The focus of this article is the remarkable Nvidia Geforce 780 GTX video adapter, which with its high performance is able to captivate all gamers in a virtual world built thanks to modern high technologies. The reader will get acquainted with the products based on this chip and learn the technical characteristics of decent devices. Tests and owner reviews will allow a potential buyer to make the right purchase.
History reference
Fans of computer games know that high-end graphics cards do not exist in the low-cost segment, and even the secondary market for decent-class devices requires some investment. However, there is a solution: sometimes the manufacturer makes mistakes by introducing video adapters on the new chip to the world, which in performance have gone far up from the affordable segment. Naturally, the intermediate niche should be occupied by a worthy device that is able to compete. This step is achieved by blocking some of the flagship functions, and it turned out that the Nvidia Geforce GTX Titan video adapter provided its platform for the Geforce GTX 780.
Novelty quite interestingly fit into an intermediate niche. On the one hand, its value decreased from 1000 cu to 680 cu, on the other hand, performance compared to the flagship fell by no more than 20%. A worthy move by Nvidia was welcomed by customers, judging by their reviews in the media. Also, users should not forget about the manufacturer’s predisposition to submit overclocked versions of their product to the market. This is how the whole world saw the legendary video adapter Geforce GTX 780 Ti.
One graphics core for three powerful video adapters
The products of Nvidia Geforce GTX 780, 780 Ti and Titan GTX primarily combine the graphics core, labeled GK 110. Around this chip there are many legends regarding its creation. Rumor has it that the company switched to military technology, just remove the cooling system of the video adapter and see for yourself. The chip really takes up a lot of space on the printed circuit board, but its dimensions are more associated with 28 nm technology and a large number of transistors - 7.1 billion.
The decrease in the cost of devices is inextricably linked with the decrease in the bitness of the memory bus - it is 384 bits for the PCI-Express 3.0x16 interface. The memory type is GDDR 5. The nominal and maximum power consumption for all three video adapters is identical to 250 and 405 W, respectively. This once again emphasizes that we have the same chipset. Naturally, the form factor, video outputs and support for maximum resolutions for displays on top devices will be identical.
There must be differences?
And if there is a difference in price, there should definitely be differences between three wonderful video cards (Nvidia GTX 780, GTX 780 Ti and Titan GTX). There are not so many differences, but they significantly affect the performance of video adapters.
- GPU clock speed. At the flagship, it is 836 MHz, GTX 780 - 863 MHz, and quite high - 875 MHz - the modification Ti.
- The amount of video memory for both instances based on the GTX 780 is cut to 3 GB, but the flagship has honest 6 GB.
- The effective memory frequency of the Titan and the younger model is identical - 6008 MHz, which can not be said about the GTX 780 Ti, overclocking is clearly visible - 7000 MHz.
- Video adapters differ in the number of stream processors. The Titan has 2688 pieces, the Ti modification contains 2880 pieces. The cheapest model in the line is 2304 pieces.
- The number of texture units (TMUs) of the 780 GTX is 192, the GTX 780 Ti is 240, the Titan has 224.
Factory-made boards
Nvidia did not begin to develop a new design for the GeForce GTX 780, installing a cooling system from the flagship Titan. The only difference is the labeling. The considerable dimensions of the printed circuit board are fully provided with a radiator, and a protective casing hides them. Only one turbofan perfectly copes with blowing. Taking air from the case of the system unit and driving it along the edges of the radiator, it takes it out through the mounting grill. Everything already depends on the cooling system inside the case.
And if in inexpensive devices the heat sink comes only from the graphic core, then the Geforce GTX 780 graphics card is completely cooled. The manufacturer installed special thermal pads opposite each microcircuit, which are able to quickly remove heat from the chips to a cooling radiator. Such a solution uniquely solves all problems with overheating.
Overclocking potential news
The fact that the Nvidia Geforce GTX 780 graphics card has excellent overclocking potential is beyond doubt, however, the task is not so simple. Conventional programs from all kinds of video accelerators are completely ignored at the BIOS level of the graphics core. Good protection from inept hands of users and, judging by the reviews of the owners, is not without meaning. But overclockers found a solution to the problem - a new version of the EVGA precision utility has access to the device’s characteristics. Management is standard: you need to move the sliders that are tied to each parameter of the video card in the right direction. The program will not allow the video adapter to burn out overheating, as it has a lock in the form of a reset to the default settings when the allowable temperature rises (100 degrees Celsius).
Overclocking progress can be seen with the naked eye, especially when it comes to games at high resolutions (1920x1080). So, in the tests “DIRT Showdown”, “Sniper Elite V2”, “Metro: last Light” and “Tomb Raider 2013” ​​the productivity increased by 30-40 frames per second. And if the user thinks that this is not so much, then it is possible to test with less resource-intensive games for a budget-class video card - there the new product will definitely show the performance gain measured in hundreds of FPS.
It’s “burning ...” for a reason
According to the manufacturer, the GTX 780 graphics card should compete with the Radeon HD 7970 adapter. Most of the tests conducted by enthusiasts in different parts of the world are connected with it. Nvidia chose a competitor for itself, this can be seen if you get acquainted with the characteristics of two products: memory frequency, bus bit, video memory, process technology, heat dissipation, and even bandwidth are identical. But the test results looked too doubtful - Radeon clearly loses in performance.
And only after a while, after testing the top devices of both competitors, it became clear who should move the chip 780 GTX from the market. Nvidia has set its sights on the legendary Radeon R9 290X video adapter. As tests show, the famous AMD in terms of performance is tightly caught in second place between the GTX 780 and its overclocked version with the Ti mark. Judging by customer reviews, such an Nvidia policy will lead either to a reduction in the price of an AMD product, or to the release of an updated version that can prove superior in tests.
Mind games
Of the large assortment of devices that were presented to the world in various versions, only one video card deserves the attention of the user, which was able to really surprise even IT professionals.
The Gigabyte Geforce GTX 780 Ti was able to prove to others that the new Nvidia product has great potential. Naturally, it was not without acceleration and installation of proprietary cooling system.
The GPU clock speed was increased by 25% and amounted to 1085 MHz (in Boost mode - 1150 MHz). The memory frequency was left at the initial level - 1750 MHz. According to user reviews, it lends itself well to overclocking to 2 GHz. Apparently, there is some kind of problem, since the manufacturer did not increase this indicator.
It is easy to guess that Gigabyte technologists installed their proprietary WindForce 3X cooling system as a novelty. On the one hand, the triple airflow system for several years has never failed the owners of high-end devices, on the other hand, the manufacturer’s desire to develop is embarrassing. As a result of testing, this video adapter came close to the performance of the flagship Titan. And this is with locked modules on the board!
Powerful video adapter in every home
But ASUS did not participate in performance races, trying to attract the attention of users who are fighting for FPS in synthetic tests. After all, there are only a few such buyers, but give the rest an affordable device. The new Asus Geforce GTX 780 was exactly the solution where the performance characteristics are perfectly balanced with the cost of the device (up to 20,000 rubles).
The initial frequency of the graphics core was slightly increased, only 36 MHz, and this practically did not affect the performance of the video adapter. But, as the owners note, leaving their reviews in the media, the video adapter lends itself to overclocking with a proprietary utility that is available on the manufacturer’s official website.
The potential for remarkable overclocking is provided by the video card not only by the proprietary cooling system, but also by the physical refinement of the video adapter. The fact is that ASUS technologists installed solid-state capacitors on the board, which have less heat. As a result, buyers received a device with a large supply of power at an affordable price. Many owners do not understand why the replacement of capacitors was not performed by the manufacturer Nvidia, because all market leaders switched to new technologies.
Higher, faster, stronger
Not without a device for overlockers. The new Asus Geforce GTX 780 Ti MATRIX Platinum was expected by many fans of the brand, because among other chips of the top devices, the GK110 graphics processor is unlocked, which means that opportunities arise with an increase in the performance of voltage surges. Naturally, one cannot do without cooling with liquid nitrogen, but the main thing is that the foundation for acceleration is laid.
The base frequency of the GPU is slightly increased and amounts to 1006 MHz. The manufacturer did not touch the clock frequency of the memory at all, leaving it at around 1750 MHz. And if you look at the characteristics of the device in the basic configuration and compare with the version from Nvidia, then the user is unlikely to find differences. Everything is inherent in the potential for overclocking. A proprietary cooling system that envelops the entire video card with aluminum radiators and copper tubes is able to dissipate heat very quickly. Owners note a very quiet operation of coolers when the video adapter operates at base frequencies. Only the price can embarrass the buyer - 35 thousand rubles are hit hard at afford, because by adding 10,000 rubles, you can take the Titan flagship.
Decent offer
If the price for the buyer is still a priority, then, in addition to the Asus GTX 780 video adapter, IT experts recommend paying attention to EVGA products. This brand is recommended for purchase for just one reason: the manufacturer was clearly preparing to launch a product based on the GTX 780. This is evidenced by the proprietary cooling system, which is installed only on the presented chip, and the proprietary EVGA precision utility for overclocking the video card, which only works with the GK110 GPU. This inspires hope that the well-known manufacturer approached the release of products with full responsibility.
And speaking of the Nvidia GTX 780 graphics card itself, it is no different from the base model. Unless the manufacturer modified the cooling system, endowing it with excellent noiselessness even in peak loads. Naturally, the video adapter accelerates perfectly, however, at a frequency of the graphic core of 1 GHz, the board is clearly heated. This is evidenced by the growing hum of the cooling system, which is not so quiet as it seems at first glance.
Golden mean
And if the above competitors performed at least some actions towards the user (performance, cooling, price), then some manufacturers, in particular the brands Zotac, Palit and Gainward, acted very ugly in relation to customers. Taking the Nvidia Geforce GTX 780 in the factory version, they installed a proprietary cooling system on them (the same one from the top models of the previous generation) and, setting a price tag, put up for sale. So in the middle price segment there were three beautiful video cards from very famous world brands.
As you might have guessed, few users ever noticed the catch. After all, video adapters lend themselves well to overclocking, the cooling system looks powerful, and in games the performance is quite high. What about the price? This is a brand! Not some cheap Asus GTX 780 is there. Therefore, all potential buyers IT experts recommend paying attention to the tests in the media, as well as looking at prices that are often inflated by manufacturers. A serious brand is good, but it makes no sense to overpay for a beautiful box.
Heavenly Slow
And if you look at video adapters of serious brands, then in terms of price-quality ratio there is no better product than MSI Geforce GTX 780 Ti modifications of Gaming 3G. The manufacturer did not chase the device’s high characteristics and set the frequency of the graphic core at 1085 MHz. But he paid attention to the cooling system. Numerous owner reviews claim that after installing the video adapter in the system unit, a strange feeling appears that the video device cooler is not working.
The official statements of the MSI manufacturer are clearly not exaggerated - the silence of lovers of productive computer games at night will be broken only by clicks of the mouse and mouse clicks on the keyboard keys. And you don’t have to think that the video card has no overclocking potential. All this is laid down at the Nvidia factory, if the user needs to increase productivity, he can do this using the proprietary MSI utility. That's just the noiselessness will have to be forgotten during acceleration.
Finally
As you can see from the review, the 780 GTX chipset fits perfectly into its price niche. On the one hand, this is high performance, on the other - affordability for many computer niche lovers. It is embarrassing, however, the attitude of some manufacturers to the new product, which simply decided to make money without doing anything. Therefore, if the user does not want to overpay for the brand, it is worth looking in the direction of really interesting modifications from ASUS, MSI, EVGA and Gigabyte.
Naturally, many buyers are interested in the potential for overclocking. The GTX 780 has it, in contrast to the limit that no one has yet seen, because the entire performance of the chipset rests on the cooling system. Accordingly, all overclocking fans should look closely at devices with the best heat sink.
Do not forget that the overclocking potential of the video adapter is only a small addition, which may be useful to the owner after the announcement of more productive games, and the video card should work at the standard frequencies that the manufacturer installed at the factory.