Dimensions asus pci ex geforce gtx 780. Computer resource At SM. ⇡ Test stand, testing methodology

Overclocking ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OC conclusions

Once again the site techPowerUP pleases us with suitable material, so I hasten to retell it. The tale is about the GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OC, the mighty ASUS product.

As is customary in materials with tPU, the review begins with a summary plate with the characteristics of the tested video card and some other solutions:

	GeForce GTX 670	Radeon HD 7970	HD 7970 GHz Ed.	GeForce GTX 680	GeForce GTX 780	ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OC	GeForce GTX 590	GeForce GTX Titan	GeForce GTX 690	HD 7990
Stream Processors	1344	2048	2048	1536	2304	2304	2x 512	2688	2x 1536	2x 2048
ROPs	32	32	32	32	48	48	2x 48	48	2x 32	2x 32
Graphics core	GK104	Tahiti	Tahiti	GK104	GK110	GK110	2x GF110	GK110	2x GK104	2x Tahiti
Number of transistors	3500M	4310M	4310M	3500M	7100M	7100M	2x 3000M	7100M	2x 3500M	2x 4310M
Buffer size	2048MB	3072MB	3072MB	2048MB	3072MB	3072MB	2x 1536MB	6144MB	2x 2048MB	2x 3072MB
Bus width	256-bit	384-bit	384-bit	256-bit	384-bit	384-bit	2x 384-bit	384-bit	2x 256-bit	2x 384-bit
Core frequency	915 MHz +	925 MHz	1050 MHz	1006 MHz +	863 MHz +	889 MHz +	607 MHz	837 MHz +	915 MHz +	1000 MHz
Memory frequency	1502 MHz	1375 MHz	1500 MHz	1502 MHz	1502 MHz	1502 MHz	855 MHz	1502 MHz	1502 MHz	1500 MHz
Price	$370	$380	$450	$430	$650	$699	$750	$1020	$1000	$1050

The price is indicated at 699 US dollars, but in fact ASUS has not yet officially approved the price tag, so there is a small chance of reducing it. After all, who wants to overpay $ 50 over the reference and $ 25 + over some pretty good non-references? However, the card from ASUS may well be worth it.

Let's look at the packaging of the ASUS product:

The box of the product is typical for ASUS, we have already seen something like this in its earlier products. It does not carry anything valuable in itself, so let's take a look at the package contents of the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OC video card:

In addition to the video card, the buyer will receive:

Disk with drivers and software + documentation
PCI-Express power cable
Long bridge SLI

Let's take a closer look at the graphics adapter:

Despite the fact that we've seen enough of DirectCU II coolers, the new product differs from the previously released products and it's not just the fans. The length of the item is 28.5 centimeters, and the height of the card is 14.5 centimeters.

The ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OC graphics card occupies two slots in the PC system unit.

ASUS GeForce GTX 780 has the following video outputs: two DVI, one HDMI 1.4a and one DisplayPort. Three monitors can be connected to one such video card at the same time.

The GTX 780 has two SLI connectors, which means that, if desired, it will be possible to combine up to three (and not four, as everyone previously thought) such video cards in tandem.

The photo shows the GeForce GTX 780 PCB, front and back views. ASUS has changed the board quite a bit to suit its needs.

Here is the cooler used on the ASUS creation:

The reviewer notes the use of new thick heat pipes in the radiator (some of which the graphics core does not even touch), and I personally wonder why the two fans on the card differ from each other. Alas, no explanation is provided.

To prevent the card from kinking due to the cooler's weight, ASUS equipped its product with a metal plate to prevent this kinking.

The VRM area has its own small heatsink.

The backplate is shown on both sides in the photo above, I think that no one needs to explain its functionality.

The ASUS product is powered through a bundle of 6 + 8-pin PSU connectors:

In theory, the card can consume up to 300 watts of electricity.

This is a voltage regulator, it is most likely produced by CHiL, but its exact name is unknown due to the rebranding of the chip by ASUS.

And these are voltage measurement points, a useful thing in the everyday life of an overclocker.

And here is a photo of the memory chip:

This product uses Samsung K4G20325F0-FC03 memory, and it can work at 6000MHz (effective).

Before us is the GK110 graphics core, made according to the 28nm standards. technical process at the facilities of TSMC (Taiwan). The number of transistors is 7.1 billion, the area is 561mm².

disadvantages

Not found. Perhaps for now.A comment

The feeling that the card is redundant for full HD does not leave. Perhaps 770 would be enough.
But I took it for GTA5, in the fall it will be clear whether I miscalculated or not.
The card is audible under load. But it's not critical, compared to the GTX470, it's just a sample of silence.
Zalman Z9 Plus case, the thermocouple practically lies on the backplate of the video card next to the power connectors. So the temperature is 40-42 degrees. at room 25.
I think in a simpler case the temperature would be higher.
The card almost fit right up to the basket - it was about 3mm. Keep in mind.

16 2

Asus. 3-year warranty. Good overclocking potential thanks to redesigned power supply and its own board.disadvantages

Bends (Very heavy) The bottom corner had to be screwed through with a self-tapping screw from the basket with the hards.Asus does not learn from its mistakes with the 670gtx ... second greedy looks ugly. Memory without cooling radiators. Strange video card turned out (Raw) The Chinese were in a hurry to see ...A comment

Nevertheless, we have a stable 1215 core frequency and 6500 memory in overclocking. I did not drive the memory anymore because it’s scary that it will get very hot, although in the reviews people drive up to 7100))) In Furmarke at ultra 80 FPS))) Very good result. noisy I will write the card under load, noisy who would not say anything, but thanks to its cooling from thick pipes it keeps the temperature of 75-80 degrees when the coolers are calmed down to 50% And it is not audible at all. But the ears are not comfortable. The new cooler howls like a wolf ... In general, I am satisfied with the purchase, but I had to put my hands on it. And even without Core i 7. Useless purchase.

Complain Did the review help? 79 64

I am delighted !!! Relatively small, eats not much, cold, chases well, but about Power I can only write with a capital letter!)) All I found on the Internet - a slider to the right to the end without overclocking, drawdowns will appear - overclocking will definitely eliminatedisadvantages

took 04/30/2014 for 18490 r oOA comment

Guys, this is ... (you can't describe XD without a mat) Personally, my opinion is that taking the top one is stupid, taking the middle one is also stupid. Optimally before the top, which is inferior to the top 2-5fps and 30-50% of the cost. Taking into account the overclocking, this VK will be enough for you for a long time!

Complain Did the review help? 17 16

disadvantages

A comment

Overclocking 1241 chips, 7200 memory.
There are no artifacts.
I left it at 1100/7000.
Temperature maximum 71 C, windows open, outside 30 C. FurMark swallowed.
I am satisfied with the purchase. Long thought between 770 and 780, settled on this one.
Works in tandem with 3570K.
Asik 71.6

Despite the fact that the GeForce GTX 780 can no longer be called a new video card and its capabilities are thoroughly known, I liked the ASUS STRIX GeForce GTX 780 OC Edition and seemed to be a very interesting piece of hardware. Firstly, the device is really very quiet. Of course, the marketing expression of 0dB FAN Silent Gaming is so marketing. However, the fact that the accelerator works absolutely silently in 2D and undemanding games is a fact. True, in this case, it is necessary that other components do not fail. And yet, in most cases, in games, a passive mode of operation is out of the question. But here, too, the sound pressure of the slightly modified DirectCU II cooler is in a very good and comfortable decibel delta.

Secondly, ASUS STRIX GeForce GTX 780 OC Edition has excellent overclocking potential. For an enthusiast, +200 stable megahertz per chip is just a song!

As for the general level of performance, here ASUS STRIX GeForce GTX 780 OC Edition could not surprise us with anything. The level of performance of the GK110 graphics processor has been known for a long time. However, this very performance is quite enough to comfortably play at maximum quality settings in Full HD and WQHD-resolution.

It is the most productive in the 7th series of video cards from NVIDIA. The company managed to create a really "top" product, which is significantly different from the "junior" models. Of course, first of all, we are talking about the GPU used.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760/770 uses a modified version of the NVIDIA GK104 chip, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 is based on the most powerful GPU at the moment - the NVIDIA GK110. In other words, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 is more comparable with NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN than with other models from the 7th series. Moreover, as we have already been able to see in practice, the difference in performance between the "reference" NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN is not so big, which cannot be said about the cost. Based on this, many manufacturers have relied on the flagship of the 7th series, and not on the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN.

ASUS was one of the first to offer the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 with a modified design on the market, and immediately introduced its overclocked version called.

ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU 2 OS Features

	ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OS (ASUS GTX780-DC2OC-3GD5)
Graphics core	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 (GK110)
Number of universal shader processors
Supported APIs and Technologies	DirectX 11.1 (Shader Model 5.0), OpenGL 4.3, NVIDIA GPU Boost 2.0, NVIDIA TXAA, NVIDIA FXAA, NVIDIA Adaptive Vertical Sync, NVIDIA Surround, NVIDIA PhysX, NVIDIA 3D Vision, 3-way NVIDIA SLI, NVIDIA CUDA
Core frequency, MHz	889 (941 with GPU Boost 2.0)
Memory frequency (effective), MHz
Memory capacity, GB
Memory bus, bit
Memory type

Maximum resolution	Digital - up to 4096x2160 Analog - up to 2048x1536
	1 x DisplayPort
Supports HDCP and HD video decoding
Dimensions, mm	287 x 147 x 41

Drivers	The latest drivers can be downloaded from the ASUS website or the GPU manufacturer's website
Products webpage

Packaging and delivery set

The video card comes in a large colorful packaging with an abundance of printing. On the front panel features of the device are marked, the main of which is the proprietary design of the cooling system called "Direct CU II".

Direct CU II technology allows the heatpipes to directly contact the GPU cover. As a result, the heat transfer rate increases and the efficiency of the entire cooler increases. According to the manufacturer, the heating of the video processor is reduced by 20% and the noise from the fans is noticeably reduced in comparison with the "reference" cooling system.

At the bottom of the box, other advantages of the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OS are noted:

OC Edition- some parameters were factory overclocked on the video card. That is, the user immediately gets a faster version than the reference version.
3 GB GDDR5 Memory- 3 GB fast GDDR5 video memory is used.
DIGI + VRM Super Alloy Power- a proprietary concept of building a power subsystem. This technology provides for the use of a digital PWM controller and high-quality elements in the power supply circuits of the GPU and video memory. All this allows to reduce voltage ripple by 30%, to increase energy efficiency by 15% and to extend the service life by 2.5 times in comparison with the “reference” product.
ASUS GPU Tweak- a utility with which you can easily optimize the parameters of a video card, as well as monitor its main indicators.

Even this small list is enough to understand that we have a "top" model aimed at gamers, overclockers and other computer enthusiasts.

Inside the package is a black hardboard box that protects the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OS from possible damage.

In addition to the video card itself, the package includes:

user guide;
CD with driver and utilities;
NVIDIA SLI bridge;
power adapter cable from two 6-pin to one 8-pin connector.

This package can be called optimal for a video card of this class. Note the presence of a power adapter cable, which can come in handy if your unit does not have an 8-pin PCI-E connector. Also, owners of outdated monitors with an analog connector should pay attention to the fact that there is no DVI-to-VGA adapter included in the package.

Appearance

Despite its high performance, the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OS graphics card cannot be called too bulky. Its length is 287 mm, which is only 20 mm more than the "reference" analogue of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780. The height of the graphics adapter has also increased - 147 mm versus 111 mm for the reference version. First of all, the changes in dimensions are associated with the installation of a fundamentally different cooling system, which we will consider in more detail a little later.

The width of the novelty is 41 mm, so that only two slots for expansion cards will be covered in the computer.

On the back side of the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OS is closed with a metal base plate. The manufacturer also installed a stiffener, which will help to avoid sagging of the rear edge of the video card.

For displaying images on ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OS, the following set of interfaces is provided:

1 x DVI-I;
1 x DVI-D;
1 x HDMI;
1 x DisplayPort.

The following resolutions are supported:

digital - up to 4096x2160;
analog - up to 2048x1536.

Graphics card circuit board

ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OS

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780

In the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OS, the manufacturer used a "non-reference" PCB design. The main changes were made to the power unit. In particular, the number of phases has been increased from six to eight in the GPU power subsystem. Two phases are still used to power the memory.

In accordance with the proprietary concept of Super Alloy Power, only a high-quality element base was used in the production of the video accelerator in question: solid-state and tantalum capacitors, as well as chokes with ferrite cores. The power section of each phase consists of three "mosfets": two NTMFS4937N and one NTMFS4955N.

Instead of the NCP4206 PWM controller, a proprietary DIGI + VRM chip labeled ASP1212 is installed. This chip is very often found on "top" products from ASUS, which indicates its high reliability and functionality. It is equipped with support for modern energy-saving technologies (including switching off the power phases during idle time) and a communication protocol between the program and VID-values of voltages. Great opportunities open up for overclockers, because according to the specification, the ASP1212 allows you to raise the voltage up to 2.3 V.

Additional power for ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OS is provided through two connectors located on the side of the video card: one 6-pin and one 8-pin. That is, taking into account the power consumption through the PCI Express x16 slot, the tested sample can theoretically be supplied with up to 300 W of power. Recall that the TDP of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 is announced at 250 watts.

We also want to draw your attention to the convenient location of the connectors for additional power supply. Special cuts are made in the PCB, which simplifies the process of connecting / disconnecting PCI-E connectors. It's nice that ASUS specialists paid attention to even such nuances.

There are four LEDs under the connectors that signal the level of power consumption of the video card.

Naturally, a device of this level supports SLI mode. Thanks to the presence of two connectors, a very powerful gaming configuration can be created, combining two to four video accelerators.

Since all significant elements and assemblies are located on the front side, the reverse part of the printed circuit board is practically unremarkable, although there are some peculiarities here too. They mainly touched on the overclocking capabilities of the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OS graphics card and will primarily be of interest to overclockers.

At the edge of the board there are points for measuring and changing three voltages - GPU / memory / PLL. With their help, you can instrumentally (for example, with an external multimeter) determine the values of the required voltages, as well as make their hardware modification (voltmod). To activate the last option, you need to close the corresponding contacts.

Below are the conclusions with which the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OS is connected to the branded motherboard from the ROG series. In this case, extreme overclocking of the video card and voltage monitoring can be carried out using the motherboard.

The ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OS is based on the NVIDIA GK110 (Kepler) graphics chip, manufactured using a 28-nm process technology, which consists of 2304 universal shader pipelines (or CUDA cores in NVIDIA terminology) and includes 48 rasterization units and 192 texture units. The graphics core operates at 889 MHz versus 863 MHz for the reference design card. The speed of operation in turbo mode has also been increased: for the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OS it is 941 MHz, while in the usual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 it is 902 MHz.

The memory of the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OS video card, the total volume of which is 3 GB, is recruited using 12 K4G20325FD-FC03 chips (256 MB each) manufactured by Samsung. According to the documentation, the voltage can vary from 1.455 to 1.545 V. Data exchange is carried out via a 384-bit bus, the bandwidth of which reaches 288.4 GB / s.

Cooling system

As mentioned above, the cooling system on the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OS is significantly different from the reference version. Instead of a "reference" turbine and evaporation chamber, a large radiator with heat pipes is installed here, which is blown by two fans.

Structurally, the cooler's radiator is one integral section with fins of different sizes. According to the proprietary Direct CU II technology, the heat pipes are in direct contact with the GPU surface. The advantage of this method is obvious - faster heat dissipation from the GPU.

In total, this cooler uses five copper heat pipes: two with a diameter of 6 mm, two - 8 mm, and one - 10 mm. Moreover, the thickest of them are in the center, and the thinner ones are on the sides. This design was chosen for a reason, because it is the tubes with a diameter of 8 and 10 mm that are in direct contact with the video core.

There are no complaints about the quality of the radiator. For greater rigidity and reliability of the structure, the manufacturer used a copper base with grooves, to which heat pipes are soldered.

The radiator fins are also soldered to the copper pipes.

Another element of the passive part of the cooling system is a small aluminum radiator that covers the power supply transistors. Considering the great overclocking capabilities, it will not be superfluous at all.

But the memory chips lack any radiators, which is a little strange. After all, raising the frequency and hardware voltmod can significantly affect their heating.

The active part of the cooling system is represented by two fans with impeller diameters of 97 and 95 mm. Structurally, they are slightly different from each other. The first one combines the features of a classic fan and a turbine. You can clearly see how the angle of "attack" of the blades changes - the closer to the center of the fan, the larger it is. Thus, a multidirectional air flow is ensured, due to which heat removal from the plates is improved, as we have already seen in the review of the ASUS GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU Mini OC video card.

The second fan has a more standard look. This is due to the fact that in addition to the main heatsink, it additionally cools the elements of the power subsystem of the graphics adapter. This means that most of the air flow is directed exactly perpendicular to the PCB board.

The top of the cooler is closed with a plastic casing, which also takes part in the distribution of air flows from the fans.

As you can see, ASUS engineers did a pretty good job on the design of the cooling system. Now let's see how all these technical solutions work in practice. To monitor the performance of the video card, the complete ASUS GPU Tweak utility was used.

In automatic mode under continuous maximum load, the temperature of the graphics core did not exceed 80 ° C, which is a good result for a product of this level. The fans were running at 69% of their capacity, while they were not audible against the background of other components of the computer.

In the maximum fan speed mode, the GPU temperature dropped to 76 ° C. To some, this result may not seem very significant, but another factor should be taken into account - noise. At maximum revs it was quite comfortable and according to the auditory sensations it can be described as "average". Also, do not forget that we are dealing with an overclocked version of a video card. For comparison, the "reference" turbine of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 model runs much louder at maximum speed, while the graphics processor heats up to 71 ° C. Obviously, the cooler of the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OS solution, in terms of performance / noise, is a much better cooling option.

In the absence of load, the frequencies of the graphics core and memory are automatically reduced, which leads to less power consumption and heat dissipation. The fans in this mode rotate at a speed that is only 37% of the maximum speed. At the same time, practically no noise is emitted, and the GPU temperature does not exceed 37 ° C.

Based on the results of these tests, we can say with confidence that the cooling system of the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OS video card is a worthy replacement for the standard turbine. This cooler does its job perfectly, providing a low GPU temperature with a relatively low noise level.

Testing

As you would expect, the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OS graphics card with a slight factory overclocked performance showed a higher level of performance compared to a graphics accelerator based on NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 of the "reference" design. Its advantage averaged 5%, which can be regarded as a good result corresponding to the level of factory optimization of its parameters. Although in especially heavy graphics modes, such an increase is unlikely to be noticeable.

But another fact is extremely interesting. The ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OS graphics card lagged behind NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN by the same 5% on average, which is insignificant considering the difference in cost.

If we consider the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OS in comparison with the single-chip competitive flagship - AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition, then the advantage of the new product is noticeable to the naked eye. True, here the difference in price is not on her side. So, a modified Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition will cost the user about $ 200-250 less.

Overclocking

Armed with the proprietary ASUS GPU Tweak utility and increasing the GPU supply voltage to 1087 mV (nominal is 1075 mV), we managed to overclock the graphics core of the video card to 1088 MHz (+ 22.4% relative to the nominal ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OS and +26, 1% relative to "reference"). The effective memory frequency was 6970 MHz (+ 16% relative to the "reference").

Despite the factory overclocking, the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OS graphics card still has quite a lot of overclocking potential. You can estimate the performance gain due to manual optimization using the following table:

Test package		Standard frequencies	Optimized graphics card	Increase in productivity,%
	Performance score

	Performance score
Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0, DirectX 11, Ultra Quality, AA4x, Fps
Sniper Elite V2 Benchmark, DirectX 11, Maximum Quality, Fps	1920x1080, AA4x / AF16x
Sniper Elite V2 Benchmark, DirectX 11, Maximum Quality, Fps	5760x1080, NoAA / AF4x, Multi monitor
Borderlands 2 Benchmark, DirectX 11, Maximum Quality, AF16x, Fps
Crysis 2 v1.9 Benchmark, DirectX 11, AA4x, Extreme Quality, fps
	5760x1080, Multi monitor
Batman Arkham City Benchmark, DirectX 11, FXAA-Hi, Tesselation-Hi, Extreme Quality, fps
	5760x1080, Multi monitor
Colin McRae: DiRT 3, DirectX 11, Very High Quality, MSAA8x, fps
Metro 2033 Benchmark, DirectX 11, Maximum Quality, AA4x / AF4x, fps	5760x1080, Multi monitor

Thanks to manual overclocking, we managed to achieve an additional 13% performance increase, which allowed the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OS to even slightly outperform the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN, which is just an excellent result.

Conclusions about the video card

Summing up, we can safely say that among the flagships from NVIDIA, it is the GeForce GTX 780 model, and not the GeForce GTX TITAN, that will be very popular among users. Tested graphics card ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OS is a very good confirmation of these words. Indeed, in terms of performance in nominal it is practically not inferior to NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN, but it costs much less. In addition, the new product from ASUS has advantages over other models of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780. Firstly, it is factory overclocked, and secondly, a completely redesigned PCB design and cooling system. The cooler installed here copes with cooling the GPU just as well as the reference turbine, but it works much quieter. Even at the maximum speed of rotation of the blades, the noise from them does not rise above average.

I also liked the fact that ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OS has a high overclocking potential, despite the applied factory parameters optimization .. We easily managed to speed up the new product by 22%, thereby gaining a 13% increase in gaming applications. And this can be considered an excellent result, especially since such manipulations did not affect the noise produced.

The company also did not forget about the enthusiasts. On the back side of the board there are contacts with which you can implement a hardware voltmod. There are also points for measuring the main voltages with a multimeter. All this will make life easier for extreme overclockers and make it easier to achieve the desired result.

Advantages

high quality element base;
reinforced eight-phase power supply system of the graphics core;
efficient and quiet cooling system;

Scythe

Sea sonic electronics

Western digital

Announcement GeForce GTX 780 became a real treat for those who were going to get a top-end video card with GPU from NVIDIA. Based on a slightly simplified version of the GK110 processor, the flagship of the GeForce GTX 700 graphics line is only slightly inferior to the GeForce GTX TITAN, but it costs significantly less. The opportunity to save significantly with minimal loss in performance is a tempting prospect for demanding but calculating gamers. This is well understood by the manufacturers of video cards, which are ready to do much to attract the attention of picky users. Let's take a closer look at the capabilities of the forced version of the GeForce GTX 780 from a well-known Taiwanese manufacturer - ASUS GTX 780 DirectCu II OC.

The OC index used in the device name is a sure sign that we are dealing with a forced version of a video card. In this case, the manufacturer was not too zealous. The base frequency of the GPU has been increased from 863 to 889 MHz. At the same time, the average value of the dynamic acceleration of the chip was increased from 902 to 941 MHz. 3 GB of GDDR5 memory runs at the recommended 6008 MHz, which, coupled with a 384-bit bus, provides a bandwidth of 288.4 GB / s.

Recall that the version of the GK110 chip in the case of the GeForce GTX 780 is not so lightweight. The GPU retained 2304 computational units, and also has 192 texture units and 48 rasterization units, while for the GPU in the version for GeForce GTX TITAN it has 2688 CUDA calculators, 224 TMUs and also 48 ROPs. As we could have seen before, such a shortage can be fully compensated for by increasing the GPU clock speed, but more on that later.

The name of the ASUS graphics card speaks volumes about the DirectCu II cooling system used for this adapter. This series of coolers includes many different options, but it is obvious that the GeForce GTX 780 needs a special design - after all, the video card has a TDP of 250 W. And the very fact that we are talking about a top-level device requires some non-standard solutions from the manufacturer, because the refresher cooler turned out to be very good at work, besides, it is very effective. Let's see what ASUS will surprise you this time.

The manufacturer draws attention to the fact that the dissipation area of the radiator in this case is more than doubled in comparison with that of the reference model. Of course, direct comparison is not entirely correct here, because the cooler of the stock model contains an evaporation chamber. However, the cooler from ASUS is also far from trivial. The DirectCu II modification used for the original GeForce GTX 780 includes a whole set of nickel-plated heatpipes that make direct contact with the GPU die.

In general, this is a familiar feature of DirectCu coolers, but in this case one of the heat pipes has an impressive diameter of 10 mm. In addition, the design includes two 8-milliliter tubes and another pair of 6 mm in diameter.

The existing "pipeline" is arranged in such a way as to maximize the transfer of heat from the source to the radiator cassette.

In this case, the stacked block of aluminum plates is blown by a pair of 100 mm fans, which also have certain nuances. One of them is made using CoolTech Fan technology. In the central part, the location of the blades is typical for models of the centrifugal type, which in this case makes it possible to increase the blowing area, as well as the air volumes discharged outside the system unit through the grill in the mounting panel. On the outer radius, we have the blade shape characteristic of axial fans.

This hybrid model allows some of the advantages of both types of fans to be taken advantage of. For the first time, we came across a similar development by ASUS during a review, where the manufacturer managed to create a powerful adapter within a compact size.

Obviously, the very idea of a hybrid cooler turned out to be quite successful, so the manufacturer adopted it and uses it even for top-end devices.

The second fan also has a diameter of 100 mm, but it differs from the usual axial models by the significantly increased dimensions of the blades, which make it possible to generate a significant air flow.

The original printed circuit board is used for the video card. A more powerful power subsystem is wired on the PCB, built according to a 10-phase scheme (8 + 2) and controlled by a digital controller DIGI + VRM (ASP1212). The power switches are additionally cooled by an aluminum finned radiator.

On the reverse side, the board is covered with a metal perforated plate. It is not used to cool components, but serves to protect against mechanical damage, and also increases the strength of the structure. In addition, such aluminum plates complement the external appearance of the adapter.

To connect additional power, there are two connectors on the upper edge - 6- and 8-pin. At the same time, the connectors themselves are unfolded with latches outward, which maximally simplifies the connection of power cables. Traditionally for video cards of this level from ASUS, they are equipped with power supply indicators. The LEDs next to the connectors are green if the cable is plugged in, or red if you forgot to do so.

The power supply recommendations do not differ from those indicated by NVIDIA for systems with a GeForce GTX 780. We are talking about models from 600 W and above, capable of providing up to 38 A.

The presence of a pair of connectors for connecting SLI bridges indicates that the video card can work in a multi-adapter configuration, and combinations of 3/4-Way SLI are possible.

The length of the video card is almost 285 mm. Of course, this adapter is not at all a record holder in terms of dimensions, nevertheless, before buying it will be useful to make sure that the video card will fit into the case without any problems, and the basket with drives will not become a hindrance. Note that ASUS GTX 780 DirectCU II OC will take two expansion slots, and not three, like many top ASUS solutions of previous generations. This is an important nuance, especially if you plan to use multiple video cards in your system.

The set with the video card offers a user manual, a CD with drivers, as well as an SLI bridge for combining a pair of video cards (usually supplied with motherboards) and an adapter from a pair of 6-pin additional power connectors to one 8-pin one.

Cooler efficiency

We already have a general idea of the performance of the GeForce GTX 780 in general, so we wanted to quickly check the efficiency of the cooling system. We evaluated the cooler's capabilities in an open test bench, while the room temperature at the time of testing was 23 ° C. DirectCU II in the used incarnation cooled the GPU to 29 degrees, with the fan speed at 1150 rpm.

Under gaming load, the fan speed increased to 1630, which was enough to keep the GPU temperature at 63 C.

As you can see in the diagram, the peak value of the frequency to which the GPU is automatically overclocked under load, in this case, is 992 MHz. In the case of the GeForcu GTX 780 test sample, despite the lower base value, the chip could accelerate up to 1006 MHz, but this did not happen so often. Under high load, the temperature of the chip in the reference model on an open bench easily reached 80 degrees. Taking into account the fact that with the second version of GPU Boost the GPU clock speed is strongly dependent on temperature, in such cases the built-in auto-overclocking mechanism begins to actively adjust the processor clock speed, reducing it from the peak 1006 MHz to 940-960 MHz. At the same time, the large margin of safety of the cooling system used for the ASUS video card allows it to pass even heavy resource-intensive tests at the maximum specified GPU frequency - 992 MHz.

Overclocking

More than a modest factory increase in the base frequency of the GPU is conducive to independent experiments. By changing the Power Limit parameter to 110%, as well as slightly increasing the chip supply voltage, we managed to increase the processor frequency to 1075 MHz. At the same time, under load, the GPU dynamically accelerated up to 1189 MHz.

A spurt of 20% should provide a good performance boost. Besides, the memory "went" pretty well too - from 6008 MHz to 7096 MHz. Let's see how this will affect the quantitative increase in frames / s in games.

In our testing conditions, additional overclocking increased GPU heating by only one degree - up to 63 C. Probably in a closed case the situation will not be so optimistic, and the temperature values will be higher.

Performance

On average, the performance of the forced version of the ASUS video card turned out to be slightly higher than that of the reference model. Despite the fact that the peak value of dynamic auto-overclocking here is even slightly lower than that of the reference GTX 780, the efficient cooling system allows the GPU to operate at the maximum available frequency even under serious load. Therefore, here we see a characteristic pattern - the higher the load on the video card in a single test stage, the greater the difference in performance. However, if we talk about absolute figures, then the difference is not so great ~ 1–2%.

Serious overclocking speeds up the graphics card noticeably. GeForce GTX TITAN in the base version is left behind in all cases without exception, while the gap between the forced GTX 780 sometimes reaches a rather impressive 10-15% in synthetics and a more modest 2-10% in games. GeForce GTX TITAN can also accelerate, but recall that these models are provided so far only in their original form with a reference CO. As practice shows, this imposes certain restrictions that have already been removed for the GeForce GTX 780.

Outcomes

According to ASUS, the flagship of the GeForce GTX 700 series of discrete video cards turned out to be very successful. ASUS GTX780 DirectCU II OC Based on the original PCB with a reinforced power supply subsystem. The exclusive version of the cooler copes with cooling the GK110 much better than the reference model. At the same time, high-quality components allow you to count on a serious afterburner. In our opinion, the manufacturer was somewhat modest, indicating the base frequency values for this adapter. The potential of the hardware platform in this case is ready for much larger gaming loads. Whoever has a desire can be convinced of this by their own experience. We checked, and as a result - “ Editor's Choice: Best Quality».

GeForce GTX 780 is not a cheap pleasure, besides, the recommended price of the original version from ASUS is higher than that of the reference models (~ $ 750). One, for owners of monitors of impressive diagonals who do not intend to give up the maximum quality of graphics due to high resolution, the cost of a video card with a GK110 chip will be justified. In addition, the minimum overclocking makes it easy to overtake the GeForce GTX TITAN, and the ability to have the fastest single-chip video card is also worth something.

Liked

Efficient Dual Slot DirectCu II Cooling System

High performance

3 GB memory

Very good overclocking potential

Did not like

- High price

The device for testing is provided by ASUS, www.asus.ua


Cooling system	active
GPU frequencies, MHz	889-941
Memory frequencies, MHz	6008
Memory bus, bit	384
Output connectors	2xDVI Dual-link (1xDVI-I and 1xDVI-D), 1xHDMI, 1xDisplay Port
Dimensions, mm	287 × 147.3 × 40.6
Low profile	—
Additional food	1 × 6-pin, 1 × 8-pin
DirectX support	DirectX 11.1
Miscellaneous

Pros: Efficient dual-slot DirectCu II cooling system, high performance, 3 GB memory, very good overclocking potential.

ASUS GTX780-DC2OC-3GD5
Notify when on sale Type of Video card GPU GeForce GTX 780 Memory capacity, GB 3 Memory type GDDR5 Interface PCI Express 3.0 x16 Cooling system active GPU frequencies, MHz 941 Memory frequencies, MHz 6008 Memory bus, bit 384 Output connectors 2xDVI Dual-Link (1xDVI-I and 1xDVI-D), 1xHDMI, 1xDisplayPort Dimensions, mm 287x147,3x40,6 Low profile - Additional food 1x6pin, 1x8pin DirectX support DirectX 11.1 Miscellaneous support for NVIDIA PhysX, NVIDIA SLI, NVIDIA 3D Vision, NVIDIA Adaptive V-Sync, DirectCU II cooling system