When comparing NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition vs Palit GeForce GTX 1070 GameRock Premium Edition, the Slant community recommends Palit GeForce GTX 1070 GameRock Premium Edition for most people. In the question“What are the best GTX 1070 cards?” Palit GeForce GTX 1070 GameRock Premium Edition is ranked 1st while NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition is ranked 9th. The most important reason people chose Palit GeForce GTX 1070 GameRock Premium Edition is:
Palit GeForce GTX Premium Edition is one of the best GTX 1070 cards performance-wise. It scored a 3DMark Firestrike Score of 16575, which is one of the highest scores as far as GTX 1070 cards go. But this should come as no surprise since the Premium Edition of GameRock has slightly higher clock speeds than what may be found in other GTX 1070 cards (especially the Founders Edition).
Specs
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Pros
Pro Backplate adds extra
While backplates can trap more heat, they offer a few benefits. They make the card look more complete - like it's actually worth $450. It also helps protect the internal components, and helps keep the graphics card sturdy.
Pro Quiet operation
Measured 75 cm away from a PC, the GTX 1070 has an idle sound production of 34 dBA and 40 dBA under stress. In a silent room, the sound production of the card is definitely audible - but isn't experienced as annoying. As a comparison, 40 dBA is roughly equivalent to the noise a refrigerator produces.
Pro Great performance
Palit GeForce GTX Premium Edition is one of the best GTX 1070 cards performance-wise. It scored a 3DMark Firestrike Score of 16575, which is one of the highest scores as far as GTX 1070 cards go. But this should come as no surprise since the Premium Edition of GameRock has slightly higher clock speeds than what may be found in other GTX 1070 cards (especially the Founders Edition).
Pro Relatively low noise levels for the massive fans it has
The GTX 1070 GameRock's cooler not only handles heat well, but noise production is very low, especially compared to other high-end cards. With a decibel rating of 29.6 in idle, the card remains essentially silent - this is because the fans don't spin up until a temperature of 50° C has been reached.
During full load, the fans can barely be heard with a noise production of 32.4 decibels. With these results, the Palit GeForce GTX 1070 GameRock is among the best in terms of sound production. For comparison: the Founders Edition produces 30.4 and 35.3 decibels in idle and under full load, respectively.
Pro Can have a second BIOS for higher speeds
The GameRock Premium Edition has a two-position slider which can be used to activate a second BIOS in case you want to try a custom BIOS for increased speeds.
Pro Great cooling solution
One of the main reasons that the GameRock Premium Edition is able to clock way past the reference card, is the cooler.
Measuring at 285mm long, 133mm wide and 46mm high it's simply massive (even bigger than the backplate). It has two 10cm fans which stop at around 55°C. The two fans sit on top of two heatsinks (most GTX 1070 cards have just one) joined by thick heatpipes.
Pro Great energy to performance ratio
The increased performance pushes this card from the standard 150W for GTX 1070's to 170W for this version. However, that is still more energy efficient than EVGA's most powerful GTX1070 (215W), which doesn't produce as much base & memory clock speeds.
Pro Very high clock speed increases
The Premium Edition of the Palit Geforce 1070 GameRock has a 1,671 MHz clock speed with a guaranteed boost speed of 1,873 MHz. That is a clear difference to the 1,506 MHz / 1,683 MHz of the Founders Edition. Palit also increased effective memory speeds from 8k MHz to 8.5k MHz (2x 4,250 MHz) . This manufacturer's main selling point is the performance they get out of NVIDIA cards and in this case as well they pushed the GTX 1070 to the limits of its design.
Cons
Con Slightly worse performance than other GTX 1070 cards
The Founders Edition is the reference design of the GTX 1070, and as such it is a more 'basic' model for lack of a better word. Other options have better cooling systems which allow for overclocking, which in turn means better performance than what the GTX 1070 Founders Edition can provide.
Con Founders Edition is more expensive
The Founders Edition of the GTX 1070 - which is NVIDIA's reference card and is priced at $450, which is a noticeable difference compared to the $380 of other GTX 1070 graphics cards. The Founders Edition versions have a metal backplate and blower fans for improved cooling in smaller cases, but don't have any performance advantages.
Con Only available in Europe
Palit graphic cards are only sold in Europe. In the USA, some of these graphics cards are sold by PNY but unfortunately, the GTX 1070 Gamerock Premium Edition is not one of those.
Con Takes up a lot of space
Because of the big fans and large backplate on this card, the Palit Geforce GTX 1070 GameRock Premium Edition takes up two and a half slots. (Or in other words, effectively needs 3 available slots.)
Con The aesthetics are not very pleasing
The blue and white color scheme that the Gamerock Premium Edition has is not that visually pleasing. The retro-looking logo plastered in the back is not that pretty, either.