HOLD ON THERE STRANGER- you may be asking yourself, why is this card a little cheaper than the other stock cards by EVGA, MSI and such? Well, I don't know. All I know to tell you is that if you are looking at any other graphics card that looks the SAME as this one, it is because this is the reference "stock" card NVIDIA built and it is the same regardless of manufacturer.
What isn't the same is warranty. PNY is an American company and they offer a LIFETIME WARRANTY on this sucker. It's easy to register on their site too. QUICK TIP FOR REGISTERING YOUR CARD: Do it before you put it in your case OR take a pic with your phone/write down the serial number on the actual back of the card. Also, if you run into problems while registering and it tells you that isn't a serial number or whatever- You have to put the letter "P" in front of the serial. This will register it.
Now- on to the review part.
I love this card. I upgraded from a Gigabyte 670GTX (with the OC cooling). That card was great and was super cool under a full load (hardly ever broke 65c). Now, I know some of you are snickering out there asking why I would upgrade from a 670GTX to a 780- even more so for 1080p gaming- yeah it's true. It's kind of a waste- but I wanted to be sure I could run AAA games for the next few years at max settings. My intention was to go SLI- but after doing the math and after selling my 670 I was able to get this card for about $60 more than it would have cost me to go SLI and get a better cooling solution.
Now onto the card itself- the first thing I noticed was temp. Temps reached up to 80c when gaming but this is normal with the default cooling profile and within it's use parameters. Nothing bad there- but still hotter than I would like. After tweaking a fan profile in MSI Afterburner- this thing stays in line and runs games like Planetside 2 at Ultra settings around 50-55c- which again, falls more in line with what I was used to with my 670 (again this may be unfair to compare because that thing had 3 fans and a custom cooling right). Yes the fan revs high/is louder and works harder but even so, it isn't even that loud. I don't even hear it because I wear headphones 97% of the time when gaming.
When I am not gaming, I can hardly hear the fan at idle.
The other thing that is great about this card is the construction quality- I have never felt a more sturdy graphics card- and it looks great. Just like a Titan. The card also lights up "GEFORCE GTX" in bright green on the top of it- so it looks even better inside the case if you have a clear side panel (in my opinion that is).
As of right now- this thing is the top of class, besides Titan. If you want the best, single card solution- go for this.
If you are trying to save some money- go SLI on some other card (670's would be a good deal).
Just be sure to understand the requirements and potential issues of SLI and have a plan for mitigating heat within the case.
| Max Screen Resolution | 2560 x 1600 |
|---|---|
| Memory Speed | 6008 MHz |
| Graphics Coprocessor | Nvidia GeForce |
| Chipset Brand | NVIDIA |
| Graphics Card Ram Size | 3 GB |
