MSI GeForce GTX 760 HAWK Review
Category : NVIDIA
Published by Christian Ney on 25.09.13
The HAWK series from MSI is known to have seen its ups and downs. With the GeForce GTX 760 HAWK, MSI hope to repair the series' reputation going all out. On paper the HAWK looks tasty and seems to be beefed up almost to the level of a Lightning. Lets see what's up in the real world!
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On the following pages we will show you the strengths and weaknesses of the MSI GeForce GTX 760 HAWK.
Technical Data / Specifications
With the MSI GeForce GTX 760 HAWK you get a factory overclocked card which features a custom PCB as well as a custom cooler. The ASIC quality measured on our sample was 72.4 % which is quite low but it's good news since overclockers will have more fun feeding this baby Lightning with liquid nitrogen.
About ASIC quality:
MSI' GeForce GTX 760 HAWK is based on NVIDIA's Kepler GK104-225 A2 chip, which is manufactured by TSMC using the latest 28 nanometer process technology. With the GeForce GTX 760 you get six SMX units which results in 1'152 CUDA cores. Following the specs further, there are 96 TMUs, 32 ROPs, a 256 Bit wide memory interface and 2 GB of GDDR5 memory.
Frequency wise, since MSI didn't bother overclocking the memory, the latter stays clocked at 1'502 MHz (effective 6'008 MHz). On the GPU you find a very nice factory overclock. With a base clock of 1'111 MHz and a typical boost clock of 1'176 MHz, the HAWK is one of the fastest GTX 760 on the market. Things get even more interesting when looking at the actual working frequencies, during our tests the highest boost clock we measured was 1'241 MHz and the average boost clock was also 1'241 MHz.
The card also supports GPU Boost 2.0. The first version of GPU Boost stopped overclocking the GPU when a certain power target was hit. This new second version of GPU Boost stops overclocking the card, when a certain temperature is being reached. This makes sense since the temperature is the bigger inhibitor than the power target in most cases. In this case the temperature target is 80 degrees Celsius. In other words, as long as the GPU runs lower than 80°C it will keep overclocking until the maximum frequency has been reached. This is why in our case the average boost clock was 65 MHz higher than the typical boost clock the manufacturer advertises.
| MSI HAWK | EVGA SC ACX | ASUS DC2 OC | GeForce GTX 760 | |
| Chip | GK104-225-A2 | GK104-225-A2 | GK104-225-A2 | GK104-225-A2 |
| Process | 28 nm | 28 nm | 28 nm | 28 nm |
| Transistors | 3.54 billion | 3.54 billion | 3.54 billion | 3.54 billion |
| GPU clock | 1'111 MHz | 1'072 MHz | 1'006 MHz | 980 MHz |
| GPU Boost clock | 1'176 MHz | 1'137 MHz | 1'072 MHz | 1'033 MHz |
| Memory GDDR5 | 2'048 MB | 2'048 MB | 2'048 MB | 2'048 MB |
| Memory clock | 1'502 (6'008) MHz | 1'502 (6'008) MHz | 1'502 (6'008) MHz | 1'502 (6'008) MHz |
| Memory interface | 256 Bit | 256 Bit | 256 Bit | 256 Bit |
| Memory bandwidth | 192'300 MB/s | 192'300 MB/s | 192'300 MB/s | 192'300 MB/s |
| TMUs | 96 | 96 | 96 | 96 |
| Shader Cores | 1'152 (6 SMX) | 1'152 (6 SMX) | 1'152 (6 SMX) | 1'152 (6 SMX) |
| ROPs | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 |
| TDP | 170 Watt | 170 Watt | xxx Watt | 170 Watt |
| PCB Type | Custom Design | Custom Design | Custom Design | Reference Design |
| Lenght (PCB - Total) | 26.5 - 26.5 cm | 24.3 - 24.3 cm | 17.5 - 21.7 cm | 17.5 - 24.1 cm |
| Height (PCB - Total) | 11.0 - 12.8 cm | 11.0 - 11.0 cm | 12.1 - 12.3 cm | 11.0 - 11.0 cm |
| Slots | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Cooler | Twin Frozr IV Adv. | EVGA ACX | ASUS DirectCU II | NVIDIA Reference |
| MSRP | $XXX | $XXX | $XXX | $249 |
MSI decided to equip its GeForce GTX 760 HAWK with their famous Twin Frozr IV cooler in its Advanced version. Like ASUS, MSI declines its Twin Frozr according to the graphics card. However, MSI doesn't downscale its cooler as much as ASUS does from a declination to another. In this case you get four six millimeter nickel-plated copper heatpipes with an additional eight millimeter one. The latter are in contact with the GPU through a nickel-plated copper base plate. This one doesn't have a mirror finish but the finishing has been improved compared to the 770 Lightning for example. Soldered to the heatpipes you find the fin stack which is being provided with fresh air via two 100mm PWM DC brushless two ball bearing fans. Those are manufactured by Power Logic and carry the model number PLD10010B12HH.
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A closer look at the PCB shows that MSI equipped this card with a 6+2 phase power design. In this case, the GPU gets six phases, two more than on the reference model. The memory can rely on two phases and take the power from the PCI-Express.
This card features a BIOS for extreme overclockers (LN2 BIOS) that can be selected via a DIP switch, located at the top end of the card. There are also two heatsink plates that keeps the card safe and cools the memory chips as well as the MOSFETs.
Component wise, the HAWK complies with MSI's Military Class IV Components standard. It doesn't mean you will find military/NASA class components on the PCB, otherwise the card would have been so expensive you couldn't afford it. Still you find top quality components such as New SFC, All Hi-c CAPs for GPU and Dark Solid CAPs.
Apart from that the HAWK also features triple overvoltage for GPU, memory and PLL via AfterBurner and voltage read-out points for GPU, memory and PLL located at the right end of the PCB.
Checking the voltage regulation chips we find a digital multi-phase controller NCP4206 from ON Semiconductor for the GPU and an unidentified two-phase PWM controller which we believe is from Richtek marked D7=EH HOX (edit: confirmed by MSI, it's a Richtek 8807).
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The memory chips used are made by Hynix and carry the model number H5GQ2H24AFR R0C. They are specified to run at 1'500 MHz (6'000 MHz effective).
Preview
Delivery
The card ships well bolstered in a foam made mold. Bundled with the graphics card there is a user guide, a driver CD, that includes the overclocking tool AfterBurner, two power converters (6-Pin-PCIe to 8-Pin-PCIe) and the V-Check cables.
Test Setup
Hardware
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| Graphic Cards (Driver) |
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| Drivers |
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| Games and OS |
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| HDD |
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| PSU |
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3DMark - Fire Strike Performance
| Graphics Cards | Score | Graphics Score |
| nVidia GeForce GTX TITAN | 8'296 | 9'298 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 780 | 7'752 | 8'582 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition | 6'979 | 7'733 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6990 | 6'395 | 7'294 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 770 | 6'581 | 7'293 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 680 | 6'374 | 7'067 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 | 6'474 | 7'052 |
| MSI GeForce GTX 760 HAWK | 5'944 | 6'515 |
| EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC ACX | 5'855 | 6'406 |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 760 DC Mini OC | 5'696 | 6'210 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 670 | 5'567 | 6'046 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 760 | 5'164 | 5'560 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7870 | 4'947 | 5'339 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti | 4'839 | 5'227 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 580 | 4'547 | 4'979 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 | 4'353 | 4'637 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7850 | 4'146 | 4'411 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost | 3'708 | 3'904 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6970 | 3'731 | 3'862 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6950 | 3'342 | 3'453 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti | 2'998 | 3'152 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6870 | 2'995 | 3'100 |
| More is better | ||
3DMark - Fire Strike Extreme
| Graphics Cards | Score | Graphics Score |
| nVidia GeForce GTX TITAN | 4'215 | 4'378 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 780 | 3'931 | 4'054 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition | 3'418 | 3'535 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 770 | 3'275 | 3'419 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6990 | 3'250 | 3'352 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 680 | 3'160 | 3'292 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 | 3'151 | 3'210 |
| MSI GeForce GTX 760 HAWK | 2'956 | 3'044 |
| EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC ACX | 2'908 | 2'990 |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 760 DC Mini OC | 2'851 | 2'931 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 670 | 2'758 | 2'837 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 760 | 2'556 | 2'609 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7870 | 2'407 | 2'471 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti | 2'342 | 2'412 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 580 | 2'216 | 2'349 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 | 2'136 | 2'168 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7850 | 2'008 | 2'034 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost | 1'812 | 1'827 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6970 | 1'783 | 1'758 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6950 | 1'586 | 1'556 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6870 | 961 | 927 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti | 9'58 | 910 |
| More is better | ||
Unigine Heaven 4.0 Extreme Preset
| Graphics Cards | Score | fps |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 780 | 1'641 | 65.2 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX TITAN | 1'639 | 65.1 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 770 | 1'203 | 47.8 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6990 | 1'181 | 46.9 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 680 | 1'162 | 46.1 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition | 1'118 | 44.4 |
| MSI GeForce GTX 760 HAWK | 1'072 | 42.6 |
| EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC ACX | 1'067 | 42.2 |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 760 DC Mini OC | 1'063 | 42.2 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 670 | 1'027 | 40.8 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 | 1'018 | 40.4 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 760 | 951 | 37.7 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 580 | 914 | 36.3 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti | 867 | 34.4 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7870 | 822 | 32.6 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 | 803 | 31.9 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost | 703 | 27.9 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7850 | 684 | 27.1 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6970 | 610 | 24.2 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6950 | 555 | 22.0 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6870 | 504 | 20.0 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti | 496 | 19.7 |
| More is better | ||
BattleField 3
| High Preset, 1920x1080, 4xMSAA, Ultra, SSAO | Average FPS |
| nVidia GeForce GTX TITAN | 90.6 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 780 | 86.8 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition | 79.2 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 770 | 75.6 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 | 70.8 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 680 | 70.0 |
| MSI GeForce GTX 760 HAWK | 69.0 |
| EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC ACX | 67.6 |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 760 DC Mini OC | 67.4 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6990 | 65.4 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 670 | 65.4 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 760 | 61.2 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti | 55.6 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7870 | 53.8 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 | 50.6 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 580 | 47.8 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7850 | 44.8 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost | 44.0 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6970 | 35.4 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti | 32.2 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6950 | 31.8 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6870 | 29.6 |
| More is better |
Borderlands 2
| High Preset, 1920x1080, FXAA, no PhsyX, High | Average FPS |
| AMD Radeon HD 6990 | 138.8 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 780 | 138.0 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX TITAN | 135.6 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 770 | 121.6 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 680 | 119.2 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition | 115.2 |
| MSI GeForce GTX 760 HAWK | 112.8 |
| EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC ACX | 111.6 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 670 | 111.0 |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 760 DC Mini OC | 110.4 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 | 105.4 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 760 | 104.4 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti | 95.0 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 580 | 91.4 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 | 87.4 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost | 76.6 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7870 | 76.6 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6970 | 74.6 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6950 | 67.0 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7850 | 66.0 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6870 | 58.4 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti | 55.6 |
| More is better |
Bioshock Infinite - Benchmark
| Ultra Preset, 1920x1080, AA, no DDOF | Average FPS |
| nVidia GeForce GTX TITAN | 93.02 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 780 | 87.24 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6990 | 77.57 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition | 76.79 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 770 | 75.83 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 680 | 73.67 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 | 69.80 |
| MSI GeForce GTX 760 HAWK | 69.07 |
| EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC ACX | 68.34 |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 760 DC Mini OC | 66.25 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 670 | 65.82 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 760 | 60.84 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti | 58.98 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 | 51.00 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 580 | 50.74 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7870 | 50.28 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost | 44.44 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7850 | 42.91 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6970 | 42.17 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6950 | 37.23 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti | 34.98 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6870 | 32.61 |
| More is better |
Crysis 3
| High Preset, 1920x1080, 8xMSAA, Very High | Average FPS |
| nVidia GeForce GTX TITAN | 32.8 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 780 | 31.2 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6990 | 27.2 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 680 | 25.0 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 770 | 24.8 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 670 | 22.8 |
| MSI GeForce GTX 760 HAWK | 22.2 |
| EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC ACX | 21.6 |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 760 DC Mini OC | 21.6 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 760 | 21.2 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition | 20.2 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti | 18.8 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 | 18.2 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 | 17.4 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 580 | 17.2 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost | 15.4 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6970 | 14.8 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7870 | 14.4 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6950 | 13.2 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7850 | 11.6 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti | 10.8 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6870 | 9.0 |
| More is better |
Call of Duty Black Ops 2
| High Preset, 1920x1080, 8xMSAA, High | Average FPS |
| AMD Radeon HD 6990 | 115.8 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX TITAN | 114.8 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 780 | 108.2 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 770 | 105.8 |
| MSI GeForce GTX 760 HAWK | 101.6 |
| EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC ACX | 98.2 |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 760 DC Mini OC | 94.2 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 680 | 91.8 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition | 89.8 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 760 | 87.0 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 | 82.0 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 670 | 82.0 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 580 | 69.6 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7870 | 67.8 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti | 67.8 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 | 63.2 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6970 | 60.8 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7850 | 59.4 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6950 | 55.8 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost | 55.8 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6870 | 52.2 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti | 40.4 |
| More is better |
DIRT Showdown - Benchmark
| High Preset, 1920x1080, 8xMSAA, Ultra | Average FPS |
| nVidia GeForce GTX TITAN | 86.32 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition | 80.97 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 780 | 80.17 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6990 | 78.18 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 | 74.44 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 770 | 65.98 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 680 | 65.27 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7870 | 63.81 |
| MSI GeForce GTX 760 HAWK | 61.5 |
| EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC ACX | 60.16 |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 760 DC Mini OC | 59.10 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 670 | 58.42 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 760 | 52.89 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti | 52.75 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7850 | 50.99 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 580 | 48.69 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 | 44.83 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6970 | 44.63 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6950 | 39.21 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost | 37.34 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti | 30.20 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6870 | 30.09 |
| More is better |
Far Cry 3
| High Preset, 1920x1080, 8xMSAA, Ultra | Average FPS |
| nVidia GeForce GTX TITAN | 50.4 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 780 | 47.2 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6990 | 39.8 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 770 | 38.0 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 680 | 36.2 |
| MSI GeForce GTX 760 HAWK | 33.0 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 670 | 32.2 |
| EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC ACX | 32.6 |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 760 DC Mini OC | 31.4 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition | 31.0 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 760 | 29.4 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 | 27.8 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti | 27.6 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 580 | 25.0 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 | 24.6 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7870 | 22.6 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6970 | 20.6 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost | 21.4 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7850 | 18.2 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6950 | 17.8 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti | 15.0 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6870 | 13.4 |
| More is better |
Sleeping Dogs - Benchmark
| High Preset, 1920x1080, Extreme, High-Res Textures | Average FPS |
| nVidia GeForce GTX TITAN | 63.0 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 780 | 58.6 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6990 | 56.5 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition | 51.8 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 770 | 51.4 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 680 | 49.0 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 | 47.3 |
| MSI GeForce GTX 760 HAWK | 44.7 |
| EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC ACX | 44.0 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 670 | 42.6 |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 760 DC Mini OC | 42.2 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 760 | 38.9 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti | 38.7 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 580 | 35.1 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7870 | 33.9 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 | 32.0 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6970 | 29.9 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7850 | 27.6 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost | 26.3 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6950 | 26.0 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6870 | 23.0 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti | 20.1 |
| More is better |
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
| High Preset, 1920x1080, 8xAA, Ultra | Average FPS |
| nVidia GeForce GTX TITAN | 128.0 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 780 | 122.0 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition | 109.8 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6990 | 109.2 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 770 | 109.0 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 680 | 105.0 |
| MSI GeForce GTX 760 HAWK | 99.4 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 | 98.6 |
| EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC ACX | 98.0 |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 760 DC Mini OC | 96.0 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 670 | 95.6 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 760 | 88.0 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7870 | 85.6 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 580 | 84.8 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti | 80.8 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 | 73.4 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7850 | 70.6 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6970 | 64.4 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost | 63.4 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6950 | 58.2 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6870 | 50.0 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti | 47.6 |
| More is better |
Metro: Last Light - Benchmark
| Very High, 1920x1080, SSAA, DX11 | Average FPS |
| nVidia GeForce GTX TITAN | 40.51 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 780 | 38.78 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 770 | 32.47 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 680 | 31.18 |
| MSI GeForce GTX 760 HAWK | 28.37 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition | 28.28 |
| EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC ACX | 28.18 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 670 | 27.22 |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 760 DC Mini OC | 27.21 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 | 26.18 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 760 | 24.85 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti | 23.89 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 580 | 23.18 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6990 | 21.94 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 | 20.79 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7870 | 19.19 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost | 17.80 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7850 | 16.05 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6970 | 14.06 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti | 13.78 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6950 | 12.91 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6870 | 10.99 |
| More is better |
Grand Theft Auto V
Power Consumption
| Power Consumption Idle* | Watts |
| AMD Radeon HD 6990 (Ref) | 75 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 580 (Ref) | 71 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7850 | 64 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (ASUS Matrix P.) | 62 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6970 (Ref) | 58 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6950 (Ref) | 58 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6870 (Ref) | 57 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 780 (ASUS DC2OC) | 56 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti (ASUS DC2T) | 55 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 770 (MSI Lightning) | 53 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 670 (ASUS DC2T) | 53 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 (ASUS DC2T) | 52 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 680 (MSI TF - Ref PCB) | 52 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 (XFX DP - Ref PCB) | 50 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7870 (ASUS DC2T V2) | 50 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX TITAN (Ref) | 49 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti (ASUS DC2T) | 47 |
| MSI GeForce GTX 760 HAWK | 46 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost (Ref) | 45 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 760 (ASUS DC2OC) | 45 |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 760 DC Mini OC | 43 |
| EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC ACX | 40 |
| *Entire system | Less is better |
| Power Consumption Load (FurMark)* | Watts |
| AMD Radeon HD 6990 (Ref) | 358 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX TITAN (Ref) | 285 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 780 (ASUS DC2OC) | 235 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (ASUS Matrix P.) | 230 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6970 (Ref) | 215 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 580 (Ref) | 210 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 (XFX DP - Ref PCB) | 200 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 680 (MSI TF - Ref PCB) | 195 |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 760 DC2 OC | 200 |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 760 DC Mini OC | 192 |
| MSI GeForce GTX 760 HAWK | 192 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 770 (MSI Lightning) | 190 |
| EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC ACX | 189 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6950 (Ref) | 184 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 760 (ASUS DC2OC) | 180 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 670 (ASUS DC2T) | 177 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost (Ref) | 161 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7870 (ASUS DC2T V2) | 149 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti (ASUS DC2T) | 148 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 (ASUS DC2T) | 148 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6870 (Ref) | 145 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7850 | 130 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti (ASUS DC2T) | 120 |
| *Entire system | Less is better |
| Difference Idle/LoadDifférence Idle/Charge | Watts |
| AMD Radeon HD 6990 (Ref) | 283 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX TITAN (Ref) | 236 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 780 (ASUS DC2OC) | 179 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (ASUS Matrix P.) | 168 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6970 (Ref) | 157 |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 760 DC2 OC | 155 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 (XFX DP - Ref PCB) | 150 |
| EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC ACX | 149 |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 760 DC Mini OC | 149 |
| MSI GeForce GTX 760 HAWK | 146 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 680 (MSI TF - Ref PCB) | 143 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 580 (Ref) | 139 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 770 (MSI Lightning) | 137 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 760 (ASUS DC2OC) | 133 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6950 (Ref) | 126 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 670 (ASUS DC2T) | 124 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost (Ref) | 116 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7870 (ASUS DC2T V2) | 99 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 (ASUS DC2T) | 96 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti (ASUS DC2T) | 93 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6870 (Ref) | 88 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti (ASUS DC2T) | 73 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7850 | 66 |
| *Entire system | More is better |
Fan Speed / Noise Level
Fan Speed
Noise Level
For the noise level results, we measured the noise level using a decibel meter (Voltcraft SL-200) located at 1 meter away from the graphics card.
Idle / FurMark / BF3
Idle Temperature
Idle, temperature is taken after 15 minutes @ lowest, 50 %, 70 % and 100 % fan speed.
Room Temperature: 25°C
Temperature under Furmark
For FurMark, temperature is taken after 15 minutes of GPU Burn test at lowest, 50 %, 70 % and 100 % fan speed.
We stopped the test when the GPU temperature hit 90°C.
Room Temperature: 25°C
Temperature and fan speed under BattleField 3
For BattleField 3, temperature and fan speed values taken, are the highest achieved after 1 hour gaming @ auto fan speed.
Performance/Watt
| Graphics Cards | Performance Index | Power C. (Watts)* | Performance/Watt*10 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 770 (MSI Lightning) | 69.98 | 190 | 3.68 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti (ASUS DC2T) | 51.99 | 148 | 3.51 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 680 (MSI TF - Ref PCB) | 66.70 | 195 | 3.42 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 670 (ASUS DC2T) | 60.30 | 177 | 3.41 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 780 (ASUS DC2OC) | 79.80 | 235 | 3.40 |
| MSI GeForce GTX 760 HAWK | 64.16 | 192 | 3.34 |
| EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC ACX | 63.03 | 189 | 3.33 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7870 (ASUS DC2T V2) | 48.80 | 149 | 3.28 |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 760 DC Mini OC | 61.58 | 192 | 3.21 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 760 (ASUS DC2OC) | 56.87 | 180 | 3.16 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7850 | 40.82 | 130 | 3.14 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 (ASUS DC2T) | 46.52 | 148 | 3.14 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 (XFX DP - Ref PCB) | 62.05 | 200 | 3.10 |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 760 DC2 OC | 61.58 | 200 | 3.08 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (ASUS Matrix P.) | 68.30 | 230 | 2.97 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX TITAN (Ref) | 85.50 | 285 | 2.93 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti (ASUS DC2T) | 30.06 | 120 | 2.51 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost (Ref) | 40.25 | 161 | 2.50 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 580 (Ref) | 49.35 | 210 | 2.35 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6870 (Ref) | 30.93 | 145 | 2.13 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6990 (Ref) | 73.04 | 358 | 2.04 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6950 (Ref) | 35.91 | 184 | 1.95 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6970 (Ref) | 40.13 | 215 | 1.87 |
| *Entire system | More is better | Less is better | More is better |
The "Performance Index" value is calculated as the sum of all benchmarks results divided by the amount of games (3DMark and Ungine not included into the calculation).
Performance/Price
| Graphics Cards | Performance Index | Price (€) | Performance/€*10 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7850 | 40.82 | 126 | 3.59 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7870 | 48.80 | 147 | 3.32 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 | 46.52 | 148 | 3.14 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost | 40.25 | 130 | 3.10 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti | 30.06 | 100 | 3.01 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti | 51.99 | 177 | 2.94 |
| EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC ACX | 63.03 | 219 | 2.88 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 670 | 60.30 | 253 | 2.86 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6870 | 30.93 | 110 | 2.81 |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 760 DC2 OC | 61.58 | 229 | 2.69 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 760 | 56.87 | 210 | 2.66 |
| MSI GeForce GTX 760 HAWK | 64.16 | 247 | 2.60 |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 760 DC Mini OC | 61.58 | 238 | 2.59 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 680 | 66.70 | 285 | 2.34 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition | 68.30 | 298 | 2.29 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 | 62.05 | 271 | 2.29 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 770 | 69.98 | 325 | 2.15 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6950 | 35.91 | 169 | 2.12 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 580 | 49.35 | 248 | 1.99 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 780 | 79.80 | 499 | 1.60 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6970 | 40.13 | 281 | 1.43 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6990 | 73.04 | 661 | 1.10 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX TITAN | 85.50 | 832 | 1.03 |
| More is better | Less is better | More is better |
For the price we took the lowest price available on geizhals.eu, on the day the review has been published.
Conclusion
| General | + | - | |
| The MSI GeForce GTX 760 HAWK is a really nice piece of hardware.
At the end of the journey, the baby lightning showed to be flawless.
Being one of the highest clocked card out of the box on the market sure help
but that's not all of it. The oversized Twin Frozr IV Advanced cooler
makes the card also very silent and cool. In addition,
the card comes well equipped also regarding the power design that has
been beefed up and the overclocking features which make it
LN2-ready almost out of the box. One word about the bundle, the latter is good with more accessories you usually get with a graphics card. |
- Factory Overclocking
- Performance - Cooling - Power Design - Overclocking features - Design |
||
| Cooling / Noise Level | + | - | |
| Here you clearly see that a manufacturers lazyness can sometimes
be good for the end user. Unlike ASUS, for example, who is reworking (downscaling)
its DirectCU II cooler for lower end cards, MSI just took the full Twin
Frozr IV Advanced cooler, made a slight change and put it on the GTX 760
et voilà! As a result, you have an oversized cooler on a graphics card that doesn't need much cooling and you see it well. In idle, the temperature of the GPU was the same as the room temp. Under heavy FurMark load, the GPU was between 10 and 20°C cooler than with the other cards we tested, which is quite an impressive result. No surprise with the fans in auto too, after playing BattleField 3 for an hour the maximum temperature hit by the GPU was 64°C. In this case the maximum fan speed was as low as 43%, translated it means a noise level of about 33.0 dBA (noiseless). |
- Cooling performance
- Noise levels |
||
| Performance | + | - | |
| The 760 HAWK is fast. With 1'241 MHz on the speedometer the HAWK
outperforms the stock GTX 760 by 12.6 % on average. Too bad MSI
didn't release its card
with the memory overclocked out of the box, we would have liked to see it
closing in on the GTX 770. A closer look at power consumption shows, that our test system, equipped with the GTX 760 HAWK, burns 46 Watts under idle conditions and 192 Watts under load. Both results are very good, especially under load. |
- Performance/Watt
- Power consumption |
||
| Recommendation / Price | + | - | |
| With a starting price of 247 Euros excluding shipping costs accross the EU, the HAWK isn't really cheap. That's about 40 Euros on top of the cheapest 760 and 20 Euros more expensive than the DirectCU II OC from ASUS for example. But considering what you get with the HAWK we think that's a deal. So if you are looking for one of the strongest GTX 760 out there, then you can go for the HAWK eyes closed. |
- Gaming
- Extreme Overclocking |
||
| We gave the GeForce GTX 760 HAWK from MSI 5 out of 5 stars. | |||
