KFA2 is a registered brand of a manufacturing company Galaxy Microsystems, which for more than 25 years has been engaged in its own development and production of various computer hardware, including motherboards, RAM, solid state drives and, of course, video cards. The company entered our market in 2010, and since 2017 all flagship models of video cards produced under the KFA2 brand have become available to Russian users. Today we will talk about just one of the products under this brand, since recently we received a video card KFA2 GeForce RTX 3070 SG (1-Click OC)… Let’s see what it is so remarkable and what it is capable of in modern games.
The average price for KFA2 GeForce RTX 3070 SG (1-Click OC) is fixed at around 62,000 rubles as of January 2023, according to Yandex.Market data.
PACKAGING, COMPLETE SET AND APPEARANCE
By tradition of premium PC hardware, the video card is packed in two boxes. And they are clearly one and a half times more than most similar solutions, since they offer a rich package bundle, but more on that below.
The outer box is made of thin single-layer cardboard with colorful printing in predominantly white, green, black and gray tones. The front side shows a fighter in a dark green hoodie, whose face is hidden – only the lower teeth and beard are visible under the hood. Also on the front side there are KFA2 logos, the slogan “What’s your game?”, The model name, information about the amount of RAM and interfaces, an additional cooler, and also the traditional part with the inscription in the lower right corner – NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070. On the back side the manufacturer indicated information about the key advantages of this model, including the revolutionary Ampere architecture and other features of the GeForce platform.
The inner box is already made of two-layer black cardboard. It opens like a box and meets not with a video card, but with an RGB holder made of thick transparent plexiglass with the slogan “What’s your game?”, Which is connected via a special 4-pin connector in the motherboard for power supply and backlight control. The holder is placed in a format hole in black polyethylene foam, which covers the compartment with the video card and other accessories.
The KFA2 GeForce RTX 3070 SG (1-Click OC) itself is packed in an antistatic bag and lies in a recess made of polyethylene foam, which reliably protects it from damage. You will also find nearby an additional cooler, which can optionally be installed behind the video card, and a cable for controlling the backlight. In addition, the manufacturer equipped the KFA2 GeForce RTX 3070 SG (1-Click OC) with a small piece of plexiglass, which is screwed to the RGB holder with screws and, if installed under the video card, supports it with active cooling. Two sets (4 short and 4 long) screws and 4 nuts are provided for fixing the holder. The manufacturer did not forget about various documentation, among which you will find 3 short instructions – dedicated to quick connection and setup, installing an additional cooler and connecting the cable to control the backlight.
The card weighs a little over 1007 grams and, due to the massive cooling system, occupies 2.4 slots in the computer, and its length is 31 centimeters, so it is very large and may not fit into the unit if you have something installed opposite the PCI Express slots. for example hard drives. Also, the problem may arise with the placement of an additional cooler if you have only one PCI Express, which is located next to the RAM. If you have several slats (as in our test bench) and they are installed to the right of the processor, then the additional cooler may interfere and you will not be able to install it.
To use the device, the manufacturer recommends a power supply with a capacity of at least 650 watts. We used a 750W unit from Thermaltake, so this is more than enough. For additional power supply of the card, the manufacturer uses only one 8-pin connector.
In terms of construction, the video card looks serious, and judging by the SG abbreviation, which stands for Serious Gaming, the manufacturer’s approach to its creation was really serious. The main part of the device is occupied by massive cooling with three 92mm fans with smooth quiet running, Fan-stop function and RGB lighting. Under them and a plastic casing is a huge heatsink that hides not only 7 heat pipes, but also a large single heat sink made of pure copper 4 mm thick, covering the memory and the GPU. The VRM area is also covered with a separate heatsink, and a reinforcing metal plate is installed at the back to prevent deformation of the PCB, which could happen due to the huge weight of the cooling system. An additional 80mm fan can be installed on it, which is connected via a thin cable through a 4-pin connector located on the side of the plastic casing. There is also a 5-pin connector next to it for connecting a cable for controlling the backlight to a special unit or motherboard. In front there is a small glowing inscription “What’s your game?” All fans are also backlit. As for video outputs, this card has one HDMI 2.1 and three DisplayPort 1.4a.
SPECIFICATIONS
In all GeForce RTX 3070 models, manufacturers use the GA104 chip on the Ampere architecture, unlike the GA102, which is installed in the GeForce RTX 3090 and RTX 3080 models. It is built on an 8-nm process technology and contains 17400 million transistors. Installed 6 GPC clusters with 8 SM-modules each. However, in one of the clusters, 2 SM modules are disabled, which ultimately gives 46 SM and 5888 CUDA cores. Also, this chip uses 96 raster units, 46 RT cores of the second generation, 184 tensor cores of the third generation and 184 texture units. In the boost, the graphics accelerator operates at a frequency of 1725 MHz, and in the one-button overclocking mode (1-Click OC) it accelerates to 1740 MHz.
The 3070 uses 8GB GDDR6 memory (the 3080 and 3090 have GDDR6X memory), which runs at 14,000 MHz. A 256-bit 448 Gbps bus is used to transfer data between the GPU and memory.
XTREME TUNER APP
The Xtreme Tuner application is available on the manufacturer’s official website to tune the video card. You will need it to control the performance of the KFA2 GeForce RTX 3070 SG (1-Click OC), overclocking it and, of course, to adjust the backlight. Externally, the application resembles a car dashboard, where the GPU and memory frequency sensors act as a speedometer and tachometer. Between them are tabs where you can get information about the characteristics of your video card, including the driver version. Also there you can go to the section with manual overclocking settings.
The application provides only one factory overclocking profile – 1-CLICK OC, which is placed in a separate section. However, you can create your own in the OC section and save them on your computer. In the RGB section, the developers allow you to set up the backlight on the video card and holder, as well as synchronize them (if you connected the video card and holder to a special unit or to a connector on the motherboard) with other devices. In the FAN section you can adjust the operation of the fans.
One of the main features of KFA2 video cards is the Xtreme Tuner application for mobile devices on Android and iOS, which is easily downloaded from the Google Play Store and AppStore, respectively. Through the mobile application, you can do exactly the same as in the Windows application, and the connection to the PC is very fast by scanning the QR code in the application on your computer. In this case, the phone must be connected to the same network with the PC.
NVIDIA TECHNOLOGIES – BROADCAST, REFLEX AND STUDIO
With the arrival of the 30-series graphics cards, NVIDIA introduced not only new features in terms of ray tracing and DLSS anti-aliasing, but also a couple of pretty useful features that are also available to users of previous RTX graphics cards based on the Turing architecture.
The first is the NVIDIA Broadcast app that turns your PC into a streaming studio quickly and easily. With machine learning and neural networking, the RTX series graphics cards can help you get started with your streaming business without the need for expensive hardware. A webcam and headset will be enough. The application has three main features: noise elimination, background replacement and automatic cropping. The first eliminates any unnecessary noises, including the knocking on the keyboard keys and other extraneous sounds that may fall into the field of view of the sensitive microphone. The second is a cost-free alternative to the green screen – thanks to AI, you can blur, delete or change the background behind you. The latter function dynamically frames images and allows the camera to automatically focus on you as you move through the frame.
The second feature is called NVIDIA Reflex. It allows for the lowest rendering latency and the best responsiveness between GeForce graphics cards (GTX 900 and higher) and G-SYNC monitors. Reflex Low Latency mode optimizes the entire game engine to complete rendering on time, eliminating the GPU’s render queue and reducing CPU utilization. This technology is already available in competitive games like Fortnite, Valorant, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone, Apex Legends, and the list is gradually expanding. Minimizing system delays can significantly improve the reaction speed of players, that is, increase their performance in eSports disciplines.
For professionals, this card offers the benefits of the NVIDIA Studio driver package, which improves the stability of a variety of applications. The GeForce RTX platform leverages all types of cores – CUDA, RT, and tensor – and accelerates AI algorithms, resulting in increased performance and rendering speed. For a complete list of applications, visit the NVIDIA Studio page.
SYNTHETIC TESTS
We traditionally use several third-party benchmarks to test the performance of video cards. All subsequent tests (synthetic and gaming) were carried out in the factory overclocking mode (1-CLICK OC mode). As a test bench, a PC with a 6-core Intel Core i7 5820K processor with a frequency of 3.3 GHz and 16 gigabytes of DDR4 memory with a frequency of 3000 MHz was used.
For fast loads, the tests were installed on an NVMe M.2 drive from ADATA.
To begin with, we launched the Superposition 3D benchmark from Unigine, which is famous for its semi-synthetic solutions. Developed on the Unigine 2 engine, the test takes us to an abandoned laboratory in the mid-20th century with photorealistic graphics. The test was carried out in three available settings – 1080p Extreme, 4K Optimized, 8K Optimized, and in all cases the GPU was used at a maximum of 99%, and the maximum recorded temperature did not exceed 74 degrees:
- 1080p Extreme – 7290 points (42 to 73 FPS, average 54)
- 4K Optimized – 9813 points (58 to 98 FPS, average 73)
- 8K Optimized – 4464 points (28 to 39 FPS, average 33)
The second test was the Chinese benchmark Boundary, which is based on the upcoming tactical online shooter of the same name in a space setting. This test uses ray tracing technology. The test was conducted in three resolution settings – 1080, 1440p and 4K – with tracing and DLSS in quality and ultra performance modes. The maximum temperature during the tests was recorded at around 72 degrees:
- 1080p, RTX, DLSS Quality – 53.8 FPS (from 1 to 180 FPS)
- 1080p, RTX, DLSS Ultra Performance – 99.6 FPS (4 to 404 FPS)
- 1440p, RTX, DLSS Quality – 40.9 FPS (5 to 187 FPS)
- 1440p, RTX, DLSS Ultra Performance – 75.8 FPS (4 to 303 FPS)
- 2160p, RTX, DLSS Quality – 22.9 FPS (0 to 284 FPS)
- 2160p, RTX, DLSS Ultra Performance – 51.6 FPS (4 to 230 FPS)
GAME BENCHMARKS
Next, we tested the video card in three traditional gaming benchmarks: Gears 5, Final Fantasy XV and Forza Horizon 4.
The first on the test was the Coalition shooter Gears 5, which received an update with the addition of beaming buns for global illumination in screen space, previously only available on the Xbox Series X. The maximum GPU temperature was 68 degrees, and the CPU load was almost always at around 100%:
- 4K, ultra + ultra textures – 51.9 FPS (average frame rate of the video card – 52.4 FPS)
- 1440p, ultra + ultra textures – 74.7 FPS (average frame rate of the video card – 78.8 FPS)
- 1080p, ultra + ultra textures – 74.5 FPS (average frame rate of the video card – 80.6 FPS)
The second game benchmark was Forza Horizon 4 – one of the most popular open world racing games. We tested it multiple times through an internal performance check with user presets available at 1080p, 1440p and 4K resolutions. The maximum temperature was kept between 61 and 68 degrees, depending on the resolution, and the frame rate was at a high level:
- 1080p, all at maximum – 125 FPS (average frame rate of the video card – 151.7 FPS)
- 1440p, all at maximum – 112 FPS (average frame rate of the video card – 120.8 FPS)
- 4K, all at maximum – 79 FPS (average frame rate of the video card – 81.1 FPS)
The final gaming benchmark was the Windows version of Final Fantasy XV. The GPU temperature in the Japanese RPG benchmark from Square Enix reached 69 degrees. The benchmark was run on high graphics settings in 1080p, 1440p and 4K resolutions. On a test system with an RTX 3070 on board, the following impressive scores were obtained:
- 4K High – 5966 (Fairly High)
- 1440p, High – 9775 (Very High)
- 1080p, High – 11180 (Very High)
GAME TESTS IN 4K, DLSS, RTX
Since the KFA2 GeForce RTX 3070 SG video card showed itself to be crisp in 4K during tests in gaming benchmarks, in games we decided to test its capabilities in this resolution, and since the main feature of RTX video cards is ray tracing and DLSS anti-aliasing technologies, then we will use them where possible.
To begin with, we decided to try this card in not the most demanding shooter of 2023 – DOOM Eternal, in which a stable and high frame rate is still important, and not only in multiplayer mode, but also in single mode, especially at the highest difficulty levels. Here the RTX 3070 SG delivers some pretty impressive performance. The average FPS value at maximum graphics settings during battles in open locations was about 70-80 frames, and in closed rooms – 90-100. The maximum temperature during the test reached 68 degrees.
Next, we tested one of the most beautiful games of recent years – Red Dead Redemption 2, which with the release was able to harness the full power of modern gaming PCs, possessing many features that were not available to console players, such as improved global illumination, improved shadows, tessellation and much more. … The development was tested at the maximum available settings. In the snowy prologue, the average frame rate was in the range from 35 to 50 frames, where low values were achieved due to various effects in bad weather conditions. Immediately after the prologue in the green forests of the world of Red Dead Redemption 2, the average frequency fluctuated between 40 and 50 frames, which should be enough for a completely comfortable game for most gamers, although this is not the coveted 60 FPS (for them they still have to lower the settings). In the in-game test, we were able to get a frame rate of 15 to 62 frames with an average of 42 FPS. The maximum temperature recorded during the testing of this game was 72 degrees.
Next, we launched a project about a courier who had to travel across America for the sake of its unification and salvation. Yes, we are about Death Stranding from the maestro of Genius – Hideo Kojima. Built on the Decima engine, the Japanese hit generates very beautiful and detailed views of dying nature, and support for DLSS 2.0 anti-aliasing technology helps to achieve better performance without losing image quality. Average frame rate at maximum graphics settings with DLSS 2.0 enabled in “Quality” mode is from 90 to 105 frames, and in “Performance” mode – from 115 to 130 frames. In this case, the GPU was heated to a maximum of 71 degrees.
After Death Stranding, we included Control by Max Payne and Alan Wake, which uses Northlight’s internal technology engine to support ray tracing and DLSS 2.0 anti-aliasing. The brainchild of Remedy Entertainment can work with shadows, reflections, and global illumination using DXR, and DLSS 2.0 comes to the rescue to improve performance. We tested the game at the highest available settings in 4K, including ray tracing and DLSS anti-aliasing. At the same time, we tested the rendering resolution in two modes: 1440p and 1080p. In the first case, performance averaged between 35 and 45 frames, and while rendering at 1080p, the image quality slightly deteriorated, but the average performance increased by 15-25 frames. At the same time, the GPU temperature remained at around 71 degrees.
Last on the list (but not least!) We tested the long-awaited Cyberpunk 2077 – one of the hardest and most technologically advanced games. It supports ray tracing technology, which is used not only for reflections and shadows, but also for creating global illumination and modeling of reflected light. Mirrored surfaces behave as they should and reflect everything that comes into their field of view, giving the game world more detail and making it more realistic. Особенно данный эффект заметен по воде, которая получила дополнительный эффект глубины. Те же отражения в лужах выглядят более чёткими и детальными. Глобальное же освещение позволяет создавать корректно рассеянные тени и освещать поверхности, которые скрыты от прямых лучей света. Всё это позволяет Cyberpunk 2077 достичь очень красивой картинки и преобразить окружение Найт Сити и пустошей как ночью, так и в дневное время суток. Что касается производительности на KFA2 GeForce RTX 3070 SG, то в рамках теста мы использовали максимально доступные настройки графики с трассировкой лучей и DLSS. Среднее значение частоты кадров при качестве с трассировкой лучей на уровне “Невероятная” при DLSS в режиме “Ультрапроизводительность” данная видеокарта могла выдавать среднюю частоту кадров в районе 40-45 кадров в секунду, чего должно хватить для комфортабельной игры. При этом температура GPU не превышала значения в 71 градус.
Стоит отметить, что во время тестов в 4K в режиме заводского разгона (1-CLICK OC Mode) скорость кулеров не превышала 2000 оборотов/мин. Средний шум от корпуса с шумоизоляцией в процессе тестов был зафиксирован на отметке в 45 dB, что в нормально для игрового ПК. Максимальное потребление питания составило 239 Вт, что в свою очередь в пределах нормы для серии 3070.
ИТОГ
KFA2 GeForce RTX 3070 SG – это отличная карточка, которая предлагает хорошую производительность с лучшей графикой, эффективное охлаждение (даже без установки дополнительного комплектного кулера, если у вас нет места под него) и достаточно богатую комплектацию для любителей подсветить свой PC. С другой стороны, для использования дополнительного оборудования нужна как минимум подготовка в виде материнской платы со специальным разъёмами или отдельного блока для управления подсветкой. Хотя даже без этого сама карта предлагает очень яркую подсветку, которая пробивается даже через мелкие отверстия и освещает ночью всё вокруг.
Author: Sergey Dyakonenko (Madnfs)
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