Gainward GTX 760 Phantom 2GB Graphics Card Review

Introduction Gainward's Phantom series of graphics are famous the industry over for their unique design. While everyone adds their cooling fans to the outside of the cooler, Gainward do it differently and hide them inside the cooling solution. This fresh take on cooling graphics cards gives not only a very unique aesthetic but also a very quiet solution. When we looked at the Gainward GTX 770 Phantom about two months ago it walked away with our top award - the Editor's Choice award due to its great performance, quiet cooling and sleek aesthetics. Today we will be hoping that Gainward's GTX 760 Phantom can do the same and with it using the "sweet spot" GPU of the GTX 700 series, the GTX 760, we are hoping for a card that is not only great on the performance, but also friendlier on the wallet than other Nvidia GPUs such as the GTX 770 and GTX 780. Out of the box the the Phantom GTX 760 from Gainward has a clock speed of 1072MHz base and 1137MHz boost up from Nvidia reference speeds of 980MHz base and 1085MHz boost. The memory is slightly overclocked to 6200MHz, that's compared to the reference 6008MHz. This means about a 9% overclock on the GPU in addition to a tiny 1% on the memory. That said we can expect Gainward's implementation of the GTX 760 to be about 10% faster than a reference GTX 760 if the overclock is anything to go by. Our Gainward GTX 760 Phantom arrived with full retail packaging and the box is very simple and sleek showing an image of the product and the key features. The back is more lively and interesting with lots of details on the key features of the product, or as some might say this is the "marketing page" of the packaging. Included with the Gainward GTX 760 Phantom is a manual, driver disc, DVI to HDMI adapter, VGA to DVI adapter and a molex to 6 pin adapter. A Closer Look The Gainward GTX 760 Phantom has an extremely unique aesthetic from the heatsink being on the outside. This gives an industrial, yet surprisingly sleek, looking design. The back of the graphics card reveals a dark brown PCB and actually a short PCB compared to the size of the graphics card. It also appears to be a reference PCB that is smaller than the default Nvidia GTX 760 PCB. The graphics card measures in at 247mm which is about 9.75 inches. Beneath the heatsink you can see a pair of 80mm fans. These are removable and they are "push" fans, in other words, they move air out from the inside of the card into your case. The cooler is actually quite "chunky" taking up 2.5 PCI slots, which effectively means it takes up 3 so SLI on dual-slot spacing motherboards won't be possible. The bottom features a glossy piano black finish and you can also see four 8mm heat pipes which carry heat away from the GPU into the heatsink array. The top shows us two 6 pin PCIe connectors and the removable fans with thumbscrews. The other side of the card reveals two SLI fingers for up to 3 way SLI. The PCB, like we mentioned, is much shorter than the overall card. The extension part is made up of ventilated plastic to assist with the fans intake. The end is also open to assist with the fan intake and additional ventilation. As was detailed on the box the fans are removable simply by unscrewing the black thumbscrews. Once pulled out you can see the frame-less 80mm fans attached which a small black thumbscrew and a mounting bar at the top. These fans use a sleeve bearing and are made by Power Logic. The fans are powered by contact circuits which are "completed" when the fans are slid into the correct position. This in effect means they are wireless so are easy to remove and replace. Out of the box you can see the overclocks, up from stock Nvidia speeds of 980MHz core, 1085MHz boost and 1500MHz memory. Testing Procedure Methods The test the performance of video cards at eTeknix we run a variety of tests at four different resolutions, where supported and appropriate, across a suite of games and benchmarks. We run each of these benchmarks three times to take an average and use the latest WHQL-certified video card drivers from AMD and Nvidia to test with, namely Catalyst 13.4 and Nvidia Forceware 320.49. To attain noise levels we hold a decibel meter approximately 3 inches away from the card after running Furmark for five minutes. To achieve idle noise we allow the system to stay idle at the desktop for 5 minutes before taking a noise reading. To achieve temperatures we take the maximum temperature of the GPU core during Furmark load as recorded by CPUID HW Monitor. To achieve idle temperatures we take the minimum recorded GPU core temperature in CPUID HW Monitor after desktop-idling for 5 minutes. To measure power consumption we take the maximum stable power consumption at idle on the desktop over a 5 minute period, and for load we take the maximum stable power consumption during Furmark load. Like with acoustic measurements we do not read off the maximum stable power consumption value until after 5 minutes to give the system enough time to stabilise at its power envelope. Test System: Motherboard - Asus Rampage IV Extreme X79 LGA 2011 (chipset fan disabled) Processor - Intel Core i7 3960X at stock clock speeds of 3.3GHz with Turbo Mode disabled. RAM - 16GB (2 X 8GB) Corsair Vengeance Pro Series 1866MHz at 9-10-9-27 CPU Cooler - Corsair H100i with Quiet Fan Profile Power Supply - Corsair HX1050W Main Storage Drive - Kingston HyperX 240GB SSD over SATA III interface Chassis - Lian Li T60 Test Bench Displays - Dell U2711 Ultra Sharp for 2560 by 1440 and we use the LG IPS 234 & LG IPS 224 with the Dell U2711 Ultra Sharp to run 5760 by 1080. Operating System - Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit We would like to thank Asus, Corsair, Kingston, Lian Li and all our other partners who supplied us with test equipment and hardware. Their generosity makes our testing possible and without them we wouldn't be able to produce the reviews we do, so thank you! Games Used Aliens Vs Predator Dirt Showdown Hitman: Absolution Metro Last Light Sleeping Dogs Bioshock Infinite Tomb Raider Resolutions Used (where possible) 1680 x 1050 1920 x 1080 2560 x 1440 5760 x 1080 Hardware Used Plug "killawatt" style electricty usage meter Benetech GM1351 decibel meter Software Used 3DMark 11 3DMark 2013 CPUID HWMonitor Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0 Windows 7 Professional 64-bit Furmark 1.10.5 3DMark 11 "3DMark 11 is the latest version of the world’s most popular benchmark. Designed to measure your PC’s gaming performance 3DMark 11 makes extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to consistently and reliably test DirectX 11 under game-like loads." From 3DMark.com 3DMark 2013 "The new 3DMark includes everything you need to benchmark your hardware. With three all new tests you can bench everything from smartphones and tablets, to notebooks and home PCs, to the latest high-end, multi-GPU gaming desktops. And it's not just for Windows. With 3DMark you can compare your scores with Android and iOS devices too. It's the most powerful and flexible 3DMark we've ever created." From Futuremark.com Unigine Heaven 4.0 "Heaven Benchmark with its current version 4.0 is a GPU-intensive benchmark that hammers graphics cards to the limits. This powerful tool can be effectively used to determine the stability of a GPU under extremely stressful conditions, as well as check the cooling system's potential under maximum heat output. It provides completely unbiased results and generates true in-game rendering workloads across all platforms, such as Windows, Linux and Mac OS X." From Unigine.com. Aliens Vs. Predator "Aliens vs. Predator, also known by fans as Aliens vs. Predator 3 or AVP3 to distinguish it from earlier titles, is a 2010 video game developed by Rebellion Developments and published by Sega for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It is a sequel to Aliens versus Predator 2, although it does not have any connection with that game's plot. Instead it charts events on the planet BG-386, where a Weyland-Yutaniresearch team led by Karl Bishop Weyland has discovered aYautja Pyramid, and is simultaneously studying the Xenomorphs found there and hoping to unlock the advanced technology contained within. The Aliens soon escape, prompting a response from the United States Colonial Marine Corps, while the Predators also send three of their member to investigate." From Avp.wikia.com Bioshock Infinite "BioShock Infinite is a first-person shooter like you’ve never seen. Just ask the judges from E3 2011, where the Irrational Games title won over 85 editorial awards, including the Game Critics Awards’ Best of Show. Set in 1912, players assume the role of former Pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt, sent to the flying city of Columbia on a rescue mission. His target? Elizabeth, imprisoned since childhood. During their daring escape, Booker and Elizabeth form a powerful bond -- one that lets Booker augment his own abilities with her world-altering control over the environment. Together, they fight from high-speed Sky-Lines, in the streets and houses of Columbia, on giant zeppelins, and in the clouds, all while learning to harness an expanding arsenal of weapons and abilities, and immersing players in a story that is not only steeped in profound thrills and surprises, but also invests its characters with what Game Informer called “An amazing experience from beginning to end." From Bioshockinfinite.com Dirt Showdown "DiRT Showdown is the new arcade racing game from the team that brought you the award-winning DiRT series, uncaged in 2012. Pick up and play controls combine with electrifying events, frenzied crowds and stunning graphics to deliver high octane, dive in and drive thrills from event one." From Codemasters.com Hitman Absolution "Hitman: Absolution is the fifth title in the Hitman series by producer, IO Interactive, published by Square Enix and co-published by Eidos. The game was released for thePlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows on November 20, 2012. Hitman: Absolution runs on IO Interactive's proprietary Glacier 2 game engine, combining classic Hitman game mechanics with new mechanics." From hitman.wikia.com Metro Last Light "Metro: Last Light (formerly Metro 2034) is a first-person shooter and horror video game developed by Ukrainian studio 4A Games and published by Deep Silver for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was released in May 2013. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic world and features a mixture of action-oriented and stealth gameplay. The game exists in the universe of the novel, Metro 2033, and its sequels, written by Russian author, Dmitry Glukhovsky, but does not follow any direct storylines from the books. Metro:Last Light takes place one year after the events of Metro 2033, proceeding from the canonical ending from the novel, ending where Artyom chose to call down the missile strike on the Dark Ones.Metro: Last Light features technology which boasts of lighting effects and improved physics claimed to set a new graphical benchmark on the PC and consoles." From Wikipedia.org Sleeping Dogs "Welcome to Hong Kong, a vibrant neon city teeming with life, whose exotic locations and busy streets hide one of the most powerful and dangerous criminal organizations in the world: the Triads. In this open world game, you play the role of Wei Shen, an undercover cop trying to take down the Triads from the inside out. You'll have to prove yourself worthy as you fight your way up the organization, taking part in brutal criminal activities without blowing your cover. Torn between your loyalty to the badge and a criminal code of honor, you will risk everything as the lines between truth, loyalty and justice become permanently blurred." From Sleepingdogs.net Tomb Raider "On 5 March 2013, Square Enix released Tomb Raider, billed as a reboot of the franchise. In Tomb Raider, the player is confronted with a much younger Lara Croft who is shipwrecked and finds herself stranded on a mysterious island rife with danger, both natural and human. In contrast to the earlier games Croft is portrayed as vulnerable, acting out of necessity, desperation and sheer survival rather than for a greater cause or personal gain." From Wikipedia.org Acoustics The acoustic performance of a graphics card is an increasingly important consideration for PC users and Gamers these days. While fan noise is unlikely to ruin the gaming experience, no one likes a noisy graphics card and no one will argue with the fact that quieter is better. Many users are willing to sacrifice temperatures to gain a noise advantage, but with better cooling solutions being developed it is increasingly common to be able to get both better cooling and better acoustic performance than a reference solution on most custom cooled graphics cards from Nvidia and AMD partners. That said both AMD and Nvidia have stepped up their game too with regards to acoustics on their reference coolers. Ultimately, acoustics will always be a big deciding factor when there is often very little differentiation between graphics cards using the same GPUs. Find details of our acoustic methodology on page 3. Power Consumption With electricity becoming increasingly expensive across most parts of the world the need for computer components to become power efficient has never been more relevant. Graphics cards are often the most power hungry components inside a system so having an efficient graphics card is very important to keeping power bills under control. Power is often correlated to heat and so lower power consumption means a graphics card is likely to run slightly cooler and put out less heat into your system meaning your other components will run cooler with improved longevity. AMD and Nvidia have also both made power consumption an integral part of the way graphics cards dynamically overclock so the need for graphics card vendors to use efficient VRM and PCB designs is becoming important to maximise performance. Find details of our power consumption methodology on page 3. Temperatures The cooling solution which graphics card vendors use is one of the main differences that consumers have to contend with. Apart from their acoustic properties, the thermal properties of graphics card coolers are extremely important. Lower temperatures are always better and with AMD and Nvidia opting to use dynamic overclocking algorithms that take temperature into account it is important that graphics card vendors use high performance cooling solutions in order to maximise performance. The era of graphics cards reaching dangerous temperatures are now in the past but the importance of lower temperatures still remains. Lower temperatures mean better stability, longer component longevity and lower fan speeds. That said temperatures are one of the most important non-performance related properties on a graphics card. Find details of our temperature methodology on page 3. Overclocking Overclocking was relatively unfruitful as we only managed to add an extra 55MHz to the GPU and 65MHz (260MHz effective) to the memory. In total this is about 5% extra on the factory GPU speed and 4% extra on the factory memory speed. Clearly we haven't been winners in the silicon lottery with this particular graphics card but considering it already had a significant overclock out of the box, 5% extra is still decent enough by most people's standards. From Nvidia reference speeds our total overclock was 15% higher on the GPU and 7.7% higher on the memory. In terms of actual performance gain the performance in 3DMark 11 rose from P8762 to P9087 which is about a 4% gain from a 5% overclock. Conclusion Gainward's GTX 760 Phantom costs £220 in the UK. Compared to the price of most entry and reference GTX 760's that cost about £200-210 the Gainward GTX 760 Phantom is roughly 10% more expensive. Now right away some of you might be thinking the Gainward GTX 760 Phantom is a little on the expensive side but we can clearly see that the Gainward GTX 760 Phantom offers up a lot more than we'd expect from a normal GTX 760. Not only does it perform brilliantly, thanks to its excellent cooling solution that allows it to reach maximum GPU boost speeds, but it is also by far the quietest graphics card we have tested. I'd probably go as far as to say its the quietest GTX 760 on the market. Additionally we have seen that it is relatively frugal on power which is impressive given that it is overclocked out of the box, it does much better than other GTX 760s we have tested by as much as 50W at maximum load which clearly shows Gainward have made very efficient decisions in terms of their VRM and PCB implementation. In terms of the negatives there was very little to pick at. We found overclocking reaped little in terms of significant results which was quite sad. Of course experiences will vary by the silicon lottery and it isn't really anything to complain too much about as the card is already overclocked by 10% out of the box. The cooler's shroud was also a bit of a dust magnet which could be frustrating to the user who likes to have a nice clean system, and of course the brown PCB isn't ideal given that the whole graphics card uses a black shroud and theme. That said dark brown is certainly a lot better than blue, green or red. In the grand scheme of things you'll very rarely see the back of the card anyway, when installed you mainly see the top - which is black and looks good. As with all GTX 760s at the moment the Gainward GTX 760 Phantom is part of the free Splinter Cell Blacklist promotion so we would encourage all users to pick this up as it just adds some extra value to the graphics card. Of course that means making sure you pick up the Gainward GTX 760 Phantom from one of the participating retailers. Pros Super quiet Good out-of-the-box performance Low power consumption Great aesthetics Free Splinter Cell Blacklist game bundle (from selected retailers) Solid price considering performance Cons Further overclocking was rather limited in terms of results Brown PCB, not black like the colour of the cooler's shroud Cooler shroud is a dust-magnet More than double slot thickness eTeknix says: "Gainward's GTX 760 Phantom is a true winner of a graphics card. It is super quiet, has higher than stock performance right out of the box, it looks great and it is reasonably priced given the unique cooler it uses. If you are looking for a high performance Nvidia graphics card, without the price premium of the higher end GPUs, then you cannot go wrong with the Gainward GTX 760 Phantom. The Gainward GTX 760 Phantom comes highly recommended from eTeknix and we definitely think it is worth paying that extra 10% over the price of a "normal "GTX 760 because it offers so much more." Thank you to Gainward for providing this review sample.