Nvidia GTX780 unleashed, review roundup inside

Nvidia’s Geforce GTX780 is the second-fastest single GPU card from Nvidia. Its a cut-down version of the venerable GTX Titan and even sports the same beautiful cooler. As a bonus, the GTX780 isn’t on a paper launch and it is already available internationally, and even a few local retailers have got the card already – but it isn’t cheap: Nvidia GTX780 already available in SA – at a price

This is a very focused Nvidia, different from the one that unleashed the GTX680, the GTX690 and the Titan on paper, with stock issues raging on for a few weeks until supply chains settles down.

Initially, all GTX780 cards will be launching with the same reference cooler design seen on the Titan. Its a blower-style card with a metal shroud, all-aluminium heatsink with copper pipes, and a plexiglass window into the heatsink itself. It looks sexy if I do say so myself.

: Nvidia Geforce GTX680

: Nvidia Geforce GTX680 top view

: Nvidia GTX780 press shot

: Nvidia GTX780 press shot back

: Nvidia Geforce GTX680 rear view

: Nvidia Geforce GTX680 PCB

: Nvidia Geforce GTX680 and AMD HD7970 GHz size comparison

In hardware terms, its a slightly cut down Titan and Nvidia has chosen to disable two shader modules to create the performance deficit. It retains the Titan’s memory bandwidth numbers but only has 3GB of RAM, suggesting that its best suited for running a single 30-inch display or three 1080p monitors.

Graphics card	Core Clock (Mhz)	Boost Clock (Mhz)	Shader core count	Memory bus width	Peak Power	Current Price (US $)
Geforce GTX580	772		521	384-bit	250W	$499
Geforce GTX680	1006	1058	1536	256-bit	200W	$460
Geforce GTX780	863	900	2304	384-bit	250W	$650
Geforce GTX Titan	836	876	2688	384-bit	250W	$1000
Geforce GTX690	915	1019	3072	512-bit	300W	$1000
Radeon HD7970 GHz Edition	1000	1050	2048	384-bit	250W	$450
Radeon HD7990	1000		4096	768-bit	350W	$1000

Reviews for the card have generally been positive and its appreciably faster than the GTX680 and the Radeon HD7970GHz Edition. At the kinds of resolutions you’d be playing at with a card like this (2560 x 1440 and 5760 x 1080) its a great product and the fact that its cheaper than the GTX Titan while only trailing by 8% in performance is a big selling point as well. One could easily apply a small overclock to it and you’d have Titan-beating performance for $350 less than the Titan’s asking price.

In comparison to the GTX580 its about 80% faster in most performance metrics, so for those of you still using a Fermi card this is what you’d most likely be upgrading to if you’ve been saving diligently. If you’re still on the GTX480, this card runs cooler, faster and gives you nearly double the gaming performance as well as much more available memory.

Most reviews concur that the card is a great deal – if you have the money for one. TechReport, Tom’s Hardware, Anandtech and even Hexus do note that the Radeon HD7970 only trails by an average of 21% at 30-inch and triple 1080p resolutions – a small lead that can be shortened through some mild overclocking. In the end, PC Perspective’s Ryan Shrout notes:

“The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 isn’t the fastest single GPU graphics card on the planet, the GTX Titan is. It isn’t the best value in terms of frames per dollar either, that belongs to the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition. Instead the GTX 780 sits firmly in between being the best value option and the “best” option so I find it hard to decide who should actually buy it. With a $650 price tag, it doesn’t quite hit the “ludicrous” rate of the GTX Titan, GTX 690 and the HD 7990 but the price hike from the GTX 680 and the HD 7970 is not insignificant.”