2070 cards isn't amazing with Ray Tracing enabled, at least in Battlefield V; I'm sure other games will show very different results when released. However, for 1080p, it's likely possible to get to 60 FPS with some tweaks but perhaps stick with RTX Off on these cards for this game for the time being. Power Consumption, Temperatures & Acoustics Power Consumption It's no surprise that it uses more power than the other two RTX 2070 cards, given it is overclocked higher, but it's still pretty great. It's one of the more efficient cards when it comes to gaming loads too. Temperatures As predicted, that massive cooler is doing a great job. All the cards hit around 70 at full load, which is normal. However, it has lower temperatures while gaming than the MSI card; likely due to a more aggressive fan curve. Acoustics Powerful, cool, and as it seems, pretty quiet too. The card is completely silent at low-load, and also one of the quietest cards while gaming too. The MSI RTX 2070 was quieter, but again, you have bigger fans here, and higher clocks, and more power being used too. Overclocking We managed a modest overclock on the card, and I'm surprised we got any at all given the huge factory overclock. However, brands like to play it safe to save on RMA's... We don't, haha! I got another 125 MHz Boost and 600 MHz on the memory, which gave us a good boost in 3DMark, and 7 FPS extra in gaming. Final Thoughts How Much Does it Cost? The Gigabyte Aorus Xtreme is available now from most major retailers. It's listed on Amazon at a pretty reasonable £619.00. That's a small premium over the non-Xtreme model, which is currently 592.99. Overview Without a doubt, this is one of the best RTX 2070 series cards on the market right now. The performance is pretty close to the slightly cheaper MSI Gaming Z model. However, I think the Xtreme has the edge in gaming performance, and for an extra £20, it's the one I would go with all day long. Performance When it comes to gaming, the RTX 2070 series is no slouch, and a huge step up from the last generations GTX 1070. The GTX 1080 Ti is a thorn in the side around the same price. However, this card has plenty more features, solid performance, and a fantastic cooler that allows it to stand proudly on its own merits. It's also the entry level for the latest Direct X features, such as Ray Tracing, DLSS, and more. With more games rolling out advanced lighting, shadows, and texture scaling in the coming weeks, we can't wait to see what else it can do. Battlefield V Ray-Tracing may not be great (performance wise), but I wouldn't write off the whole feature set just yet. Build Quality A solid 10 out of 10 for this card, as Aorus has really put their best foot forward with this card. The GPU looks superb, but the inclusion of a durable backplate, as well as a high-end cooler, extensive display connectivity, and that GPU brace, make it one of the best-made cards in this price range. Should I Buy One? The performance is fantastic on the new Xtreme RTX 2070, and it's easily one of the best cards for gaming at this price range. With the inclusion of great aesthetics, build quality, addressable LED lighting, and more, there's nothing bad to say about it. Highly recommended!