When comparing GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1070 Windforce OC vs Asus GeForce GTX 1070 ROG Strix OC, the Slant community recommends Asus GeForce GTX 1070 ROG Strix OC for most people. In the question“What are the best GTX 1070 cards?” Asus GeForce GTX 1070 ROG Strix OC is ranked 2nd while GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1070 Windforce OC is ranked 8th. The most important reason people chose Asus GeForce GTX 1070 ROG Strix OC is:
The GTX 1070 Asus ROG Strix, like its powerful sibling (GTX 1080 ROG Strix) has a full-size metallic backplate which provides extra rigidity. Around the backplate Asus has included Aura RGB lighting with a wide array of different effects available, making the ROG Strix a good choice for building a rig into a windowed chassis. The effects and color can be customized by installing an additional free utility which is also pretty lightweight.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Inexpensive
The Windforce OC version of the GTX 1070 is fairly inexpensive at the available price of $379.99, especially compared to the reference Founders Edition which retails at $450.
Pro Quiet operation with no coil whine
While there isn't any easily accessible data to back it up, many users have been reporting that there is no annoying coil whine, and that the card stays very quiet even when under a full load.
Pro 3 year warranty
Gigabyte offers a 3 year warranty, which means buyers can rest easy if this GTX 1070 ever malfunctions.
Pro RGB lighting allows custom looks for your graphics card
There are RGB lights on this GTX 1070, which helps it look premium and really helps complete your computer build (at least if you have a window on the side of your rig). There are 2 of these LEDs which provide decent accent lighting without being too distracting.
Pro Good build quality
The GTX 1070 Asus ROG Strix, like its powerful sibling (GTX 1080 ROG Strix) has a full-size metallic backplate which provides extra rigidity. Around the backplate Asus has included Aura RGB lighting with a wide array of different effects available, making the ROG Strix a good choice for building a rig into a windowed chassis.
The effects and color can be customized by installing an additional free utility which is also pretty lightweight.
Pro Above-average cooling
The triple-fan cooling system and the optional fans you can add push ROG Strix' cooling performance to above-average levels for a GTX 1070 card. Without any additional fans and under heavy load it will rarely surpass the 61 degree C limit with only the Zotac GTX 1070 AMP! Extreme having better cooling.
Pro Additional fans can be attached for even better cooling
There are two four-pin headers at the end of the PCB used to attach additional fans. These headers can be used to improve even more the excellent cooling that the ROG Strix provides.
Pro Has a second HDMI port for added Virtual Reality compatibility
Instead of having three DisplayPorts like most GTX 1070 cards, Asus have opted to exchange one of them in favor of an additional HDMI port. According to them, this change has been implemented to make it possible to attach both a VR device and a display at the same time. This increases VR compatibility since there have been problems with DisplayPort as a conduit for VR headsets.
Cons
Con Plastic covering feels cheap
The GTX 1070 Windforce OC has some metal components in it, but the casing is plastic which makes it feel fairly cheap.
Con Factory overclock isn't noticeable in practice
Although GIGABYTE has increased the base clock speed of the GPU by 3% from 1506 to 1556 MHz and a boost clock from 1683 to 1746 MHz (+ 4%), these higher clock speeds only result in a negligible performance increases in gaming situations. Compared to the Founders edition, the GTX 1070 Windforce OC doesn't offer much extra in terms of performance.
Con Very expensive
Con The Aura (RGB lights) software can be better
The software that controls the backlights can be better and has some missing features which feel like it would have been pretty easy to bake them in, especially for this price and for the fact that Asus went through the hassle of adding them in the first place.
Things like being able to set the temperature for which the lights change or making the lights a certain color when playing a certain game would certainly have been a nice addition.
Con Large
As is the case with many high-end cards, the size of this card means it takes up two backplate slots but covers roughly 3 slots (including the one it's fitted to). This might limit your options for some motherboards, especially configurations smaller than ATX.