Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 GHz Edition Review
Category : NVIDIA
Published by Christian Ney on 09.11.13
With the arrival of the new and more efficient B1 revision of the 28nm GK110 GPU, some Nvidia add-in-card (AIC) partners, like Gigabyte, have decided to come up with a completely new SKU, while some will simply silently replace the old A1 revision. Gigabyte's new GTX 780 GHz Edition will not only feature the new GK110-300-B1 chip, but also bring a couple of other enhancements that should make it one of the best and among the fastest GTX 780 graphics cards on the market.
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Presentation
Gigabyte is one of the first Nvidia add-in-card (AIC) partners that has decided to introduce a new custom GTX 780 graphics card that will use the new B1 revision of the GK110 chip. For its new graphics card, Gigabyte makes use of a custom PCB paired up with its own custom Windforce 3X 450W cooler. Since it used the new B1 revision of the GK110 chip, it was a simple decision to go for a high factory overclock. Gigabyte's new GTX 780 GHz Edition is practically the GTX 780 OC V2 on steroids, as Gigabyte used the new GPU revision, better memory chips and a full cover backplate.
There have been a lot of rumors regarding the Geforce GTX 780 GHz Edition and the new B1 revision of the GK110 GPU and it appears that AIC partners will simply change the GPU on-the-fly and only a handful of them will actually make a new SKU out of it. The GPU still packs the same 2304 CUDA cores, 192 TMUs and 48 ROPs and the only thing that is actually changed is the fact that this GPU allows much higher clocks. The B1 revision of the GK110 GPU is also a bit more efficient as you will see later in the review.
As you can see from the GPU-Z screenshot below, Gigabyte decided to use a quite high factory-overclock on the new GTX 780 GHz Edition. Actually this makes it the third fastest GTX 780 on the market. While the standard reference GTX 780 with GK110-300-A1 GPU is set to work at 863MHz for the base GPU and 902MHz for the GPU Boost clock, the Gigabyte GTX 780 GHz Edition works at quite high 1'020MHz for the base and 1'072MHz for the Boost GPU clock.
Unfortunately and despite the fact that it used different memory chips, 3GB of GDDR5 memory paired up with a 384-bit memory interface on the Gigabyte GTX 780 GHz Edition remained at reference 1'502MHz (6'008MHz effective).
While the typical Boost clock is set at 1'072MHz, the maximum Boost of 1'163MHz was achieved quite easily and the GTX 780 GHz Edition held that clock most of the load time due to a really good Windforce 3X 450W cooler as well as good TDP target (nVidia's Boost technology being power-based and not temperature-based on this card). The GPU Max. Boost clock only dropped in Furmark where the card was pushed too far.
Specifications
| Gigabyte GTX 780 GHz | Gigabyte GTX 780 OC V2 | GeForce GTX 780 | |
| Chip | GK110-300-B1 | GK110-300-A1 | GK110-300-A1 |
| Process | 28 nm | 28 nm | 28 nm |
| Transistors | 7.10 billion | 7.10 billion | 7.10 billion |
| GPU clock | 1'020 MHz | 954 MHz | 863 MHz |
| GPU Boost clock | 1'072 MHz | 1'006 MHz | 900 MHz |
| Memory GDDR5 | 3'072 MB | 3'072 MB | 3'072 MB |
| Memory clock | 1'502 (6'008) MHz | 1'502 (6'008) MHz | 1'502 (6'008) MHz |
| Memory interface | 384 Bit | 384 Bit | 384 Bit |
| Memory bandwidth | 288'400 MB/s | 288'400 MB/s | 288'400 MB/s |
| Shader Cores | 2'304 (12 SMX) | 2'304 (12 SMX) | 2'304 (12 SMX) |
| TMUs | 192 | 192 | 192 |
| ROPs | 48 | 48 | 48 |
| TDP | xxx Watt | >250 Watt | 250 Watt |
| PCB Type | Custom Design | Custom Design | Reference Design |
| Lenght (PCB - Total) | 26.9 - 28.8 cm | 26.9 - 28.8 cm | 27.0 - 27.0 cm |
| Height (PCB - Total) | 11.0 - 12.9 cm | 11.0 - 12.9 cm | 11.0 - 11.0 cm |
| Slots | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Cooler | WindForce 3X 450W | WindForce 3X 450W | NVIDIA Reference |
| Launch Price | $XXX | $XXX | $649 |
The card
Gigabyte decided to equip their new GeForce GTX 780 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.
Overall the cooler is well manufactured but the copper base is far from the mirror finish, and looks like it was industrial machined. 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.
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The new Gigabyte GTX 780 GHz Edition is equipped with a very nice and well designed aluminium backplate to prevent bending and it also protects crucial components from potential damage. The GTX 780 OC V2 which is physically the same card but with lower clocks and A1 rev chip did not come with a full cover backplate and this can be considered as a great plus for the new GTX 780 GHz Edition.
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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.
Checking the voltage regulation chip we find a digital 8-phase synchronous buck converter NCP4208 from ON (ON Semiconductor) that supports I2C. Furthermore there is an unidentified Richtek 2-phase analog PWM labelled 0T=FG V1D taking care of a stable current supply for the the memory. The PCB also features another chip labelled INA 3221. The INA3221 from Texas Instruments is a three-channel, high-side current sensor and bus voltage monitor with an I2C interface.
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The memory chips on the GTX 780 GHz Edition come from SK Hynix and carry the model number H5GQ2H24AFR-R0C. They are specified to run at 1'500 MHz (6'000 MHz effective). The older Gigabyte GTX 780 OC V2 was equipped with Samsung's K4G20325FD-FC03 and we are quite sure that SK Hynix chips will have a bit more room for overclocking.
Photo Gallery
Delivery
The new GTX 780 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 since our sample was not shipped with one but since this is a premium product we certainly hoped that Gigabyte would pay more attention to the bundle.
Test Setup
| Mainboard |
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| CPUs |
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| Memory |
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| Graphic Cards |
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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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Weighted average
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.
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 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 670 (ASUS DC2T) | 62.00 | 227 | 2.73 |
| 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 |
| Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 OC V2 | 89.69 | 360 | 2.49 |
| Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 GHz Edition | 92.84 | 374 | 2.48 |
| 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 | 140 | 3.57 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7790 | 32.75 | 95 | 3.45 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 | 47.37 | 143 | 3.31 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7850 | 40.04 | 121 | 3.31 |
| AMD Radeon R9 270X | 53.39 | 160 | 3.34 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti | 30.80 | 100 | 3.11 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 670 | 62.00 | 204 | 3.04 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti | 53.55 | 176 | 2.91 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 760 | 56.63 | 199 | 2.85 |
| AMD Radeon R9 280X | 68.40 | 240 | 2.85 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 | 63.41 | 229 | 2.77 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition | 69.99 | 254 | 2.76 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 770 | 70.92 | 258 | 2.75 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6870 | 31.88 | 124 | 2.57 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 680 | 68.36 | 283 | 2.42 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 580 | 50.49 | 221 | 2.28 |
| Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 OC V2 | 89.69 | 437 | 2.05 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 780 | 81.66 | 411 | 1.99 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6950 | 36.83 | 204 | 1.81 |
| AMD Radeon HD 5870 | 35.98 | 246 | 1.46 |
| AMD Radeon HD 5850 | 30.05 | 221 | 1.36 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6970 | 41.32 | 310 | 1.33 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6990 | 73.96 | 657 | 1.13 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX TITAN | 85.05 | 821 | 1.04 |
| Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 GHz Edition | 92.84 | TBC | TBC |
| * 05/11/2013 | More is better | Less is better | More is better |
For the price we took the lowest price available on geizhals.eu.
Conclusion
| General | + | - | |
| We were quite impressed with the new Gigabyte GTX
780 GHz Edition as it did really good in our tests, had a decent factory
overclock and really good custom Windforce 3X 450W triple fan cooler.
The manufacturing quality is exceptional and the backplate is definitely
a must when you are looking at a premium graphics card. 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 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 |
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Bundle - Noise level under load |
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| 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 far away from some other solutions
on the market including the ASUS' DirectCU II one when it comes to raw
performance. As far as the noise goes, the GTX 780 GHz Edition is completely silent in idle but definitely not the quietest one around under load. |
- Inaudible in 2D | - Could be quieter under load | |
| Performance | + | - | |
| The performance is where the GTX 780 GHz Edition
really shines. It is quite impressive and it actually manages to beat
the GTX Titan by a good 9 percent, the reference GTX 780 by a good 14
percent while the Gigabyte GTX 780 OC V2 is around 4 percent slower. The reference GTX 780 is already quite a fast graphics card and performance gain on the Gigabyte GTX 780 GHz Edition ranges from a flat zero in some games like Borderlands 2 or Skyrim to a rather impressive 25 percent in more demanding game titles like the Crysis 3 or the Metro: Last Light. The power consumption of the Gigabyte GTX 780 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. |
- Performance - Power consumption |
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| Recommendation / Price | + | - | |
| Unfortunately, we still do not have any information
regarding the price so we will update it when the new GTX 780 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 GHz Edition one of the best GTX 780 graphics cards on the market. We recommend this card as an alternative to the more expensive GTX Titan and GTX 780 Ti since the 780 GHz Edition is faster, less expensive and quieter. |
- Gaming - Overclocking |
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| We gave the GeForce GTX 780 GHz Edition from Gigabyte 4.5 out of 5 stars. | |||
Author: Christian Ney c.ney@ocaholic.ch