Palit GeForce RTX™ 3070 Gaming Pro OC Review

A lot of PC gaming enthusiasts want to get their hands on an NVIDIA GeForce RTX™ 3070. And it’s not difficult to understand why. As it delivers performance comparable to the previous generation’s flagship, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX™ 2080 Ti.

To put up to speed the new bloods of the DIY PC space. The GeForce RTX 30 Series, the successor of the renowned GeForce RTX™ product line, was launched in September of last year. It introduced three models at launch, the GeForce RTX™ 3090, RTX™ 3080, and RTX™ 3070. As inheritors of the GeForce RTX™ banner, these new graphics cards intro new unique Nvidia features along with notable hardware improvements. For instance, these Ampere-based graphics cards boast 2nd generation RT Cores and 3rd generation Tensor Cores, which improves its overall gaming performance.

Along with its performance boosting hardware upgrades, the RTX™ 30 Series also ushers in a couple of new gaming-centric features. And these new features enable gamers to have a more immersive and smoother gaming experience. While the other new features focus on improving the quality and delivery of livestreams, voice chats, and video conference calls.

NVIDIA: The pioneer of real-time Ray Tracing and DLSS on desktop GPU

To detail, previous and latest GeForce RTX™ graphics cards support real-time Ray Tracing and DLSS. These hardware-based features focus on taking gaming visuals and the overall gaming performance to a whole new level. As real-time Ray Tracing simulates realistic light behavior by leveraging on the RT Cores of a GeForce RTX™ 30 series graphics card. DLSS, on the other hand, leverages on the AI capability of its Tensor Cores to boost frame rates even at higher resolutions without the need of lowering graphics settings.

AI-based Features for Livestreaming and Video Communication

NVIDIA also recognized the growing need for improvements on livestreaming and live video communication, thus the birth of NVIDIA Broadcast App

The NVIDIA Broadcast App takes advantage of the powerful Ai onboard an NVIDIA GeForce RTX™ graphics card. By using AI, it zeros in on unwanted noise and background clutter to instantly and constantly remove them in real-time.

Moreover, the Broadcast App can also enable the user’s camera to dynamically track a subject in real-time through it Auto Frame option.

The Palit Gaming Pro OC line

Palit Microsystems is one of the largest NVIDIA-based graphics cards manufacturers in the world. And following the launch of GeForce RTX™ 30 Series, Palit launched its GPU lineup for this generation.

They have a number of models available for each variant of the GeForce RTX™ 30 Series. However, only the GeForce RTX™ 3070 is available in all of Palit’s premium lines: GameRock, Gaming Pro, and JetStream. All three product lines provide premium cooling performance and notably higher clock speeds than the reference cards. OC models are available as well, if faster out-of-the-box clock speeds are what you’re after.

If what you’re looking for are faster clock speeds, better cooling performance, and a price tag that won’t hurt much. Then, the Palit Gaming Pro and Gaming Pro OC models are what you should check out. With its massive heatsink and triple fan setup, the Gaming Pro line will certainly perform at its top condition even in airflow constrained chassis.

Palit GeForce RTX™ 3070 Gaming Pro OC Box detail

The Palit Gaming Pro OC comes packed in a large rectangular box that has NVIDIA and Palit brandings all-over. An image of the actual Gaming Pro graphics card sits upfront the box. In addition, Palit and NVIDIA brandings are systematically placed on all four edges of the box.

The top and bottom parts of the box have Palit Gaming Pro and GeForce RTX™ brandings as well. There is also a feature image of the aRGB implementation of the Palit Gaming Pro line. This feature image is also present on both sides of the box, along with Palit brandings, and a seemingly large GeForce RTX™ branding.

The back of the box tells a different story. As Palit dedicates this part of the box for the complete key features and details of the Ampere-based GeForce RTX™ 3070..

What’s Inside the Box of Palit Gaming Pro OC GeForce RTX™ 3070?

The inner box that holds the actual Palit GeForce RTX™ 3070 Gaming Pro OC unit comes in plain black. Nothing but the HDMI and HDCP text are present upfront.

Opening the box, one will be greeted by the user manual and a Palit branded A6 size calendar. Underneath the foam cover, you’ll find the Palit Gaming Pro OC GeForce RTX™ 3070 unit inside an ESD protective cover. And just below the graphics card is a 2x 6-pin to 8-pin adapter.

There are no other inclusions hiding underneath the graphics card. No fancy greeting card, no branded stickers, or other fancy inclusions like what we’ve seen from other brands.

Palit Gaming Pro OC Design

The Palit Gaming Pro’s shroud design exudes an aggressive and futuristic vibe. It’s an impressive looking graphics card even if the majority of its exterior is of plastic.

Although it’s mostly of plastic material, the shroud still feels and looks premium, because of the metal faceplate, which extends from the middle to the far right end. In the middle of the shroud is where the aRGB LED unit is at. Its diagonal orientation and honeycomb accents complement the metal faceplate, completing the aggressive yet futuristic look.

As it sports a triple fan setup, the heatsink is also broad to utilize the cooling performance it delivers. The entirety of the graphics card spans 294mm in length, stands 112mm, and is 60mm thick. So, some compact cases could be incompatible with this variant.

Palit has opted to place its dual 8-pin slot on the middle end on the side part of the graphics card. Aside from these slots, a significant amount of the heatsink can be seen as the shroud doesn’t fully encapsulate it. This allows more breathing room for the heatsink to lessen its heat buildup.

Backplate and I/O

There is also a backplate on this model. However, just like the majority of the shroud, this backplate is also of plastic material. But it’s not something that we’d consider as a disadvantage.

As some of the current graphics cards suffer from thermal issues brought by their metal backplates. The issue comes from the unnecessary heat buildup on metal backplates of some current generation graphics cards. Fortunately, this isn’t an issue with the Palit GeForce RTX™ 3070 Gaming Pro OC since its backplate is of plastic.

There are honeycomb holes on its backplate that act as the flow-through vents for the third fan. NVIDIA pioneered this kind of cooling setup and was first seen on the RTX™ 30 series reference cards.

The honeycomb accents, which are seen on the shroud and backplate extends to the I/O plate. Just like on its backplate, the honeycomb holes on the I/O plate serve as vents that help in heat dissipation.

As for I/O options, the Palit GeForce RTX™ 3070 Gaming Pro OC comes with 3 DisplayPort 1.4a and a lone HDMI 2.1 port.

Turbo Fan 3.0

Palit equips the Gaming Pro cooling system with three 95mm fans that feature TurboFan 3.0 Technology.

TurboFan 3.0 is a combination of features that focus on cooling performance improvements and overall fan longevity. The three fans are all equipped with TurboFan Blades and dual ball bearings that improve their stability while in use. The fans also feature 0-dB technology which automatically lowers the fan speed when there’s no heavy load on the GPU.

These features not only provide amazing cooling performance, but they also give its components the durability that can stand the test of time.

Synthetic and Gaming Benchmarks

During all of our benchmark runs, the Palit GeForce RTX™ 3070 Gaming Pro OC never showed any performance hiccups.

On titles like the recently PC ported Horizon Zero Dawn, the old but still visually stunning Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and Battlefield V, the Palit GeForce RTX™ 3070 Gaming Pro OC was able to hold frame rates above 100 fps. Comparing this to its 1440P performance on the same games with the same settings and scenario showed 5 – 15% decrease in frame rate. While at 4K resolution, the Palit GeForce RTX™ 3070 Gaming Pro OC, even with a massive drop-in frame rate, still yielded 60 fps and sometimes above on a couple of games in this benchmark suite.

The deal sweetener when it comes to NVIDIA GeForce RTX™ graphics cards are the hardware-based features like real-time Ray Tracing and the groundbreaking DLSS technology. As you may know by now, having real-time Ray Tracing puts a huge processing toll on the GPU, which results in notable frame rate dips. To prevent this from happening when real-time Ray Tracing is enabled, NVIDIA developed the DLSS technology which is an AI-based rendering that drastically boosts the frame rates without the need of lowering any settings.

And as seen on our Control benchmark run, even with real-time Ray Tracing, the Palit GeForce RTX™ 3070 Gaming Pro OC was still able to yield frame rates above 100 fps at 1080P. While it held 96 fps and a stable 60 fps at 1440P and 4K, respectively.

Power Consumption and Cooling Performance

Along with the great gaming features and content creation benefits, GeForce RTX™ 30 Series graphics cards also come with power efficient chips.

This rings true on the Palit GeForce RTX™ 3070 Gaming Pro OC. As it only draws 13W during idle states, and 225W while gaming. Its power consumption maxes out at 252W during a 4K Furmark stress test. We never experienced power spikes during our gaming benchmarks and stress tests. So with the results as our basis, it is safe to deduce that the power phasing of Palit’s Gaming Pro OC line is effective in power stabilization, making these cards one of the best choices for overclocking.

Aside from having a great power delivery, the cooling system of Palit GeForce RTX™ 3070 Gaming Pro OC is also exceptional. As it was able to hold the temperatures at tolerable levels during our run of benchmarks and stress tests. And even when it was in a poorly ventilated chassis, the cooling performance of the Palit Gaming Pro cooling system never dwindled to a trickle.

What we think:

With its factory OC, the Palit GeForce RTX™ 3070 Gaming Pro OC delivers incredible out-of-the-box performance in both 1080P and 1440P. It is also equipped with a capable cooling system that provides an exceptional cooling performance fit for overclocking.

Though aesthetics is really subjective, we seem to find the aggressive and futuristic look on this one as something that needs a bit more improvement. As the majority of its materials are of plastic, its design’s aggressive and premium look tends to diminish once you’ve held it and have taken a closer look. On the plus side though, because of its plastic materials, Palit GeForce RTX™ 3070 Gaming Pro OC is considerably lighter than other GeForce RTX™ 3070 from other brands. Its lightness prevents the common sag problem that is present on other graphics cards of this size.

So, if you are looking for a capable 1440P graphics card that has great overclocking potential, useful gaming features, and a lightweight frame then you’d really need to look at the Palit Gaming Pro OC RTX™ 3070. As we’ve mentioned, the Palit Gaming Pro OC RTX™ 3070 delivers incredible out-of-the-box gaming performance, comes equipped with a remarkable cooling system fit for overclocking. Most importantly, the Palit Gaming Pro RTX™ 3070’s price tag is positioned to be near the MSRP set by NVIDIA.

Please visit the official NVIDIA website to learn more about their latest GPU innovations.