GIGABYTE GV-N760OC-2GD (rev. 1.0) Pro Reviews

The GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 760 OC Version is currently in stock and available for $259.99. Most reference cooled models are selling at the MSRP of $249, with custom cards being $259 or higher. The GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 760 OC Version also has the fastest default clock speeds among its competitors. GIGABYTE tells us the only difference between revision 1.0 and 2.0 is literally the fan cover, one is plastic, the other metal. Seeing as how revision 1.0 will be phased out, it makes sense to go ahead and go for the revision 2.0 version. The revision 1.0 version reviewed today does represent the performance and overclocking potential of revision 2.0. With this video card comes the assured factory overclock, and even more overclocking potential with GIGABYTE's OC Guru II overclocking utility. The board also has high quality ultra durable VGA components that help extend the boards life, keep temperatures lower, and provide more efficient power switching. These are all keys to having performance increasing overclocks like the one we achieved. The temperature was never an issue either with the WindForce 3X keeping the GPU cool. We did become limited by the board’s power, which only has a maximum TDP of 170W. Still, we got a respectable overclock with a real-world frequency over 1.3GHz! An NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti can cost anywhere from $244 up to $299 for custom overclocked versions. An AMD Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition ranges from $199 to $259 for custom overclocked versions. At this price point, the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 760 OC Version completely dominated its competition in performance. If you are looking for excellent performance at 1080p in today's latest games, the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 760 OC Version is capable of providing such.

If you're going to take an old card, mix-up the inner workings and repackage it as a new product a year down the line, there's one thing you simply must do: hit a sweet spot in terms of pricing. Sure, the GTX 760 isn't the most intriguing graphics-card launch of recent times, but at £200 it offers a tasty price/performance ratio. And while there's no real incentive for GTX 600-series users to rush out and buy, owners of ancient-generation cards such as the GeForce GTX 580 and Radeon HD 5870 will find this to be a very healthy upgrade indeed. We're going to be putting a few custom-cooled GTX 760s through the wringer in the coming weeks, but we're already off to a good start and we suspect Gigabyte's WindForce 3X is going to be a tough act to follow. Comfortably cooler and noticeably faster than reference; this is about as good as it's going to get for GTX 760. Now let's hope UK retailers can keep the cost of these factory-overclocked variants close to the crucial £200 mark.

Today, NVIDIA releases their GeForce GTX 760 using the same GK104 graphics processor that we've seen on cards like the GTX 660 Ti, GTX 670, GTX 680, and GTX 770. Gigabyte has overclocked their GTX 760 WindForce 3X OC out of the box for a meager 5% performance improvement over the reference design. The new card not only an impressive 24% performance improvement over the GTX 660, but is also priced $50 higher. The GTX 760 will replace GTX 660 Ti in the product stack, with the GIGABYTE GTX 760 WindForce OC providing 11% higher performance at $30 less. Compared to AMD's lineup, we see the card 13% faster than the Radeon HD 7950; the HD 7950 Boost variants should almost be able to match its performance, but costs more. Gigabyte is using their WindForce 3X OC cooler which we've seen on other cards before. It does a good job at keeping the card cool and improves noise levels over the reference design. However, given that load temperatures are just 68°C, I would have wished for something in the 75°C range, which is still far enough from the 80°C limit at which Boost 2.0 starts throttling the card as it would have provided an even quieter gaming experience.

The GeForce GTX 760 isn’t as sexy as the Titan, 780, or even 770 we reviewed most recently. Nvidia’s reference design is very GeForce GTX 670-like, and partners mostly seem to be introducing versions with axial fans that blow waste heat into your case (bummer). However, the card changes the balance of power at its $250 price point, besting more expensive AMD boards and even knocking older GeForce products out of the way. Although we’re dealing with a mature GPU and derived specifications, we’re led to the same conclusion we drew in The GeForce GTX 770 Review: Calling In A Hit On Radeon HD 7970?: GeForce GTX 760 is a card worth recommending, owing to the fact that it’s faster than pricier competition. Truly, this is the upper end of the spectrum for gaming on a 1920x1080 display, and it's more accessible than ever.