EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI

We received a retail version GTX 780 3GB video card from EVGA and proceeded to test out SLI performance from the new high-end NVIDIA GPU.

Published
Updated
Manufacturer: EVGA
18 minutes & 31 seconds read time

Introduction and Package

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 02

The other day we got a chance to check out the brand new GeForce GTX 780 3GB from NVIDIA and found ourselves impressed with what NVIDIA has offered for $649. While not cheap, against the $999 GTX TITAN, it looks strong with some excellent performance out of the box.

Not only that, though, when we checked out the overclocking side of things, we saw the gap between the GTX 780 3GB and more expensive GTX TITAN 6GB really become quite small, with times showing that both video cards perform almost identical in some areas.

Today we'll be pairing the brand new EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked with the NVIDIA reference video card we've got on hand. Due to the fact that the EVGA comes with an overclock out of the box, we'll be increasing the core clock speed of the reference card to match that of the EVGA.

Outside of the overclock, though, we can see from the introduction picture that the EVGA version of the GTX 780 is sporting with it a different cooler design. The reference cards' 80c temperature was a little warm for us and we're hoping today that the new cooling solution that EVGA has introduced will help lower those numbers, without the cost of added noise.

Package

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 03
EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 04

On the front you can see the main details like the brand, model, and mention that it's the SuperClocked model, along with some of the key features. Turning the box over we get a bit more of a run down on some of the main features along with our first look at the card.

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 05

Moving in to the bundle you can see the typical paperwork and driver CD included. Along with that we've got a dual 6-pin PCIe to 8-pin PCIe power connector, along with a dual Molex to 6-pin PCIe power connector. Along with those two cables we've also got a DVI to VGA connector and a "Powered by EVGA" case sticker to round things off.

The Card and Specifications

The Card

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 06

Moving away from the bundle and onto the card itself, you can see straight away that EVGA has decided to pull away from the reference cooler. Instead they've opted for a dual fan setup, which features a truly massive heatsink. The card really looks and feels great. We hope that it's an improvement compared to the reference cooler, as we mentioned on the first page, we felt it operated a little too warm.

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 07
EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 08

Taking a quick spin around you're not going to see anything out of the ordinary. At the back we've got a single 8-pin and 6-pin PCIe power connector, while closer to the front you can see we have a pair of SLI connectors that allow us to run up to four of these bad boys together.

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 09

Looking at the connectivity you can see we've got a pair of Dual-Link DVI connectors in the form of a DVI-D and DVI-I. Along with those we've got a HDMI and DisplayPort connector to round off this side. You can also see we've got a vent that's designed to help push some of the hot air out the back of your system.

Specifications

As we mentioned in our original review of the reference GTX 780 3GB, the out of the box clocks are 863MHz on the core, which is boosted to 902MHz. As for the 3GB of GDDR5, that comes in with the typical 6008MHz QDR clock.

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 01

From what we've seen from EVGA before, they do a pretty good job of offering an overclock that is worthy of the SuperClocked title. Looking above you can see while they've chosen to ignore the memory clock, they've boosted the core to 967MHz, which is then pushed to an even stronger 1020MHz via boost.

Quickly before we move on you can also see at the bottom that SLI is indeed enabled via 2 GPUs.

Benchmarks - Test System Setup

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 99

We would like to thank the following companies for supplying and supporting us with our test system hardware and equipment: Intel, ASUS and Corsair.

Since we've tested so many high-end setups lately, we've got a bunch of setups in our graphs here today. From the NVIDIA side we've of course got our two GTX 780's in SLI mode. As we mentioned earlier, for consistency, we've pushed the core clock on the reference card to 967MHz, so both the EVGA and the reference video cards are clocked at the same speed.

Along with that setup we've got the GTX 650 Ti Boost in SLI, in the form of two reference cards and two Gainward cards that are overclocked. We've of course got the reference GTX 780 3GB along with the EVGA GTX TITAN 6GB at both its stock clocks and overclocked to 975MHz on the core. We also have the EVGA GTX TITAN 6GB running in SLI at both its stock SuperClocked clocks and overclocked to 950MHz.

On the AMD side we've got the single HD 7970 GHz Edition alongside the dual GPU HD 7990 6GB that was launched recently. We've also finally got the HD 7990 paired with our HD 7970 GHz Edition to create a 3 GPU power house.

The FPS Numbers Explained

When we benchmark our video cards and look at the graphs, we aim to get to a certain level of FPS which we consider playable. While many may argue that the human eye can't see over 24 FPS or 30 FPS, any true gamer will tell you that as we climb higher in Frames Per Seconds (FPS), the overall gameplay feels smoother. There are three numbers we're looking out for when it comes to our benchmarks.

30 FPS - It's the minimum number we aim for when it comes to games. If you're not dropping below 30 FPS during games, you're going to have a nice and smooth gaming experience. The ideal situation is that even in a heavy fire fight, the minimum stays above 30 FPS making sure that you can continue to aim easily or turn the corner with no dramas.

60 FPS - It's the average we look for when we don't have a minimum coming at us. If we're getting an average of 60 FPS, we should have a minimum of 30 FPS or better and as mentioned above, it means we've got some smooth game play happening.

120 FPS - The new number that we've been hunting down over recent months. If you're the owner of a 120 Hz monitor, to get the most out of it you want to get around the 120 FPS mark. Moving from 60 FPS / 60 Hz to 120 FPS / 120 Hz brings with it a certain fluidity that can't really be explained, but instead has to be experienced. Of course, if you're buying a 120 Hz monitor to take advantage of 3D, an average of 120 FPS in our benchmark means that in 3D you will have an average of 60 FPS, which again means you should expect some smooth gameplay.

Why are some graphs incomplete?

Adding new game benchmarks is a long, tedious and time consuming task as every video card has to be re-tested in those new benchmarks. Because of that reason we have always just evaluated our benchmark line up every six months. To stay up to date and current with the latest benchmarks and games available, we've changed our approach to adding new benchmarks.

Our benchmark line up will progress and be updated as newer more intensive games with benchmarks comes to light. While this will mean that initially you may only see a single video card in those particular graphs, as the weeks go on and we test more and more video cards, the results will grow quickly. This will help keep our benchmark line up as up to date as possible as we introduce and remove games on a constant basis.

Benchmarks - 3DMark 11

3DMark 11

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.1

Developer Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com

Product Homepage: http://www.3dmark.com/3dmark11/

Buy It Here

3DMark 11 is the latest version of the world's most popular benchmark. Designed to measure your PC's gaming performance 3DMark 11 makes extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to consistently and reliably test DirectX 11 under game-like loads.

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 20

Starting off with 3DMark 11 we can see some great performance. I think the most impressive comparison is against the 3 GPU AMD setup which falls a little behind this SLI setup at both presets.

Benchmarks - Unigine Heaven Benchmark

Unigine Heaven Benchmark

Version and / or Patch Used: 3

Developer Homepage: http://www.unigine.com

Product Homepage: http://unigine.com/press-releases/091022-heaven_benchmark//

New benchmark grants the power to unleash the DirectX 11 potential in the gift wrapping of impressively towering graphics capabilities. It reveals the enchanting magic of floating islands with a tiny village hidden in the cloudy skies. With the interactive mode emerging experience of exploring the intricate world is ensured within reach. Through its advanced renderer, Unigine is one of the first to set precedence in showcasing the art assets with tessellation, bringing compelling visual finesse, utilizing the technology to the full extend and exhibiting the possibilities of enriching 3D gaming.

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 21

SLI proves to give us some excellent benefits at both resolutions, as you can see above. In this area we're not quite at the same level as the 3 GPU setup from AMD, but you can really see some excellent performance again.

Benchmarks - Phantasy Star Online 2

Phantasy Star Online 2

Version and / or Patch Used: Standalone Benchmark

Timedemo or Level Used: Built-in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://www.sega.com/?t=EnglishUSA

Product Homepage: http://www.pso2.com/us/html/index.html

Play Phantasy Star Online 2 and experience revolutionary combat in an action-driven, free-to-play multiplayer online RPG from SEGA. Take a journey into an immersive sci-fi fantasy narrative and explore mysterious worlds to unravel their secrets. Join fellow adventurers and fight against the legions of darkness to banish them from the galaxy.

Score explanation: Less than 2000: Please adjust your game settings because the processing load is quite heavy.

2000 through 5000: The game runs fine at the setting, if you have room, you can adjust some settings.

5001+: The game works wonderfully at this setting.

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 22

PSO2 really takes advantage of the second GPU and for that reason you can see the numbers from our NVIDIA setup are way ahead of what the AMD ones are offering, no matter how many GPUs we throw at the game.

Benchmarks - Lost Planet 2

Lost Planet 2

Version and / or Patch Used: Standalone Benchmark

Timedemo or Level Used: Built-in Benchmark - Test A Scene 1

Developer Homepage: http://www.capcom.com/

Product Homepage: http://www.lostplanet2game.com/

Lost Planet 2 is a third-person shooter video game developed and published by Capcom. The game is the sequel to Lost Planet: Extreme Condition which is also made by Capcom, taking place ten years after the events of the first game, on the same fictional planet. The story takes place back on E.D.N. III 10 years after the events of the first game. The snow has melted to reveal jungles and more tropical areas that have taken the place of more frozen regions. The plot begins with Mercenaries fighting against Jungle Pirates. After destroying a mine, the Mercenaries continue on to evacuate the area, in which a Category-G Akrid appears and attacks them. After being rescued, they find out their evacuation point (Where the Category-G appeared) was a set-up and no pick up team awaited them. The last words imply possible DLC additions to the game, "There's nothing to be gained by wiping out snow pirates... unless you had some kind of grudge."

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 23

Lost Planet 2 performance is fantastic across the board at all resolutions. We've got strong performance gains and you can see again the setup really sits quite close to the expensive 3 GPU AMD setup.

Benchmarks - Just Cause 2

Just Cause 2

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Dark Tower

Developer Homepage: http://www.eidos.com/

Product Homepage: http://www.justcause.com/

Just Cause 2 employs the Avalanche Engine 2.0, an updated version of the engine used in Just Cause. The game is set on the other side of the world from the original Just Cause, on the fictional island of Panau in Southeast Asia. Panau has varied terrain, from desert to alpine to rainforest. Rico Rodriguez returns as the protagonist, aiming to overthrow the evil dictator Pandak "Baby" Panay and confront his former mentor, Tom Sheldon.

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 24

Just Cause 2 continues the trends of strong performance gains across the board. You can see when it comes to comparing the performance to other setups we're almost even with the dual GPU HD 7990 6GB at all resolutions.

Benchmarks - F1 2012

F1 2012

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Built-in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://www.codemasters.com/uk/

Product Homepage: http://www.codemasters.com

In F1 2012 players will feel the unparalleled thrill of becoming a FORMULA ONE driver with a host of new features, wide-ranging technical and gameplay advancements and extensive competitive and co-operative multiplayer components. F1 2012 will feature all of the official teams, drivers and circuits from the 2012 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, including the debut of the 2012 FORMULA 1 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX at Austin, Texas and the return of Germany's famous Hockenheim circuit to the calendar.

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 25

F1 2012 performance is really strong and you can see we're ahead of the AMD setups at all resolutions due to the fact that they tend to hit the FPS wall a little earlier then the NVIDIA options.

Nevertheless, the numbers are fantastic here, and if you're on a 120Hz monitor, you're going to appreciate the performance of this SLI setup.

Benchmarks - Metro 2033

Metro 2033

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Built-in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://www.4a-games.com/

Product Homepage: http://www.thqnordic.com/

Metro 2033 is an action-oriented video game with a combination of survival horror and first-person shooter elements. The game is based on the novel Metro 2033 by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky. It was developed by 4A Games in Ukraine and released in March 2010 for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360.[3] In March 2006, 4A Games announced a partnership with Glukhovsky to collaborate on the game.[4] The game was announced at the 2009 Games Convention in Leipzig;[5] a first trailer came along with the announcement.[6] A sequel was announced, currently titled Metro: Last Light.

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 26

At 1920 x 1200 and 1680 x 1050 you can see we hit an FPS wall - fortunately a 144 FPS wall isn't something that we're too concerned about, as it's a perfect number for 120Hz users. Jumping to 2560 x 1600 you can see we fall a little bit behind that number, but continue to remain ahead of all the AMD setups.

Benchmarks - Dirt Showdown

Dirt Showdown

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Built-in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://www.codemasters.com/uk/

Product Homepage: http://www.codemasters.com/uk/dirtshowdown/360/

DiRT Showdown is the new arcade racing game from the team that brought you the award-winning DiRT series, uncaged in 2012. Pick up and play controls combine with electrifying events, frenzied crowds and stunning graphics to deliver high octane, dive in and drive thrills from event one.

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 27

Dirt Showdown sees some good gains and overall strong performance at all resolutions. You can see that the AMD offerings really are superior under this game, though. You can also see we're really not all that far behind the $2000 GTX TITAN SLI setup, which is impressive.

Benchmarks - Nexuiz

Nexuiz

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Built-in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://www.alientrap.org/

Product Homepage: http://www.nexuiz.com/

Nexuiz is an Arena First Person shooter coming soon to consoles. Nexuiz is fast paced with extremely competitive game play. IllFonic brings Alientrap Software's Nexuiz to next-gen gaming consoles around the world while staying true to the game play refined over the years through development. IllFonic introduces a new Victorian influenced art style that is simultaneously futuristic and sophisticated. Nexuiz for consoles is powered by CryENGINE 3.

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 28

Nexuiz really loves the second GPU when it comes to NVIDIA setups and you can see some awesome gains and just some awesome performance at all resolution. Even 2560 x 1600 looks great with a 58 FPS average.

Benchmarks - Sniper Elite V2

Sniper Elite V2

Version and / or Patch Used: Standalone Benchmark

Timedemo or Level Used: Built-in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://www.rebellion.co.uk/

Product Homepage: http://sniperelitev2.com/us/age.html

Sniper Elite V2 features detailed sniping simulation with advanced ballistics, taking into account gravity, wind, velocity, bullet penetration, aim stability and more. Guaranteed to provide players with the most realistic simulation of military sharpshooting yet available.

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 29

Sniper Elite V2 sees some strong performance gains. You can see we're sitting between the HD 7990 and the 3 GPU AMD setup when it comes to overall performance.

Benchmarks - Sleeping Dogs

Sleeping Dogs

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Built-in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://eu.square-enix.com/en

Product Homepage: http://www.sleepingdogs.net/

The core gameplay of Sleeping Dogs consists of giving the player an open world environment in which to move around freely. Sleeping Dogs is played as an over-the-shoulder, third-person perspective action-adventure game with role-playing elements. The player controls Wei Shen, a Chinese-American police officer, as he goes undercover to infiltrate the Sun On Yee Triad organization. On foot, the player character has the ability to walk, run, jump, climb over obstacles and swim, as well as use weapons and martial arts in combat. Players also drive a variety of vehicles including cars, boats, and motorcycles.

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 30

Under Sleeping Dogs you can see we're hitting that almost 135ish FPS wall at all resolutions. While we're never happy to see a wall, as long as it's over that 120 FPS mark, then we've got a number that represents excellent performance on all setups, including 120Hz monitors.

Benchmarks - Far Cry 2

Far Cry 2

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.01

Timedemo or Level Used: Ranch Long

Developer Homepage: http://www.ubi.com/

Product Homepage: http://www.farcry2.com/

Buy It Here

The Dunia Engine was built specifically for Far Cry 2 by the award-winning Ubisoft Montreal development team. It delivers the most realistic destructible environments, amazing special effects such as dynamic fire propagation and storm effects, real-time night-and-day cycle, dynamic music system, non-scripted enemy A.I. and so much more.

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 31

Performance under Far Cry 2 as always is very strong on all our high-end setups. There's really not much need to go into much more detail than that.

Benchmarks - Hitman Absolution

Hitman Absolution

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Built-in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://www.ioi.dk/

Product Homepage: http://hitman.com/

Hitman: Absolution is an action-adventure stealth game developed by I/O Interactive and published by Square Enix. It is the fifth entry in the Hitman game series, and runs on I/O Interactive's proprietary Glacier 2 game engine. Before release, the developers stated that Absolution would be easier to play and more accessible, while still retaining hardcore aspects of the franchise. The game was released on 20 November 2012, which is in the 47th week of the year (in reference to the protagonist, Agent 47).

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 32

The FPS wall that Hitman Absolution hits is really annoying, especially since it comes a little earlier on our NVIDIA setups compared to our AMD ones. While the numbers are very good, there's no denying that if you're on a 120Hz monitor, you'd appreciate a higher average.

Benchmarks - Tomb Raider

Tomb Raider

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Built-in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://www.nixxes.com/

Product Homepage: http://www.tombraider.com/us/base/agegate?refer=184&

Tomb Raider is an action-adventure platform video game. Published by Square Enix, Tomb Raider is the fifth title developed by Crystal Dynamics in the Tomb Raider franchise. As the first entry in a new Tomb Raider continuity, the game is a reboot that emphasizes the reconstructed origins of the culturally influential lead character Lara Croft. Tomb Raider was released on 5 March 2013 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows to universal critical acclaim.

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 33

Tomb Raider sees some awesome gains from adding a second video card into the mix.

You can see performance sits between our two high-end AMD setups with just strong numbers at all resolutions, including very playable ones at 2560 x 1600.

Benchmarks - BioShock Infinite

BioShock Infinite

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Built-in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://irrationalgames.com/

Product Homepage: http://www.bioshockinfinite.com

BioShock Infinite is a first-person shooter video game and the third installment in the BioShock series. Previously known as "Project Icarus", it is being developed by Irrational Games and was released worldwide on the Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 platforms on March 26, 2013. BioShock Infinite is not part of the storyline of previous BioShock games but features similar gameplay concepts and themes.

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 34

BioShock Infinite sees some excellent performance gains at all resolutions and you can see we've got some great numbers across the board with over 60 FPS being seen at all resolutions.

Benchmarks - High Quality AA and AF

High Quality AA and AF

While we test all our games with maximum in-game settings, turning on Anti-Aliasing (AA) and Antistrophic Filtering (AF) helps take the intensity of our testing to another level.

Here we see video cards go from playable FPS to an unplayable FPS and the real power houses continue to help break that 60 FPS mark we always aim for to provide a smooth gaming experience.

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 35

It comes as no surprise that performance is very strong under Far Cry 2 even with AA and AF turned on.

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 36

While a single card struggles at 2560 x 1600, you can see when we add a second card into the mix, performance jumps up by a strong margin, and overall we just get some very good FPS.

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 37

Just Cause 2 numbers are great at both resolutions and you can see even with the detail cranked right up, 120Hz monitor owners would get some truly awesome performance from this EVGA SLI setup.

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 38

This is why Sleeping Dogs with AA and AF turned on has become one of my favorite benchmarks. You can see even on such a massive setup like the SLI GTX 780 one here today, we still fall shy of that 60 FPS average at the highest resolution.

Temperature Test

The temperature of the core is pulled from MSI Afterburner with the max reading used after a completed run off 3DMark Vantage and the Performance preset.

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 40

The EVGA cooler is much better coming in a massive 19c cooler than the reference one.

Not only that, it's worth remembering that the EVGA offering is overclocked quite strongly out of the box. Hopefully this hasn't come at the cost of noise levels. We'll find out on the next page.

Sound Test

Pulling out the TES 1350A Sound Level Meter we find ourselves quickly yelling into the top of it to see how loud we can be.

After five minutes of that we get a bit more serious and place the device two CM away from the fan on the card to find the maximum noise level of the card when idle (2D mode) and in load (3D mode).

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 41

Noise levels are slightly elevated when compared to the reference card. Coming in at around 4dB higher this is more than likely a change you probably won't notice when it really comes down to it, especially when you consider the temperature drop, which really is fantastic.

Power Consumption Test

Using our PROVA Power Analyzer WM-01 or "Power Thingy" as it has become quickly known as to our readers, we are now able to find out what kind of power is being used by our test system and the associated graphics cards installed. Keep in mind; it tests the complete system (minus LCD monitor, which is plugged directly into AC wall socket).

There are a few important notes to remember though; while our maximum power is taken in 3DMark06 at the same exact point, we have seen in particular tests the power being drawn as much as 10% more. We test at the exact same stage every time; therefore tests should be very consistent and accurate.

The other thing to remember is that our test system is bare minimum - only a SSD hard drive is used with a single CD ROM and minimal cooling fans.

So while the system might draw 400 watts in our test system, placing it into your own PC with a number of other items, the draw is going to be higher.

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI 42

As you'd expect, power draw at load is quite high and really we wouldn't recommend anything less than a quality 1000-watt power supply unit to run this kind of setup.

What is shocking though is the idle number. We've really seen both NVIDIA and AMD bring idle power draw down to almost nothing on their latest generation of video cards.

Pricing, Availability and Final Thoughts

The first thing we've got to talk about is the pricing of the EVGA video card we've got here today. Coming in at $659.99 or $10 more expensive than the reference cooled design at the time of writing, I'd go almost as far to say that you'd be crazy to not spend the extra money and grab this cooler (model) over the reference model. Not only does it look great, but you can see from the numbers here today that it's a lot more efficient than the reference cooler.

The only problem, though, is availability. While listed at Newegg, most people probably feel the same way as us and feel it would be insane to not spend the extra $10 for this cooler and this out of the box overclock. For that reason it's one of only two GTX 780's that are currently completely sold out. If you're happy to wait, we'd suggest grabbing this over a reference cooled GTX 780, of course if you need it now, then you don't really have too much of a choice right now.

Getting onto the performance side of things, we can't really comment too much about the single video card performance with the overclock on offer here today, but we can tell from past experience that the strong out of the box overclock on the core is going to give a nice bump in gaming performance. While EVGA have chosen to leave the memory clock alone, this isn't a huge surprise as we know that overclocking the memory has little effect when it comes to real added performance. Instead you'd always be better off getting as much out of the core as possible, and that's what EVGA has done.

Covering the performance we can talk about SLI and just as you'd hope and expect really, it is fantastic. There's consistently strong gains in almost everything we benched over a single card setup and overall everything is playable at every setting. The only time we really see the setup fall short is with Nexuiz 2560 x 1600 and Sleeping Dogs 2560 x 1600 with AA and AF turned on, and those are both really intensive gaming configurations.

Really there isn't much more to say here today about the EVGA GTX 780 that we've got on hand. They've done a really excellent job when it comes to improving on the reference design that NVIDIA provided by adding a great cooler and giving us a strong out of the box overclock. Spending your money on this video card surely won't disappoint.

What do TweakTown.com awards mean? Click for details!

PRICING: You can find products similar to this one for sale below.

USUnited States: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon.com

UKUnited Kingdom: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon.co.uk

AUAustralia: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon.com.au

CACanada: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon.ca

DEDeutschland: Finde andere Technik- und Computerprodukte wie dieses auf Amazon.de

Shawn takes care of all of our video card reviews. From 2009, Shawn is also taking care of our memory reviews, and from May 2011, Shawn also takes care of our CPU, chipset and motherboard reviews. As of December 2011, Shawn is based out of Taipei, Taiwan.

Newsletter Subscription
We openly invite the companies who provide us with review samples / who are mentioned or discussed to express their opinion. If any company representative wishes to respond, we will publish the response here. Please contact us if you wish to respond.