Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 Ti GHz Edition Review
Category : NVIDIA
Published by Christian Ney on 06.12.13
With the release of the new Geforce GTX 780 Ti GHz Edition, Gigabyte managed to beat other Nvidia AIC partners and it is actually the first custom GTX 780 Ti graphics card that we had a chance to play with. The new Gigabyte GTX 780 Ti GHz Edition is, at least currently, the fastest GTX 780 Ti graphics card on the market. Gigabyte pretty much used the same PCB as well as the same Windforce 3X 450W cooler as on its earlier released GTX 780 GHz Edition. As it did a great job back then we will find out if it is enough for the GTX 780 Ti as well.



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Presentation




Gigabyte is one of the first Nvidia add-in-card (AIC) partners to introduce custom GTX 780 Ti graphics card with Zotac, Gainward, Inno3D and EVGA. Gigabyte's new GTX 780 Ti GHz Edition graphics card got the same treatment as the GeForce GTX 780 "GHz Edition" released not long ago with the use of a custom PCB paired up with its own custom Windforce 3X 450W cooler.

It was quite a simple job for Gigabyte to do the GTX 780 Ti custom graphics card as it is pretty much identical to the GTX 780 GHz Edition, featuring the same PCB as well as the same cooler. We guess it was just a matter of Nvidia giving them a green light to come up with their own custom version.



As you can see from the GPU-Z screenshot below, Gigabyte decided to use a quite high factory-overclock on the new GTX 780 Ti GHz Edition. Actually this makes it the fastest GTX 780 Ti on the market. While the standard reference GTX 780 Ti GPU is set to work at 875MHz for the base GPU and 928MHz for the GPU Boost clock, the new Gigabyte GTX 780 Ti GHz Edition works at quite high 1'085MHz for the base clock and even more impressive 1'150MHz for the Boost GPU clock.

Unfortunately, no factory overclocking was done on the 3GB of GDDR5 memory that remains at recommended 1'750MHz (7'000MHz effective).

While the typical Boost clock is set at 1'150MHz, the maximum Boost of 1'228MHz was achieved quite easily and the GTX 780 Ti GHz Edition held that clock most of the load time due to good custom cooler as well as good TDP target (Nvidia's Boost technology being based on both temperature and power on this card, the latter being predominant). The GPU Max. Boost clock only dropped in Furmark down to 1'058MHz at 0.987V and was actually lower than the base clock which is the first time we see such behaviour with Nvidia's Boost technology. It also did not held in some games where it dropped from 1'228 to either 1'215 or 1'202 depending on the scenario, but that is not a big issue considering it actually stayed well above the advertised typical Boost clock.



Specifications


GBT GTX 780 Ti GHz GeForce GTX 780 Ti GBT GTX 780 GHz GeForce GTX 780
Chip GK110-425-B1 GK110-425-B1 GK110-300-B1 GK110-300-A1
Process 28 nm 28 nm 28 nm 28 nm
Transistors 7.10 billion 7.10 billion 7.10 billion 7.10 billion
GPU clock 1'085 MHz 875 MHz 1'020 MHz 863 MHz
GPU Boost clock 1'150 MHz 928 MHz 1'072 MHz 900 MHz
Memory GDDR5 3'072 MB 3'072 MB 3'072 MB 3'072 MB
Memory clock 1'750 (7'000) MHz 1'750 (7'000) MHz 1'502 (6'008) MHz 1'502 (6'008) MHz
Memory interface 384 Bit 384 Bit 384 Bit 384 Bit
Memory bandwidth 336'000 MB/s 336'000 MB/s 288'400 MB/s 288'400 MB/s
Shader Cores 2'880 (15 SMX) 2'880 (15 SMX) 2'304 (12 SMX) 2'304 (12 SMX)
TMUs 240 240 192 192
ROPs 48 48 48 48
TDP xxx Watt 250 Watt xxx Watt 250 Watt
PCB Type Custom Design Reference Design Custom Design Reference Design
Lenght (PCB - Total) 26.9 - 28.8 cm 27.0 - 27.0 cm 26.9 - 28.8 cm 27.0 - 27.0 cm
Height (PCB - Total) 11.0 - 12.9 cm 11.0 - 11.0 cm 11.0 - 12.9 cm 11.0 - 11.0 cm
Slots 2 2 2 2
Cooler WindForce 3X 450W NVIDIA Reference WindForce 3X 450W NVIDIA Reference
Launch Price $XXX $699 $XXX $649




Page 1 - Presentation / Specifications
Page 2 - The card
Page 3 - Photo Gallery / Delivery
Page 4 - In-Game Performance
Page 5 - Temperatures / Noise levels
Page 6 - Performance/Price & Performance/Watt
Page 7 - Conclusion
[pagebreak]

The card

Gigabyte decided to equip their new GeForce GTX 780 Ti GHz Edition with their very own cooling solution, the WindForce 3X 450W. This one features two 8mm and four 6mm copper heatpipes. Soldered to the heatpipes is the rather large fin stack which is being cooled by three 80mm fans. The fans are manufactured by Everflow and carry the model number T128010SU. They have been inclined in order to blow the air away better at the top of the card. This is exactly the same cooler that Gigabyte used on both its GTX 780 GHz Edition as well as the GTX 780 Ti OC graphics cards. Since it did a pretty good job on those graphics cards, there was simply no reason for Gigabyte to change anything.

Overall the cooler is well manufactured and although the copper base is far from the mirror finish, but it does look better than what we have seen on the WindForce 3X 450W before. We had some complaints with earlier graphics cards and hopefully it got around to the right people as the copper base finish at least looks a bit better. Around the base you can find an aluminium part which is used to fix the cooler to the PCB and also to cool the memory via thermal pads. The thermal paste used is soft, of good quality and hasn't been spread uselessly in large quantities. The rear fin stack has been equipped with an aluminium plate to cool the MOSFETs of the GPU power design. A thermal pad has also been used in this case.

 


The new Gigabyte GTX 780 Ti GHz Edition is equipped with a very nice and well designed aluminium backplate, the same one we saw on the GTX 780 GHz Edition, which prevents bending and it also protects crucial components from potential damage. The GTX 780 Ti OC which is physically the same card but with lower clocks did not come with a full cover backplate and this can be considered as a great plus for the new GTX 780 Ti GHz Edition. Gigabyte also changed the orientation of the "GHz Edition" as on the GTX 780 GHz Edition, the writing was actually upside down.

 


A closer look at the PCB shows that Gigabyte equipped its card with an 8+2 phase power design. The GPU gets its current from eight phases and the two phases are left to take good care of the memory. Once again this is exactly the same PCB that Gigabyte used on both its GTX 780 GHz Edition and GTX 780 Ti OC graphics cards.

Checking the voltage regulation chip we find a digital 8-phase synchronous buck converter NCP4208 from ON (ON Semiconductor) that supports I2C for the GPU. Furthermore there is an unidentified Richtek 2-phase analog PWM labeled 0T=FG R0N taking care of a stable current supply for the the memory. The PCB also features another chip labeled INA 3221. The INA3221 from Texas Instruments is a three-channel, high-side current sensor and bus voltage monitor with an I2C interface.

 


The memory chips on the GTX 780 Ti GHz come from SK Hynix and carry the model number H5GQ2H24AFR-R2C. They are specified to run at 1'750 MHz (7'000 MHz effective).





Page 1 - Presentation / Specifications
Page 2 - The card
Page 3 - Photo Gallery / Delivery
Page 4 - In-Game Performance
Page 5 - Temperatures / Noise levels
Page 6 - Performance/Price & Performance/Watt
Page 7 - Conclusion
[pagebreak]

Photo Gallery



   

   

   

   

   

   

   


Delivery

   


The new GTX 780 Ti GHz Edition graphics card ships well bolstered in a foam made mold. Bundled with the graphics card are software disc and two power converters (2x Molex to PCIe-6pin and 2xMolex to PCIe-8pin). The bundle is not pictured above since our graphics card was actually a marketing sample rather than the real retail/e-tail one. The bundle is still kind of too poor for a "special edition" graphics card and we would definitely like to see Gigabyte put a bit more effort into it.



Page 1 - Presentation / Specifications
Page 2 - The card
Page 3 - Photo Gallery / Delivery
Page 4 - In-Game Performance
Page 5 - Temperatures / Noise levels
Page 6 - Performance/Price & Performance/Watt
Page 7 - Conclusion
[pagebreak]

Test Setup


Motherboard
  • ASUS Maximus V Gene (BIOS 1802)
CPU
  • Intel Core i7-3770K @ 4.0 GHz (Turbo On / HT On)
Memory
  • G.Skill Ares Dual Channel 2x8GB @ CL11-13-13-31-1T-Auto DDR3-2400 MHz
Graphics Cards
  • Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 Ti GHz
  • nVidia GeForce GTX 780 Ti
  • nVidia GeForce GTX TITAN
  • nVidia GeForce GTX 780
  • nVidia GeForce GTX 770
  • nVidia GeForce GTX 760
  • nVidia GeForce GTX 680
  • nVidia GeForce GTX 670
  • nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti
  • nVidia GeForce GTX 660
  • nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost
  • nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti
  • nVidia GeForce GTX 580
  • AMD Radeon R9 280X (1'000/1'500)
  • AMD Radeon R9 270X (1'050/1'400)
  • AMD Radeon R9 270 (925/1'400)
  • AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition
  • AMD Radeon HD 7970
  • AMD Radeon HD 7870
  • AMD Radeon HD 7850
  • AMD Radeon HD 7790 (1'000/1'500)
  • AMD Radeon HD 6990
  • AMD Radeon HD 6970
  • AMD Radeon HD 6950
  • AMD Radeon HD 6870
  • AMD Radeon HD 5870
  • AMD Radeon HD 5850
Drivers
  • Windows 7 x64 (up to date)
  • NVIDIA ForceWare 331.40 Beta
  • AMD Catalyst 13.11 BetaV1
  • Intel Chipset Driver 9.4.0.1026
Games and OS
  • Windows 7 x64 (Up to date on the 01/10/2013)
  • All games were up to date on the 01/10/2013
System Drive
  • OCZ Technology Octane 512 GB SSD
PSU
  • Seasonic Platinum SS-1000XP / 1000 Watts


Weighted average




Go to the full charts




Page 1 - Presentation / Specifications
Page 2 - The card
Page 3 - Photo Gallery / Delivery
Page 4 - In-Game Performance
Page 5 - Temperatures / Noise levels
Page 6 - Performance/Price & Performance/Watt
Page 7 - Conclusion
[pagebreak]

Temperatures / Noise levels

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 Temperature




Idle, temperature is taken after 15 minutes @ lowest, 40 %, 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, 40 %, 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.



Page 1 - Presentation / Specifications
Page 2 - The card
Page 3 - Photo Gallery / Delivery
Page 4 - In-Game Performance
Page 5 - Temperatures / Noise levels
Page 6 - Performance/Price & Performance/Watt
Page 7 - Conclusion
[pagebreak]

Performance/Watt


Graphics Cards Performance Index Power C. (Watts)* Performance/Watt*10
nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti (ASUS DC2T) 53.55 178 3.01
nVidia GeForce GTX TITAN (Ref) 85.05 306 2.78
nVidia GeForce GTX 770 (ASUS DC2OC) 70.92 257 2.76
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 Ti GHz 104.63 383 2.73
nVidia GeForce GTX 670 (ASUS DC2T) 62.00 227 2.73
nVidia GeForce GTX 780 Ti (GBT GHz) 90.53 333 2.72
nVidia GeForce GTX 780 (ASUS DC2OC) 81.66 302 2.70
nVidia GeForce GTX 660 (ASUS DC2T) 47.37 177 2.68
nVidia GeForce GTX 680 (Ref) 68.36 258 2.65
nVidia GeForce GTX 760 (ASUS DC2OC) 56.63 218 2.60
AMD Radeon R9 270 (ASUS DC2OC) 49.98 194 2.58
nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost (Ref) 40.87 169 2.42
AMD Radeon R9 270X (ASUS DC2T) 53.39 223 2.39
AMD Radeon HD 7870 (ASUS DC2T V2) 50.03 220 2.27
AMD Radeon HD 7850 (ASUS DC2T) 42.04 195 2.16
AMD Radeon HD 7790 (ASUS DC2OC - Ref PCB) 32.75 152 2.15
AMD Radeon R9 280X (ASUS DC2T) 68.40 320 2.14
nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti (ASUS DC2T) 30.8 151 2.04
nVidia GeForce GTX 580 (Ref) 50.49 254 1.99
AMD Radeon HD 7970 (XFX DD - Ref PCB) 63.41 323 1.96
AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (ASUS Matrix P.) 69.99 360 1.94
AMD Radeon HD 6950 (Ref) 36.83 208 1.77
AMD Radeon HD 6970 (Ref) 41.32 244 1.69
AMD Radeon HD 6870 (Ref) 31.88 200 1.59
AMD Radeon HD 5850 (Ref) 30.05 193 1.56
AMD Radeon HD 5870 (Ref) 35.98 232 1.55
AMD Radeon HD 6990 (Ref) 73.96 481 1.54
*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 Unigine are not included into the calculation).

Performance/Price


Graphics Cards Performance Index Price (€)* Performance/€*10
nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 40.87 108 3.78
AMD Radeon HD 7870 50.03 135 3.71
AMD Radeon R9 270 49.98 147 3.40
AMD Radeon HD 7850 40.04 119 3.36
AMD Radeon HD 7790 32.75 98 3.34
nVidia GeForce GTX 660 47.37 143 3.31
AMD Radeon R9 270X 53.39 162 3.30
nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti 30.80 100 3.08
nVidia GeForce GTX 670 62.00 214 2.90
nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti 53.55 190 2.82
AMD Radeon HD 7970 63.41 220 2.88
nVidia GeForce GTX 760 56.63 198 2.86
AMD Radeon R9 280X 68.40 240 2.85
nVidia GeForce GTX 770 70.92 265 2.68
AMD Radeon HD 6870 31.88 125 2.55
AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 69.99 275 2.55
nVidia GeForce GTX 680 68.36 300 2.28
nVidia GeForce GTX 780 81.66 393 2.08
AMD Radeon HD 6950 36.83 204 1.81
nVidia GeForce GTX 780 Ti 90.53 563 1.61
nVidia GeForce GTX 580 50.49 340 1.49
AMD Radeon HD 5870 35.98 252 1.43
AMD Radeon HD 6970 41.32 310 1.33
AMD Radeon HD 5850 30.05 245 1.23
AMD Radeon HD 6990 73.96 671 1.10
nVidia GeForce GTX TITAN 85.05 833 1.02
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 Ti GHz 104.63 TBC N/A
* 03/12/2013 More is better Less is better More is better


For the price we took the lowest price available on geizhals.eu.



Page 1 - Presentation / Specifications
Page 2 - The card
Page 3 - Photo Gallery / Delivery
Page 4 - In-Game Performance
Page 5 - Temperatures / Noise levels
Page 6 - Performance/Price & Performance/Watt
Page 7 - Conclusion
[pagebreak]

Conclusion


General + -
We were quite impressed with the new Gigabyte GTX 780 Ti  GHz Edition as it did really good in our tests, had a decent factory overclock and featured a really good custom Windforce 3X 450W triple fan cooler. The manufacturing quality is very good and the backplate is definitely a must when you are looking at a premium graphics card. It is, at least currently, the fastest GTX 780 Ti graphics card on the market, and with 1'085MHz base clock and 1'150MHz GPU Boost clocks, it will be quite hard for other manufacturers to come up with a faster GTX 780 Ti.

On the other hand, we would have really liked that Gigabyte paid more attention to the bundle since after all this is a premium product. The Gigabyte GTX 780 Ti GHz Edition should be eligible for Nvidia's game bundle that includes Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, Batman: Arkham Origins and Splinter Cell: Blacklist. Despite doing a good job in keeping the temperatures of the graphics card down we would appreciate if the cooler was just a tad bit less noisier under load.
  - Performance
- Factory Overclocking
- Cooling
- Design
- Backplate
- Bundle
- Noise level under load
 
Cooling / Noise Level   + -
As noted earlier, the Windforce 3X 450W triple-fan cooler is very good and definitely runs circles around the reference solution, but it is still a bit behind from some other solutions on the market including the MSI Twin Frozr IV Advanced when it comes to raw performance. It does a great job in keeping the graphics card cool way above its advertised Boost clock and there is not much that you can ask from it. 

As far as the noise goes, the GTX 780 Ti GHz Edition is noiseless in idle and could be a bit quieter under load. The noise under load is not bad, but although the card can be considered as silent, we would have liked it to be even more silent.
  - Inaudible in 2D - Could be quieter under load
 
Performance   + -
The performance is where the GTX 780 Ti GHz Edition really shines. The performance ends up around 15 % faster on average than nVidia's reference GTX 780 Ti.

The reference GTX 780 Ti is already quite a fast graphics card and performance gain on the Gigabyte GTX 780 Ti GHz Edition ranges from a flat zero in some games like Borderlands 2 or Skyrim to a rather impressive 22 percent in more demanding game titles like the Crysis 3 or the Metro: Last Light.

The power consumption of the Gigabyte GTX 780 Ti GHz Edition is very good in idle with power consumption of the entire setup at 48W. Under load, the new GTX 780 GHz Edition pulls quite a few Watts but it still manages a quite good performance per Watt ratio. The performance per Watt ration was actually quite good and very close to the reference model which puts the new Gigabyte GTX 780 Ti GHz very close to the very top of our performance/watt table.
  - Performance
- Power consumption
 
Recommendation / Price   + -
Unfortunately, we still do not have any information regarding the price so we will update it when the new GTX 780 Ti GHz Edition becomes available.

In the meantime we can say that it is a good card, if the price premium is not that high, making the GTX 780 Ti GHz Edition one of the best GTX 780 Ti graphics cards on the market. We recommend this card as an alternative to the more expensive GTX Titan and reference GTX 780 Ti since the 780 Ti GHz Edition is faster, less expensive (compared to the Titan) and quieter.
  - Gaming
- Overclocking
 
We gave the GeForce GTX 780 Ti GHz Edition from Gigabyte 4.5 out of 5 stars.
 







Page 1 - Presentation / Specifications
Page 2 - The card
Page 3 - Photo Gallery / Delivery
Page 4 - In-Game Performance
Page 5 - Temperatures / Noise levels
Page 6 - Performance/Price & Performance/Watt
Page 7 - Conclusion