MSI N780 TF 3GD5/OC Pro Reviews

After looking at the reference GTX 780 and seeing that it delivered performance close to that of the NVIDIA GTX Titan, the expectations were high for this card going into the testing. Compared to the reference card, the MSI Gaming N780 TF 3GD5/OC GeForce GTX 780 raised the bar a bit with small margins over the reference card across the entire suite of games at both 1920x1080 and 5760x1080. Overclocking brings performance gains across the board. This particular sample did not overclock as high as I would have wanted on the core with a GPU Boost 2.0 maximum boost clock of 1189MHz. Above 1189MHz it would not pass all of my stability tests, but could pass some as high as 1215MHz; even though it operated below the power and thermal thresholds. The GDDR5 memory, on the other hand, soared all the way up to 1722MHz, well above the reference card in the comparison field. That give and take ended up with some solid results in 3DMark. For the experienced user, overclocking via MSI's own Afterburner utility is available. It includes Predator, a frame capture utility that can save you a bit of coin over paying for a utility. On the flip side MSI includes its Gaming App that feature three different clock speed levels for one touch over / underclocking. It's as easy to use as MSI's OC Genie on its motherboards. Make it simple and they will use it to effect.

MSI's GeForce GTX 780 GAMING is a great custom-designed GTX 780. It comes overclocked out of the box, giving it a 4% performance advantage over the NVIDIA reference board. This leaves the card just 3% behind the much more expensive GTX Titan, a difference too small to notice during typical gaming. MSI also made sure that the card does not crack the 80°C barrier during gaming, because NVIDIA's Boost 2.0 algorithm will throttle the card some more beyond that point, resulting in reduced performance. Overall, I really like the cooler. It runs cool, looks nice, and is very quiet. The card is also almost inaudible in idle, which is great if you work a lot and game rarely. When gaming, fan speed will increase to keep the card cool, but the card is still really quiet. It is much quieter than any other GTX 780 we tested so far. It seems as though MSI really focused on low noise with their GAMING Series, which users will certainly love. Overclocking worked well, but ended up a bit lower than on other GTX 780 cards we previously reviewed. While luck of the draw might have played a role with our overclock, it could also be indicative of a GTX 780 Lightning for overclockers in the near future. That said, I'd personally pick lower noise over a 20 MHz higher overclock any day. With just a $10 price premium over the reference design bringing the total to $660, pricing of the MSI GTX 780 GAMING is extremely reasonable. The GTX 780 is of course not cheap, but that's the price you'll have to pay for the high-end. If you have that much money to spend, the GTX 780 is definitely a great choice, and you should definitely consider the MSI GTX 780 GAMING.