GeForce RTX™ 2070 GPU upgrade

Unleashing the GeForce RTX™ 2070 GPU

Finally my old 7 years old desktop PC housing the Nvidia Quadro 4000 have been given an upgrade. Replaced by the newer powerful Gigabyte Geforce RTX 2070 GPU. 8GB of GDDR6 RAM with Nvidia Turing Architecture technology it allows for real-time Ray Tracing capabilities and utilises AI. Yes it is a mouth full and means faster frame rates on higher resolution, display with accurate lighting and reflections (Raytracing), simulation calculation, rendering and more. That is, so as long as the game or application supports it. And in most cases most not many do at this moment.

It’s a gaming beast GPU that rivals the old king, the GTX 1080ti. However I got this RTX 2070 not for gaming but rather for my ongoing 3D practise. Hopefully Blender 2.8 can soon find ways to take advantage of the Turing features. Real-time ray tracing rocks!

How did the Nvidia RTX 2070 installation go?

I wish all these components would be as easy as plug and plug. Unfortunately I spent half of the day having to troubleshoot and almost gave up. First thing first I had to do some cable management to allow for better airflow. Didn’t want any cable touching the GPU and burn my PC to the ground, was a time killer but had to be done. Putting the GPU on the PCI slot was dead simple, but getting to boot past the freezing Bios frame was a head scratchier. I’m using the 2012 dinosaur, Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP4 motherboard. Initially I thought my motherboard was having its last breath supporting new technology. It turns out it’s still ageing very well. With a few research I followed a few instructions that didn’t work.

Standard trouble shooting:
This step by step guide didn’t work for me but could for you.

1. Take out the cmos battery.

2. Turn off the main PSU switch.

3. Pull out the USB connector.

4. Leave it off for 10 minutes.

The other option was to update the Bios. A risky operation cause if the update fails for any reason I could cause other issues. As I know of with this motherboard, there are two ways to update the Bios.

One is to jump onto Gigabytes website and download the firmware onto a USB or to use the @BIOS app by Gigabyte. I choose to use the @BIOS app since I had no idea what to download from their site. The @BIOS app had a simple button to update the latest firmware from its server. After a few minutes of installation and rebooting, the updated was successful. Yes to confirm, the Gigabyte RTX 2070 GPU is compatible with the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP4 motherboard.

Updating BIOS guide with @BIOS app on Windows:
The method requires you to have Windows booted up (temporary swap back to your old GPU) and make sure you have a stable internet.

1. In Windows search for BIOS app.

2. Click Update New BIOS button.

3. Select your region.

4. Do not turn off your internet connect or computer. Patiently wait for the update to finish.

5. Restart your machine when the prompt menu appears.

RTX series is having major issues, is this true?

There have been a number of reports the RTX series is having major problems, especially on the Gigabyte RTX 2070 and a few 2080ti. Screen freeze, artefacts appearing display to even booting issues. Some say its to do with the RAM or a bad batch that got through the quality control net. I can’t tell for sure but hopefully it isn’t going to be as bad. So far my day one of testing I have it running. This RTX 2070 works with Blender 2.8 and every other software like Zbrush, Photoshop on my machine. If your concern Gigabyte is offering 4 years warranty (1 extra when registering on their website). In that sense I’m not too worried about sticking with the RTX. I think it has more potential on the Nvidia Turing Architecture when it becomes well supported by the apps.

Is the RTX any faster?

The speed of the Gigabyte RTX 2070 card is fast. While Eevee was already zippy on my old Nvidia Quadro 4000 GPU, the difference can be notice with simulation, rendering and navigating around on extremely highly dense polygons. However I think cooling could be an issue if you have a small desktop case in which I may need replacement for my particular situation.

Nvidia high price tag, is it worth the money?

We all know that Nvidia has no competition when it comes to Graphics Card. AMD isn’t close yet but hopefully they will be soon to bring that price gouging down. If you need the extra grunt and money isn’t a problem then by all means grab one. However if its too step I recommend waiting, eventually the price will drop overtime. Alternatively you could get a second hand GTX 1080ti from Ebay at a competitive price nowadays. That was one of my options, but do avoid the ones that have been used for mining purpose.

I was fortune enough to get my RTX 2070 at a 15% discount on Ebay with the promo codes for $679.15 AUD including delivery. It’s a new product, extra warranty, latest technology and faster RAM, it was hard for me to give it a miss.

Places to purchase the Gigabyte RTX 2070 Nvidia GPU in Australia:

Amazon Australia
Ebay
ITS Direct
M Wave
Nvidia (Online Store for Founders Edition)
PC Case Gear
PLE Computer Bentley
Scorptec
Umart

RRP: $899 AUD

Official Website:
Gigabyte (Australia)

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