Conclusion – 4K is playable with a single GTX 1070, but still depends on the game

The advent of 3840x2160p Ultra HD resolution for PCs and televisions over the past four years has really prompted companies along the display supply chain to meet all the requirements of offering successful, well-functioning products that consumers have come to expect from the Full HD 1080p revolution that occurred about a decade ago. With the PC market, Nvidia is in a tougher spot just like AMD because the companies also strive to meet all the requirements of the home theater market (HDR standards, Rec.2020, adequate transfer bandwidth) while aiming for an eventual minimum 60fps goal for PC gamers.

With the GTX 1070, it seems like Nvidia is in a much better spot on meeting this performance target than it was two years ago with Maxwell-based GTX 980 and 970, although there are still some games that will require at least two GTX 1070s to reach 60fps in 4K. Based on our tests, most of which were performed on maximum settings with at least 4X anti-aliasing enabled, we witnessed 3840x2160p results anywhere between 28fps and 110fps. At every resolution tested, all the games still benefitted from the GTX 1070 over the GTX 970 SC, with some more noticeably than others.

The most demanding title we tested was Fallout 4, which averaging just 19fps in 3840x2160p on Ultra settings with Nvidia’s Vault 1080 Mod with the GTX 970 SC and improved to 28.5fps with the GTX 1070. More reasonably, however, Just Cause 3 performed at just 28.2fps on the GTX 970 SC, while the GTX 1070 bumped this up to a fairly reasonable 40.6fps, though this still falls short from matching our 4K display’s 60Hz refresh rate.

No Man’s Sky also showed some adequate improvement in 4K, increasing from 32.2fps on the GTX 970 SC to 49.2fps on the GTX 1070. There was also Far Cry 4, which had somewhat unplayable 4K framerates of 26.7fps on the GTX 970 SC and jumped to a modest 39.3fps under the GTX 1070.

Gaming in 1440p should not be overlooked between Maxwell and Pascal either. In Far Cry 4, the game averaged 49.5fps on the GTX 970 SC and improved to 75fps on the GTX 1070, making the card a great choice on desktops, notebooks and external GPU enclosures at this resolution as well.

All in all, however, there is still a sense that the GTX 1070 sits firmly near the center of a larger spectrum of 4K-capable graphics processing units in the Maxwell and Pascal series product lineups. For those who are series about 1440p gaming, this card can be taken seriously on its own without need for SLI. Yet for resolutions including 3440x1440p and 3840x2160p using maximum in-game settings, neither a single GTX 1070 nor a single GTX 1080 can quite do this trick, and this is either where SLI or a single Nvidia Titan X comes into consideration.

Great choice in preparing for 4K HDR gaming and media standards

In terms of price-to-performance from the GTX 970 in September 2014, the GTX 1070 Founders Edition with its $449 retail price tag is still a high sticker price compared to the previous unit’s $329 launch price, followed by its reduction to $239 earlier this summer shortly before the Geforce 10 series launches. Realistically speaking, it is probably more reasonable at this point to price the GTX 980 Ti against the GTX 1070 Founders Edition, the latter of which can be found at just $419 and $429 refurbished and often even including warranties. The GTX 1070 pulls ahead of the GTX 980 Ti by just a few frames in 4K, 1440p and 1080p based on other reports comparing recent GPUs. Yet even with this considered, framerate alone is by no means a definitive reason to pass up a $20 USD difference between the two cards (update: EVGA now sells the GTX 980 Ti and GTX 980 Ti Classified for $339 and $439, respectively). The power efficiency improvements offered by Pascal, not to mention the HDR-supporting DisplayPort standards, Ultra HD Blu-ray playback support, and full upcoming support for HDR gaming make the GTX 1070 Founders Edition a top choice for any gamer, display quality aficionado or film enthusiast as a means to prepare for 4K content at every level of the PC, Web and entertainment industries.