Review: Gigabyte GeForce GTX Titan Black

Conclusion

Gigabyte has effectively circumvented Nvidia's reference-cooling-only policy on GeForce GTX Titan Black by shipping the OC version of this card with the new-and-improved WindForce 3X 600W heatsink.

Though you have to attach it yourself - a 10-minute job, if that - using the WindForce cooler does pay clear dividends in some games, made possible by excellent temperatures that enable higher core frequencies. Underscoring this point, better cooling can make the same GPU run faster.

The £840 Gigabyte GTX 780 Titan Black is clearly a very fast gaming card that makes a good fist of running games at 4K. The trouble is that most users won't see the benefit of this card over a well-clocked GTX 780 Ti that costs up to £300 less - the 6GB framebuffer doesn't have the impact in our benchmarks that you would expect.

Nvidia's fastest single-GPU card is the Titan Black, eclipsing the GTX 780 Ti by a small degree. Gigabyte's premier model ships with an optional WindForce 3X 600W cooler that makes a lot of sense. If you really need a GTX Titan Black, primarily for non-gaming work, the Gigabyte is a fine choice. For everyone else, go for a well-clocked GTX 780 Ti or Radeon R9 290X instead.

The Good

WindForce 3X 600W cooler makes a difference
Does well at 4K resolution
Massive performance from single GPU
Built like a tank

The Bad

GTX 780 Ti is a better gaming bet
Cost
Doesn't always run to GPU Boost speeds

HEXUS.awards

Gigabyte GeForce GTX Titan Black
(GV-NTITANBLKGHZ-6GD-B)

HEXUS.where2buy

The reviewed card is on pre-order at Scan.co.uk.

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.