NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1070 Ti is probably the final graphics card released on the 18-month old "Pascal" architecture. Just like the GTX 1080, it is based on the GP104 silicon with a negligibly reduced shader count, but paired with slower GDDR5 memory instead of GDDR5X. The memory change makes sense as GDDR5X seems to be available in limited quantities only and NVIDIA surely wants to sell more cards. GTX 1070 performance is beat by AMD's Vega offerings, though, which is why they came up with the GTX 1070 Ti.

The EVGA GTX 1070 Ti FTW2 iCX is a custom-design, but is reference-clocked - just like all other GTX 1070 Tis out there, NVIDIA doesn't allow board partners to overclock their cards out of the box, probably to protect the GTX 1080. Small performance differences are still to be expected due to slightly different boost ranges, power limits, and thermals. When looking at averages, we see nothing of that. The EVGA GTX 1070 Ti FTW2 is exactly as fast as the GTX 1070 Ti Founders Edition. Compared to the GTX 1080, the GTX 1070 Ti is 5% slower, which makes it 13% faster than the GTX 1070. AMD's Vega 56 is 6% behind and Vega 64 is 4% faster. The mighty GTX 1080 Ti takes the lead with 36% faster performance. These results make the GTX 1070 Ti an excellent choice for maximum-detail 1440p gaming, or 1080p when using a high-refresh-rate monitor.

Unlike some other vendors, EVGA is using a dual-slot cooler on their card, which provides great cooling potential and keeps the card at decent temperatures that are not even close to throttling. In terms of fan noise, the card is also the quietest GTX 1070 Ti, matching the ASUS STRIX and MSI Gaming, with slightly higher temperatures, but "just" a dual-slot cooler, unlike ASUS. Like most other custom designs, EVGA included the crucial idle-fan-off feature, which turns off the fans completely during idle, Internet browsing, and light gaming. Excellent!

A highlight of the GTX 1070 Ti FTW2 is EVGA's iCX technology, which provides nine thermal sensors: eight additional sensors spread around the PCB plus the GPU's built-in temperature measurement, which provides a much more complete picture of the card's thermal state. If you are an enthusiast and are worried about temperatures all the time, this is the best solution on the market currently. Also included is adjustable RGB lighting, if you fancy that.

Power efficiency of Pascal is amazing, and the GTX 1070 Ti is no exception. Performance per watt is similar to the GTX 1080 Ti, a bit lower than the GTX 1080 and GTX 1070, by roughly 10%. It's still heaps more efficient than AMD Vega. EVGA made some changes to the VRM circuitry which lead to slightly reduced power efficiency overall, by small amounts that are barely worth mentioning. What's worth mentioning, though, is that EVGA included a dual BIOS switch that lets you switch to a second BIOS that has an increased power-adjustment limit, just enough to justify the extra power connector as its power limit can be set to a maximum of 235 W. This means that at that maximum board power setting, the additional power connector would provide 10 W out of the theoretical 150 W it could deliver. For all other scenarios, the additional power connector makes no difference except to increase complexity and cost.

Early reports claimed that overclocking is locked on the GTX 1070 Ti. This is absolutely not true. All our samples overclock very well and reach clocks above 2 GHz after boost, easily beating GTX 1080 performance. As mentioned before, board partners are not allowed to include out of the box overclocks with their cards, which makes things difficult for less experienced people, or people who just don't want to waste time overclocking. Overclocking has become quite easy these days, so don't worry and give it a try.

The EVGA GTX 1070 Ti FTW2 iCX is currently listed online for $480, which is a Black Friday special. Its regular price is $500, which is a $50 increase over the Founders Edition for a fantastic cooler, iCX sensors, RGB, and dual BIOS, as no out of the box overclock is allowed. This brings its price dangerously close to the RX Vega 64 and GTX 1080. The cheapest GTX 1080 variant won't be that quiet and probably won't include the fan-stop feature, but neither will be a problem if you are willing to do additional tweaking. Vega 64 does offer a few percent more performance, but has high power draw and noise and limited overclocking potential. This only leaves a small window to justify GTX 1070 Ti cards for around $500, which is too high in my opinion. EVGA does offer the GTX 1070 Ti SC at $470, which seems like an excellent choice if you want to save a few bucks and don't need the iCX sensors or RGB control. The SC card has the same cooler and fan speed settings as the FTW2.