Power, Temperature and Noise
As we know, the extra voltage injected into these factory overclocked GTX 770s has a big impact on system-wide power consumption. Stick to stock if you're hoping to keep down the electricity bill.
New card, same rule: three fans are better than one. Even on a hot summer's day, the WindForce 3X is a touch cooler than Nvidia's reference design and Gigabyte clearly has no problem keeping the GTX 770 core running cool at all times.
There is a flip side to those enviously-low temperatures. Gigabyte's cooler is a tad more aggressive than it perhaps needs to be. After 10 minutes of Far Cry 3, the WindForce fans ramp up to 2,700rpm and seem to want to keep temperature well below the usual 80ºC target. As a result of this trade-off, the cooler is slightly more audible than reference, though there's not a lot in it.
