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Review: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 WindForce 3X

by Parm Mann on 13 June 2013, 10:00

Tags: Gigabyte (TPE:2376), NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qabxm5

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Conclusion

... Gigabyte's WindForce 3X takes an already-impressive GTX 780 foundation and ramps up frequencies to offer even greater performance.

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 brought the revered GTX Titan architecture down to a *ahem* more affordable sub-£600 price point by disabling a few processor cores and chopping the massive 6GB frame buffer in half.

The butchery isn't inspiring - remember, these cards are still based on last year's Kepler architecture - but the end products have the desired result: Nvidia has the best-performing single-GPU solutions available at the £520 and £800 price points in the form of the GTX 780 and GTX Titan.

Blurring the lines between the two, factory overclocked GTX 780s are out to offer Titan-like performance at a lower price. Gigabyte's WindForce 3X takes an already-impressive GTX 780 foundation and ramps up frequencies to offer even greater performance.

However, as fast as the card is, it isn't an out-and-out victory. Those willing to spend extra on a souped-up GTX 780 will typically be seeking the very best solution that's on offer, and while Gigabyte's WindForce 3X is good, there's no escaping the fact that EVGA's SuperClocked ACX is that little bit more refined.

The Good

Comfortably faster than reference
One of few custom-cooled designs
Offers Titan-like performance for under £600

The Bad

Not the fastest factory-overclocked GTX 780
No bundled games

HEXUS Awards


Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 WindForce 3X

HEXUS Where2Buy

The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 WindForce 3X graphics card is available to purchase from Scan Computers*.

HEXUS Right2Reply

At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.



*UK-based HEXUS community members are eligible for free delivery and priority customer service through the SCAN.care@HEXUS forum.



HEXUS Forums :: 10 Comments

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Obviously a fast card, but this review really highlights just how good EVGA's ACX cooler is…
I've got this card & its very quite, even when gaming. The thing with the ACX is thats its £50 more for a lttle extra & when you look at this to the Ref its a good price over the ACX…
definitely puts my ageing 5870 to shame, that's true :)
5870 was an awesome card. Use to run them on crossfire but don't update unless you have too.

Thanks for the review guys.
Just looking at the EVGA review, how come when you overclocked the Gigabyte GTX 780 Windforce, you didn't overclock it to the same level as you did the EVGA GTX 780 Superclocked ACX?

Gigabyte = 1010MHz vs EVGA = 1037MHz on the GPU overclock.

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/55725-evga-geforce-gtx-780-superclocked-acx/?page=11
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/56733-gigabyte-geforce-gtx-780-windforce-3x/?page=11

Here is my Gigabyte GTX 780 WF OC 3GB @ 1215/3713 anyway, multi looped in Heaven 4.0 for stability.

2500k @4.8GHz
ASIC Quality = 74.6%
320.18 drivers
Max Boost = 1215MHz
Memory Clock = 3713MHz
Max Temp = 73 °C
Room Temp = 24.4 °C