Can the cheaper Pascal deliver performance in spades? The GeForce GTX 1080 became the new consumer graphics chief when fully unveiled on May 17. Priced at a cool $699 for the Founders Edition, Nvidia's cohort of add-in card (AIC) partners have now been given permission to launch their custom-cooled cards that are available on pre-order.

Our focus on May 17 was, quite understandably, the GTX 1080, but astute readers will have noticed that Nvidia boss, Jen-Hsun Huang, also made mention of a second card based on the new Pascal architecture. That card is the GeForce GTX 1070, available in reference/Founders form on June 10 for a more palatable $449. The AICs will be allowed to produce their own cards a week or so later, following on from the timetable set by the GTX 1080. Best of all, price should drop to a starting $379.

The reason you should care about GTX 1070 is that it promises around 75 per cent of the GTX 1080's performance for about 65 per cent of the money, and with even lower power consumption to boot. Think of it as GTX 980 Ti -like perf for less money.