MSI GTX 770 Gaming Pro Reviews

MSI always tends to impress with unique custom PCBs but normally these are all built for overclocking and normally have features which many average joes simply will never touch or even understand. It is a definite breath of fresh air to see the gaming line from MSI as these parts are targeted at a more realistic user base who will actually use the cards for gaming and normal computing rather than test bench and record breaking. With that said it is nice to see some of the over engineering make its way from the high end overclocking models to the gaming lineup to ensure you not only have a nice gaming card but something that is truly capable of miles above that. Afterburner has been a staple of many overclockers even some who dont have MSI cards use it simply because it is a great program. This continues with even more capabilities and improvements including the predator gameplay recording app to add even more usability for gamers. The new MSI Game app allows for gamers to get a nice little bump with a single click for even more performance without any tinkering in overclocking settings or and worries of issues which means more free performance from MSI quick and easy. Overall, for 10 dollars more than a reference model with a very capable cooler, and a factory overclock averaging a gain of approximately 2FPS at 1080p HD resolutions at max settings, the MSI GTX 770 Gaming card is a very nice deal and a amazing value for any gamer looking to build a new high performance gaming rig or even looking for a graphics upgrade.

MSI's GeForce GTX 770 TF Gaming is, unlike the MSI GTX 770 Lightning that is geared to meet the needs of enthusiast overclockers, optimized for typical gamers. While the Lightning comes with very high clocks out of the box, the TF Gaming is only mildly overclocked by 13 MHz (~1%). However, smart engineering by MSI has the card deliver a 3% real-life performance improvement over the NVIDIA reference design, as MSI made sure their card stays below 80°C during gaming, which staves off NVIDIA's additional performance throttling to keep temperatures down. I wish memory was overclocked too; at least a bit. Our manual OC testing shows that these new 7 Gbps GDDR5 chips have a ton of headroom.

MSI introduces a gaming series card to the GTX 770 lineup and delivers a great value and awesome performance.

At the end of the day the GeForce GTX 680 has been refreshed and had a price cut. The performance gains of 5-15% are welcomed and this makes for a solid high-end graphics option. If you are looking for a video card in the $400-$450 price range be sure to check out the GeForce GTX 770!

As an NVIDIA-based card the GTX 770 Gaming has access to the entire ecosystem including SLI for improved performance by adding a second card; Surround and 3D Surround with the addition of a 3D Vision kit and 120Hz monitor package; PhysX and the latest from NVIDIA, the GeForce Experience that was just released out of beta last week with the Introduction of the GTX 780; built-in h.264 encoding; and more. MSI has put together a great card that leverages its technologies to meet the gamers needs. It runs cool and quiet, looks great, and just performs.