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.
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 |
[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).
[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.
[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
[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.
[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.
[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. |
|