EVGA RTX 2070 Black Review

Introduction

We recently reviewed the EVGA FTW3 Ultra and found it to be an outstanding card with great cooling and superb performance. However, we know that for many people an RTX 2080Ti is a little rich for their blood, and thus it was with a lot of interest that we saw the EVGA RTX 2070 Black and it’s very affordable price tag.

Usually if you’re going for a graphics card that has a non-reference cooler there is a hefty price to pay for the addition of some fans, but somehow the EVGA Black is only a tiny bit more expensive than the most standard RTX 2070 you can get.

Understandably as we know that these are just the sort of cards that have people reaching for their wallets – great performance, good looks, famous brand name, doesn’t require selling your grandmother – we wanted to put it to the test against the other RTX 2070 cards we’ve reviewed so far and discover if the svelte price tag masked some horrors, or if the EVGA Black really was one of the bargains of the year.

Onwards.

Technical Specifications

Despite being equipped with the iCX2 cooler the Black has a Boost clock somewhat lower than the MSI and ASUS cards we’ve reviewed so far. However, we know that manufacturer boost clock claims are almost null and void these days as the GeForce drivers use GPU Boost technology to pump the card as hard as possible. Ergo paying more for a manufacturer overclock isn’t as much of a no-brainer as it used to be, given that all the cards will be as fast as their thermal headroom allows.