Is the MSI 1070 GAMING worth buying factory overclocked?

[ejohnny33]

So I'm looking at the MSI 1070 GAMING 8G and im puzzled. I understand this can apply to pretty much any card and I've done research but I just don't understand whether it's worth paying $20 more to have it come with a 75 MHz factory overclock. Are the factory OC'd cards binned higher or something? Why couldn't I just get the regular card and overclock it the day I get it by 75 MHz?

[Pankaic]

It is about binning, yes. The cards that come factory overclocked are binned to be better at overlocking, and are guaranteed to overclock to the point specified on the box (although they'll do much better than just that). Although it is certainly possible for you to get lucky and purchase a cheaper card that overclocks just as well, some people are willing to pay the extra $$ to be safe. 

 

Also, some people just don't want to overclock their cards because of inexperience, in which case a card that comes factory overclocked will give better performance without needing to learn how to overclock the card themselves (which is really simple nowadays, so I don't know why anyone wouldn't...)

[ejohnny33]

So, in your opinion, would it be worth spending the extra $20 if you want to be able to squeeze every frame out of your GPU?

[Megazero]

5 minutes ago, ejohnny33 said:

So, in your opinion, would it be worth spending the extra $20 if you want to be able to squeeze every frame out of your GPU?

It's up to you. There's plenty of other version of the 1070 that's cheaper than the MSI one and perform not that far behind or the same, like the EVGA SC or ASUS Strix. In my country in particular they are all at the same price (the MSI actually come up cheaper since I have a discount for the shop I bought at) so in my case I choose it for the look. 

[UnitD77]

LTT did a video on factory overclocking, 

And yes.... there is potential value for overclocks out of the box. 

And yes, Your card will only overclock so much when you get it.

And a thing to note is higher end cards, like EVGA FTW, have a non reference board, and so they achieve overclocks way superior than anything you'll see from a reference card. ASUS 1080 Strix is massive overclock out of the box, larger than im sure some people will even get from other aftermarket cards, so yes the extra money you spend on a factory overclock is well worth it. I always go for the best edition available. Oh no I paid an extra $30 than the one edition lower.... oh well, I guess I can't go to b-dubs for dinner.

 

Why start behind and have to catch up before you can advance, when you can just only get better out of the box.

[ClobberXD]

8 minutes ago, ejohnny33 said:

So, in your opinion, would it be worth spending the extra $20 if you want to be able to squeeze every frame out of your GPU?

It depends on how much money you have and you want to spend.

[ClobberXD]

21 minutes ago, ejohnny33 said:

So I'm looking at the MSI 1070 GAMING 8G and im puzzled. I understand this can apply to pretty much any card and I've done research but I just don't understand whether it's worth paying $20 more to have it come with a 75 MHz factory overclock. Are the factory OC'd cards binned higher or something? Why couldn't I just get the regular card and overclock it the day I get it by 75 MHz?

MSI's Gaming series lineup with their TwinFrozr coolers are pretty darn good in terms of temps, and like many other cards can OC beyond the 2GHz mark.

 

But there's a catch - it's RGB no doubt, but some of it is buried under the red accents around the fans, and even if you set the right color, it will have to shine through the red accents and emit a visibly red hue. So it might look out o' place in your blue-lighted PC, and ruining your whole lighting setup.

 

But that catch aside, it is a seriously awesome card (if you have a BLACK-RED build) and I think it is definitely worth the $20, as the whole GTX 1070 lineup, offers radical performance at a very decent price. This card just takes it a bit further.

[tom11]

4 hours ago, Pankaic said:

It is about binning, yes. The cards that come factory overclocked are binned to be better at overlocking, and are guaranteed to overclock to the point specified on the box (although they'll do much better than just that). Although it is certainly possible for you to get lucky and purchase a cheaper card that overclocks just as well, some people are willing to pay the extra $$ to be safe. 

 

Also, some people just don't want to overclock their cards because of inexperience, in which case a card that comes factory overclocked will give better performance without needing to learn how to overclock the card themselves (which is really simple nowadays, so I don't know why anyone wouldn't...)

 

Do you know if the Zotac AMP! Extreme cards are binned too?

[Pankaic]

16 hours ago, tom11 said:

 

Do you know if the Zotac AMP! Extreme cards are binned too?

I'm pretty sure all manufacturers do some degree of binning for their higher-tier cards