The Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 is a high-end graphics card that was recently released by Nvidia. The GTX 780 costs $200 more than the significantly faster GTX 680 ($1,122.59 on Amazon) (Opens in a new window). As a result, Nvidia’s $379 GTX 670 and $649 GTX 780 models have a significant price difference. The Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 was announced today in an attempt to close this gap. The new GTX 770, like the GTX 780, improves on the GTX 670, albeit in a less noticeable way.
The GTX 770 is similar to the GTX 780 because it uses the same GK104 GPU. It has the same design as the GTX 680, with 1,536 cores. It has a slightly higher core clock (1,046MHz vs. 1,006MHz) and a higher boost clock (1,085MHz vs. 1,058MHz) than the GTX 680s. The GTX 680 has 1.92GBps of RAM bandwidth, while the GTX 770 has 224GBps. This is the only significant distinction. The total GPU memory is 2GB, which is the same as the GTX 670/GTX 680. But Nvidia expects partners to release 4GB models soon.
GPU
We’ve already gone over GDDR5 memory controllers in great detail. However, noting that 7GHz has always been the expected maximum speed for GDDR5. Good GDDR5 memory can get there, but memory buses and GPU memory controllers are a different story. NVIDIA achieved 6GHz with GK104 on their first attempt after failing with the Fermi generation. With their second attempt and a new PCB, they are now ready to certify GK104 as 7GHz capable. Given the difficulties GDDR5 has encountered on all sides of the debate, this is a modest but noteworthy accomplishment for NVIDIA.
NVIDIA is significantly increasing the TDP of the GTX 770, with all of the associated benefits and drawbacks, in addition to increasing the RAM and GPU clock speeds and adding GPU Boost 2.0. The GTX 770 has a TDP of 230W versus 195W for the GTX 680, and GPU Boost 2.0 eliminates the old 170W “power target” concept, so the difference in effective power usage will be closer to 60W in some cases. This higher TDP is a natural result of releasing a faster component that uses the same manufacturing process and architecture as the GTX 780. This is likely to be the case for all GeForce 700 series components. The 230W TDP is higher than expected for a GPU smaller than 300mm2, indicating that NVIDIA is pushing GK104 to its limits.
Performance
The GTX 770’s main competitors in this market are AMD’s own Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition, the GTX 670 it replaces, and the GTX 680 on which it is based.
In the testing, we used an Intel 3770K Ivy Bridge processor, 16GB of DDR3-1600 RAM, a 256GB OCZ Vector SSD, and a 27-inch Asus VG278HE display with a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080. A pair of GTX 680s in SLI were used to simulate the performance of a GTX 690, and tests revealed that there is almost no difference in performance between the two configurations. All of our tests used a maximum detail resolution of 1,920 by 1,080 pixels. When possible, multi-sampled antialiasing was enabled and extended to 8x. In Metro Last Light, the “SSAA” (supersampled antialiasing) box is checked instead of a specific MSAA setting.
In Shogun 2, the GTX 770 outperformed the GTX 680 by approximately 8% and was significantly faster than the GTX 670 (40fps vs. 50fps) (40fps vs. 50fps). With only 38.5 frames per second, the AMD Radeon 7970 GHz Edition lags far behind. The Radeon 7970 averaged 56 frames per second in the Metro 2033 benchmark. The GTX 770 narrowly outperformed the GTX 680 and GTX 670, with scores of 31 and 30 frames per second, respectively.
Conclusion
In this comparison, AMD’s HD 7970 GHz Edition trails the GTX 670 and frequently competes with the GTX 680. AMD has so far used aggressive pricing and the Never Settle gaming bundle to combat this performance disparity. A Radeon 7970 currently includes four free games: BioShock Infinite, Crysis 3, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, and Tomb Raider.
If you upgraded to a GTX 670 last year, the GTX 770 will not be a significant enough upgrade to warrant an upgrade. However, if you’re still using a midrange GTX 500 card, the GTX 770 is still a viable option. The improved performance justifies the slightly higher price point.
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