Power and aesthetics are key requirements of users who value not only performance, but also the appearance of their PC. Recently, manufacturers have been openly pleased with developments that allow you to build the most functional and productive system, hiding complex switching inside the system unit. ASUS engineers are especially persistent daredevils here, offering and improving their own BTF (Back-To-the-Future) concept. Today we have for review the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB BTF OC video card with a special removable GC-HPWR connector, which allows you to get rid of almost the main visual irritant in a case with a transparent wall – an additional graphics adapter power cable. Let's consider all the nuances.
ASUS Back-To-the-Future (BTF)
As part of the general initiative "put your PC in order", ASUS is a fairly active participant. Moreover, the developers of the Taiwanese manufacturer offer the most effective practical solutions that allow you to get rid of cable chaos in the system unit. The company offers its own Back-To-the-Future (BTF) concept, which we have already familiarized ourselves with in quite some detail.
The first BTF 1.0 specification required motherboards with connectors on the back of the PCB and cases with holes in the platform for the necessary switching. The second stage of BTF 2.0 was the implementation of an alternative route for connecting additional power to the video card. The appearance of a special GC-HPWR connector on motherboards and video cards made it possible to get rid of the bulky power cable (PCI-E or 12V-2x6).
The BTF 2.5 specification with the removable GC-HPWR connector for the graphics card adds a new degree of freedom (or returns an old one) without limiting the use of the graphics adapter to the frame of BTF platforms. The new models allow you to connect power both using GC-HPWR and using a typical 12V-2x6, if it is a non-BTF platform.
At the start, the manufacturer offered two models of video cards that comply with BTF 2.5 – the flagship version of the ASUS ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 32GB GDDR7 BTF OC Edition, as well as the more affordable, but quite productive model of the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB GDDR7 BTF White OC Edition. It was the latter "white" that came to our review.
ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB BTF OC (TUF-RTX5070TI-O16G-BTF-WHITE)
The original TUF lineup received a factory overclocked GPU. Instead of the recommended frequency formula of 2295/2452 MHz, the GPU uses a combination of 2295/2588 MHz. As for memory, the 16 GB GDDR7 operates at an effective 28,000 MHz.
At first glance, the design of the video card is already recognizable and typical of the latest models of the The Ultimate Force (TUF) line. Except that this time it is a White Edition version with white design of external protective elements. Brutal forms with a massive protective cover, folding layout and metal inserts on the corners.
The overall dimensions of the video card are 329 x 140 x 62.5 mm. The technical specifications indicate an interesting feature – a 3.125-slot design. So we are actually dealing with a 4-slot adapter, which will require appropriate space for placement in the case.
The ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB BTF OC uses a three-fan cooling system. The design includes a fairly large radiator block with an increased dissipation area and heat pipes to accelerate heat transfer to remote areas.
The base of the heat sink has an additional MaxContact treatment to increase the contact area with the GPU. In addition, in this case, a thermoplastic interface with a phase transition is used, which allows you to fill even microscopic niches between the crystal and the surface of the heat sink block.
The cooler is equipped with three fans with Axial-Tech technology, which involves the presence of a connecting ring on the outer radius. Each includes 11 blades with a specific shape. The central fan rotates clockwise, while the side ones rotate in the opposite direction.
This formation reduces the likelihood of turbulence zones. Among the features, it is worth noting the use of double ball bearings, which usually offer maximum reliability. The declared operating life is up to 80,000 hours.
As we previously noted, a feature of the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB BTF OC is the ability to connect additional power both using the familiar 16-pin 12VHPWR and through a special GC-HPWR connector. The latter has a special removable adapter that allows you to use the video card with both BTF motherboards that have the specified power connector and with typical models.
It is the presence of the adapter that provides such versatility, which could not offer the starting video cards with BTF 2.0. For systems with GeForce RTX 5070 Ti series video cards, NVIDIA developers suggest using power supplies with a capacity of 750 W or more. At the same time, ASUS engineers decided to slightly increase the specified value, recommending units from 850 W.
When implementing the BTF concept and using the GC-HPWR power connector, the 12VHPWR (12V-2x6) connector is covered with an additional plastic plug. In this case, there are no unnecessary questions about the need to connect the power cable, and from an aesthetic point of view, such a solution is appropriate.
Among the technical features, we note the presence of a fairly bright red LED next to the 12V-2x6 connector – an indicator of additional power connection. It will signal only if the power lines are not connected by either of the two available options – using GC-HPWR or 12V-2x6.
The top edge also features a cooling mode selector switch. In addition to the standard "P Mode" (Performance), there is also a "Q Mode" (Quiet) with a less aggressive fan operation algorithm, and accordingly, quieter cooler operation.
The developers of the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB BTF OC had a hard time resisting the idea of equipping the graphics card with additional lighting. Despite the generally strict design theme of TUF devices, they decided to give a little pleasure to fans of illumination. The rather large logo on the side panel of the graphics card can glow in accordance with the aRGB capabilities.
The backlight algorithm is configured in the proprietary ASUS Armoury Crate application. There you can also synchronize the effects of other system components.
On the back side, the video card is equipped with a metal plate – additional protection is not superfluous, in addition, the white plate well supports the overall color form of the device. The overall dimensions of the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB BTF OC and the length of the printed circuit board allow for full through-flow of the radiator cartridge. The holes in the protective plate opposite one of the fans should increase the overall cooling efficiency of the cooler.
An additional bracket is used to balance the pressure force of the cooler against the GPU die on the back of the PCB.
The interface panel plate is made of stainless steel (Stainless Steel 304). At the same time, the composition of the connectors was pleasantly pleased with the presence of an additional HDMI port. Instead of the standard set of three DisplayPort and one HDMI, the set is supplemented by another full-size HDMI 2.1b, which adds flexibility to the possible configuration. Despite the fact that the maximum number of simultaneously connected displays does not change (four), the presence of a pair of HDMI will not be superfluous.
Test system configuration
Formally, any system can be used to test the technical capabilities of the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB BTF OC. However, to add interest and evaluate the features of the video card, we chose a system with a full implementation of the BTF concept. The PC of the following configuration was offered by ExpertPC.
- Video card: ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB GDDR7 BTF White OC Edition (TUF-RTX5070TI-O16G-BTF-WHITE)
- Motherboard: ASUS TUF GAMING B850-BTF WIFI W (AMD B850, ATX, AM5)
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D (8/16; 4.7/5.2 GHz; 96 MB L3)
- Cooling: ASUS ROG RYUO III 240 ARGB WHITE EDITION
- Memory: Kingston Fury Beast White DDR5-5600 32 GB (KF556C36BWEK2-32)
- Drive: Kingston FURY Renegade G5 1 TB (SFYR2S/1T0)
- PSU: ASUS Prime 850W Gold
- Case: ASUS A31 PLUS (White)
The platform has several features that require clarification. So, the ASUS TUF GAMING B850-BTF WIFI W motherboard is one of the few equipped with an additional GC-HPWR power connector. At the moment, only five models have received the corresponding connector. Initially, it appeared on the ROG Maximus Z790 HERO BTF and TUF Gaming Z790-BTF WiFi. Later, they were joined by the "heroic" versions for Intel and AMD platforms – ROG Maximus Z890 HERO BTF and ROG CROSSHAIR X870E HERO BTF. The top five was helped by the ASUS TUF GAMING B850-BTF WIFI W.
Despite the fact that the AMD B850 board is clearly the most affordable in its group, for its class it is quite well loaded – an 8-layer PCB, a fairly powerful VRM, a PCI-E 5.0 bus for PCI-E x16 and one M.2, Type-C with a bandwidth of up to 20 Gb/s on the back panel, a Wi-Fi 7 controller and a Realtek ALC1220P audio codec, which is not a shame to see (hear?) in this category. There are also a lot of handy little things like an enlarged cooler for M.2 PCI-E 5.0 with screwless M.2 Q-Release and M.2 Q-Latch directly for SSD, PCIe Slot Q-Release Slim for easier video card removal, useful BIOS FlashBack and other options that we will not list so as not to turn this into a motherboard review.
BTF compliance involves following the Hidden-connector Design concept with power and interface connectors located on the back of the PCB. In the case of BTF 2.0, the exception is the specialized GC-HPWR power connector used for hidden graphics card power. The connector is capable of providing up to 600W, which is equivalent to a typical 12V-2x6.
This power connector is located on the back of the PCB. So connecting an external power line does not require any original solutions. Unless, when using a power supply that does not have 12V-2x6, you will need an adapter from several PCI-E 12V to a new 16-pin connector.
Returning to the system configuration, we note that the PC was equipped with an 8-core Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor. The model needs no further introduction. At the moment, this is simply the fastest gaming CPU, and accordingly, the best solution for a powerful gaming system.
To cool the processor, a two-section liquid system ASUS ROG RYUO III 240 ARGB WHITE EDITION with a pair of 120 mm fans (ROG AF 12S ARGB) and an Asetek 8th generation pump with a 3-phase motor were used. The energy appetite of the Ryzen 9000X3D has significantly increased compared to that of its predecessors, the same Ryzen 7 9800X3D consumes up to ~145 W at peak. So the use of the SRO here is quite justified and will play the role of more than just a decorative decoration. Of course, the "white edition" is the most appropriate in the current kit.
The platform was equipped with a dual-channel set of Kingston Fury Beast White DDR5-5600 32 GB (2x16 GB) RAM. For a progressive gaming platform, this capacity is usually enough, although in the system requirements for projects you can occasionally find a mention of the recommended 64 GB. But as for the operating mode, the best choice would be a set of DDR5-6000/6400.
The PC was also equipped with a Kingston FURY Renegade G5 drive with a capacity of 1 TB. A fast model with support for PCI-E 5.0 x4. Since the motherboard provides the appropriate interface, you can expect maximum transfers of 14,000 MB/s from the SSD. The figures are impressive, although for a purely gaming platform a larger capacity drive would not be superfluous. With modern projects, the "terabyte" is filled extremely quickly, especially if you have subscriptions to gaming services that provoke you to try the next new product. However, if necessary, nothing prevents you from adding another more affordable SSD, for example, 2 TB.
The system was powered by an ASUS Prime 850W Gold unit with 850 W. This is the starting power of the PSU recommended by the developers for a PC with an ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB BTF OC video card. So everything is in order here. Moreover, the Prime line unit fits perfectly into the overall color concept. Despite this, the case also provides zoning with an overlap for the "engine compartment", the white casing is quite appropriate in this case.
As for the case, it is the already known ASUS A31 PLUS model, which this time is also presented in a white design. Let us recall that the case is an obligatory component of any system based on the BTF concept. The key differences of these cases from conventional models are not so fundamental, however, they must have through holes in the general platform tray to be able to connect cables from the back of the board. Such requirements are quite universal and are used by all market players, so it is not surprising that the number of compatible cases for implementing Hidden-connector Design (Back Connect) is rapidly growing.
Considering that all the board connectors are located on the back side, the corresponding switching of power and interface cables is carried out behind the platform tray. Behind the right side wall of the case there is enough free space for placing conductors. Moreover, if you make an effort, the final arrangement can look very neat.
The interior of the case is even more pleasing to the eye. Of the technical conductors, there are only hoses for the coolant of the liquid cooling system and a barely noticeable short cable for connecting the SRO pump.
The absence of a bulky video card power cable is immediately noticeable. This is a kind of quintessence of wireless design. The presence of GC-HPWR allows you to get rid of a massive visual irritant, which is always clearly visible through the transparent wall of the case. The idea of an additional plug for 12V-2x6 also looks logical. The functional cover looks like a design element, hiding the power contact group.
Let's pay attention to the additional support that comes with the video card. The element is optional, but rather desirable when it comes to a fairly massive adapter weighing over 1.6 kg. Due to the inclination of the panel between the case compartments, the stand is located at a certain angle, although it fulfills its function.
Thanks to the transparent side and front panels of the case, a panoramic view of the system's interior opens up. A nice bonus for those who like to admire the aesthetics of their platform. And the general idea of the BTF concept is to bring order to the system unit, taming cable chaos. How much the final result justifies expectations, everyone will decide for themselves. In the meantime, let's evaluate the features of the video card itself.
In operation
At rest, the video card works silently, stopping the fans. In the basic mode (P Mode) under gaming load, the graphics processor warmed up to 63.7C, the memory chips – to 62C.
The maximum fan speed was quite moderate and was 1650 rpm. The peak GPU operating frequency was recorded at 2895 MHz.
We also checked the operation of the video card in Q Mode, switching the selector to the appropriate position. In this case, after a 15-minute intensive session of Cyberpunk 2077, the temperature of the graphics processor rose to 69.4C, the memory chips - 68C. At the same time, the rotation speed reached only 1170 rpm. The difference was quite noticeable. Despite the fact that even in the basic mode the noise level of the cooler is below average, in "Quiet Mode" the video card works even quieter. The frequency formula remains unchanged, as does the final performance. At the moment, GPU-Z even recorded an increase to 2910 MHz (+15 MHz) precisely in quiet mode.
Productivity
We begin our assessment of the video card's capabilities with the 3DMark tests. For comparison, we use the indicators we previously obtained during reviews of younger models, as well as the average results of a direct competitor in the class – the Radeon RX 9070 XT 16 GB.
"Synthetics" shows a general closeness of positions, giving an advantage to one model or another depending on the specific stage. The older GeForce RTX 5080 16 GB model leads the charts in all cases, having an average of 15% advantage over the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB.
In workloads, the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB looks significantly more interesting than the younger GeForce RTX 5070 12 GB model. In the Blender and V-Ray stages, the video card offered ~25% more performance, while in GeekBench (OpenCL) the advantage was already about 35%.
The presence of 16 GB of memory and a GPU with a significant number of processors allows the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti to be actively involved in practical AI calculations for local tasks. In the Procyon AI Image Generation tests, during experiments with image generation using Stable Diffusion 1.5 (INT8/FP16) and Stable Diffusion XL (FP16), the video card did not lose much to the more expensive GeForce RTX 5080 16 GB.
In text generation tasks on various language models, the video card also demonstrates a very nice number of tokens per second, time to first occurrence, and average rate.
1080p/1440p/4K gaming
As for gaming, the general capabilities of the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB are already well-studied, and using a different power "route" does not affect performance indicators. However, we additionally tested the gaming capabilities of the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB BTF OC, adding the indicators of previously tested models to the charts.
Let's start with Full HD mode with maximum graphics quality settings without using smart scaling.
It is worth noting that the younger models were usually tested on platforms with the Ryzen 7 9700X processor, while this time the heart of the PC is the top 8-core Ryzen 7 9800X3D. The latter is able to significantly affect gaming performance in Full HD mode. So in this case, a direct comparison of fps is not entirely correct. Rather, it is a demonstration of additional potential and the possibility, in principle, in similar conditions to obtain higher performance than, for example, the Ryzen 7 9700X + RTX 5070 12 GB combination provides.
In general, it is unlikely that a video card of the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB level will be purchased for games at a resolution of 1920 × 1080 in principle. Of course, we will not completely rule out such cases, but still this is more of an exception. As we can see, even the RTX 5070 12 GB in this mode copes perfectly even without scaling. Of course, if you burden the picture with resource-intensive ray tracing, you can significantly slow down a video card even of this level. However, this is another topic.
The situation is more interesting in 1440p mode, where the CPU's capabilities are already significantly reduced, and the final number of fps is mainly determined by the potential of the video card. In such conditions, the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB turns out to be 20–30% more productive than the younger GeForce RTX 5070 12 GB model.
The capabilities of the older model turned out to be enough to get comfortable performance with maximum quality settings without DLSS. Even in such "heavy" projects as Avowed, Alan Wake 2 and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti model offered more than 60 fps, which the base RTX 5070 can no longer offer.
The presence of 16 GB of memory also adds confidence and allows you to remove the issue of a possible lack of it with certain settings, which can occasionally bother owners of the GeForce RTX 5070 12 GB. Especially when it comes to 1440p, and even more so if you want to use tracing and frame generation, which usually further increase the requirements for the local buffer capacity.
Comparing the performance of the RTX 5070 Ti with the results of younger models, we note that this model allows you to approximately double the number of frames/s that the GeForce RTX 5060 8 GB is capable of generating.
GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB can be considered a starting option for 4K gaming. This is not only about memory capacity, but also the overall performance of the video card. With increasing resolution, the number of pixels that need to be "moved" at a high rate increases very significantly.
Apparently, even owners of GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB will have to be more responsible with the previous settings after switching to 4K. What an attempt to crank everything to the maximum leads to can be seen in the diagrams. In resource-intensive games, we have an average of 30-40 fps, and this is even without using ray tracing effects.
If the "rays" are very desirable even in 4K, you can preliminarily estimate the possible indicators, depending on the settings. Recall that the highest quality path tracing (Path Tracing) without optimizations does not take out even the GeForce RTX 5090 32 GB, so in the case of the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB you will have to play with the settings, involving DLSS. Fortunately, DLSS 4 with transformer models has significantly improved the picture, so there is every chance to find a reasonable balance between quality and performance.
Overclocking
In express mode, we also explored the frequency potential of the video card. First, let's note that the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB BTF OC allows you to increase the power limit to 116%.
Using this opportunity, we managed to increase the base frequency of the GPU from 2295 MHz to 2740 MHz. At the same time, the average acceleration value increased from 2588 MHz to 3033 MHz. The memory chips worked at an effective 32,000 MHz (2000 MHz) instead of 28,000 MHz (1750 MHz). Further increase is limited at the driver level.
After additional overclocking in the basic mode (P Mode), the graphics processor under load accelerated to a maximum of 3360 MHz. During games, the actual typical values were slightly lower. As for the temperature indicators, the GPU warmed up to 65.4C, the GDDR7 chips – up to 64C. The fan speed increased by an additional ~ 100 rpm compared to the standard mode – up to 1750 rpm.
GPU/memory acceleration provides a performance gain of 8-10%. This is not enough to catch up with the GeForce RTX 5080 (~ +15%), but it's a good attempt. In addition, the cooling system copes well with increased load, so if the extra percentage is important - ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB BTF OC allows you to experiment.
Power consumption
While researching the capabilities of the graphics card, we also evaluated its power consumption. For the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, the TBP (Total Board Power) indicator is determined at 300 W. This is the main guideline.
(video card power consumption diagram)
In Cyberpunk 2077, when using 2560 × 1440 mode with maximum graphics settings, the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB BTF OC required up to 284 W. After activating Q Mode, when the GPU/memory temperature increased slightly, GPU-Z monitoring recorded a peak value of 294.5 W. Additional overclocking with an increase in Power Limit also leads to an increase in power consumption – up to 317 W.
Note that in all cases, the PCI-E x16 slot transmitted about ~11 W of power, the rest of the power was provided by the GC-HPWR port.
As for the overall system power consumption, during gaming this figure ranged from 345–405 W, depending on the specific project.
