Both the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 G1 Gaming and Windforce OC are based on NVIDIA’s Pascal architecture. Though G1 gaming is more popular than the Windforce OC both cards come with innovative graphics features and technologies that provide you full advantage of virtual reality via NVIDIA VRWorks.
Both the G1 and WindForce are designed to provide improved performance, memory bandwidth, and power efficiency compared to the cards with Maxwell architecture.
Gigabyte Geforce GTX 1070 G1 Gaming vs Windforce OC – What’s The Difference?
The main difference lies in their clock speed. Yes, there are other differences too but those are not so significant we will discuss both the major and minor differences.
Let’s start with the comparison table between Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 G1 Gaming and Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 WindForce OC –
| Factors | Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 G1 Gaming | Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 WindForce OC |
| Clock Speed | 1620 MHz | 1582 MHz |
| Thermal Design Power (TDP) | 150W | 150W |
| GPU Turbo Speed | 1822 MHz | 1771 MHz |
| GDDR Memory Version | GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
| Pixel Rate | 96.4 GPixel/s | 99.6 GPixel/s |
| Floating-Point Performance | 5.78 TFLOPS | 5.97 TFLOPS |
| Texture Rate | 180.7 GTexels/s | 186.7 GTexels/s |
| Memory Speed | 2002 MHz | 2002 MHz |
| Shading Unit | 1920 | 1920 |
| Texture Mapping Unit | 120 | 120 |
| VRAM | 8 GB | 8 GB |
| Number of Transistors | 7200 million | 7200 million |
| Pricing | Lower | Higher |
According to the above table, the VRAM, TDP, GDDR version, memory speed, shading unit, texture unit, and the number of transistors of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 G1 Gaming and the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 WindForce OC are exactly the same.
However, the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 G1 Gaming is lower in price than the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 WindForce OC. So, why would you pay almost 2 times of price to get a similar product? The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 G1 Gaming is even better than the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 WindForce OC in some factors like the clock speed and turbo speed.
So, according to pricing based on the overall performance, the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 G1 Gaming graphics card is the winner here. Now let’s analyze the performance of both GPUs in detail below.
(A) GeForce GTX 1070 G1 Gaming
1. Front Panel
The front panel is integrated with 3 DisplayPort 1.4 outputs, 1 HDMI 2.0b output, and 1 DVI-D Dual-Link output. You can smoothly run AAA games on your computer using this card.
2. Cooling System
WINDFORCE 3X cooling system is used in this card. It features a pair of pure copper composite heat pipes, special fin architecture, and a unique blade design.
Since the cooling system is one of the most important factors that one must consider while buying a graphics card let me explain a little more about the cooling system of G1 gaming.
The fan edges are triangle-shaped and there are 3D stripe curves on its surface. The triangle-shaped edge splits the airflow and guides it smoothly through the 3D stripe curve. Such a design enhanced the airflow by 23% over the conventional cooling fans.
The copper composite pipes are designed to maximize the direct contact area to the GPU which delivers heat to the fins in the most efficient way. The cooling capacity is increased to 29% over conventional coolers.
3. Look and Size
The stylish metal backplate gave it an attractive look. It offers rigidity and protection to the structure increasing the longevity of the card. It is also narrower and shorter in size compared to the Windforce.
4. Clock
It offers higher overclocking capability without compromising system reliability compared to the Windforce version.
5. Memory
The high-speed 8GB GDDR5 memory with a 256-bit memory interface is integrated with this card.
6. Pixel Rate and Floating-Point Performance
Both the pixel rate and floating-point performance of the G1 are lower than the Windforce.
7. RGB Lighting
The customizable RGB lighting supports up to 16.8 million colors. You can pick your favorite scheme from the numerous lighting options through the XTREME Engine utility.
8. VR Works
The VR Works of G1 are great. The VRWorks Audio features the NVIDIA OptiX ray-tracing engine to trace the path of sounds providing you with an experience of the real world.
9. Price
Compared to the Windforce the G1 is an expensive card.
(B) Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 WindForce OC
1. Front Panel
The front panel of 1070 Windforce features three DisplayPort 1.4 outputs, one HDMI 2.0b output, and one DVI-D Dual-Link output. It is a great card for high-resolution gaming.
2. Cooling System
Gigabyte’s WINDFORCE 2X cooling system is used in this card. It comes with a pair of 90 mm fans that provides semi-passive cooling. The semi-passive cooling system is good for reducing noise.
3. Look and Size
The card is pretty but not as pretty as the G1. Also, it is bigger than the G1.
4. Memory
Like the G1 the Windforce also features high-speed 8GB GDDR5 memory with a 256-bit memory interface.
5. Pixel Rate and Floating-Point Performance
Here the Windforce beats the G1.
6. Clock
Its clock speed is around 38 MHz slower than the G1 version.
7. RGB Lighting
It does not come with RGB lighting.
8. VR Works
The VR Works in both cards are the same.
9. Price
It is cheaper than the G1. If you are looking for a high-performance graphics card at a reasonable price it can be a good choice for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is The Gigabyte GTX 1070 WindForce Good?
Gigabyte GTX 1070 WindForce is a great graphics card that can run “AAA” games on medium to high graphics. Again, the price of the GTX 1070 is also cheaper than other models available.
Is The Gigabyte GTX 1070 G1 Good?
Yes, the Gigabyte GTX 1070 G1 is a good graphics card and you can play most modern games at higher resolutions like 1440p. The performance of this GPU is also standard and it is overclocked from the factory. The performance of GTX 1070 is just below the GTX 1080.
How Much Power Does a Gigabyte G1 Gaming 1070 Use?
The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 G1 Gaming uses 250W power while the overclocked GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition consumes 215W of power.
Which Card Is Better than GTX 1070?
In short, then GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card is faster than the GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card and it can also deliver higher framerate than the GTX 1070.
Final Words
For smooth gameplay and cinematic experience, the NVIDIA cards are unbeatable. From the above discussion, you can understand that there is not much difference between the 1070 G1 gaming and the Windfroce. If you don’t have any problem with a little lower clock speed and also looking for a budget-friendly card then the GTX 1070 Windforce is the right choice for you. On the other hand, if you don’t want to compromise with the clock speed then go for the 1070 G1.
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