Gigabyte GTX 760 WindForce OC 2GB Graphics Card Review

Introduction Nvidia's GTX 760 has been out now for quite a while and we've seen a whole variety of models hit the market. At eTeknix we've only managed to review one GTX 760 so far and that was the rather epic KFA2 GTX 760 EX OC 2GB graphics card. Today we've got another enthusiast grade overclocked GTX 760 from Gigabyte. The GTX 760 WindForce OC 2GB graphics card we have here today is using Gigabyte's WindForce 3X cooler capable of handling thermal loads of up to 450W. It uses a trio of 80mm fans to help keep this graphics card running cool and quiet. Gigabyte have wasted no time in giving this GTX 760 a hefty dollop of extra performance as they have raised both the core clock and GPU boost clock. The core clock has been raised from 980MHz to 1085MHz while the boost clock has been increased from 1033MHz to 1150MHz. By my calculations that's a 10.8% overclock on the GPU core clock and an 11.3% overclock on the GPU boost clock. The memory has been left untouched at the stock 1502MHz actual, 6008MHz effective speed. Right away then we should expect the WindForce GTX 760 OC graphics card to be around 10-15% faster than a reference GTX 760 meaning it will be much faster than the current Nvidia GTX 670 and maybe even GTX 680. Below you can see how our Gigabyte GTX 760 WindForce OC 2GB graphics card arrived. We received a dedicated review sample so it has none of the retail packaging and accessories. Inside we had just the card in some protective foam and with some protective plastic on the outer shroud. A Closer Look The Gigabyte GTX 760 WindForce OC uses a triple 80mm fan cooler and a glossy piano black finish that is a bit of a fingerprint magnet. This is Gigabyte's trademark WindForce 3X 450W capable VGA cooling solution. The PCB may irritate some people as Gigabyte have opted for a blue PCB when nowadays most people seem to prefer black, very dark brown or even white. The graphics card measures in at 12cm tall and 27.5cm long as well as taking up two PCI slots in thickness. Underneath that plastic shroud we find three 8mm copper direct contact heatpipes feeding into two separate dense aluminium heatsink stacks. There is also a separate heatsink underneath to cool the VRM circuitry. At the top we find a pair of SLI fingers for up to 3 way SLI, a very nice addition for such a budget orientated graphics card. The card draws power from a single 6 pin PCIe and a single 8 pin PCIe. Underneath that shroud you can see the density of the aluminium heatsinks used as well as the part number which is GV-N760OC-2GD REV:1.0 The other side reveals a rather dense clustering of capacitors around the VRM area. The top bares a GIGABYTE branding logo. Here more closely we can see that the second heatsink is slightly raised up to allow for the VRM heatsink underneath it to fit. At the end of the unit we can see the three heatpipes passing out of the heatsink, they are all capped. The connectors are Display Port, HDMI, Dual Link DVI and Single Link DVI. A TechPowerUp GPU-Z profile points out the key details such as 2048MB of VRAM and clock speeds of 1085/1502(6008)/1150MHz core/memory/boost. 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 Gigabyte's GTX 760 WindForce OC 2GB graphics card already comes with a 10.3% GPU core overclock and 11.3% GPU boost overclock right out of the box. We were able to eek out an additional 6.5%/70MHz on the GPU core clock and 70MHz/6.1% on the GPU boost clock. On the memory we were able to add 8% or 120MHz actual (480MHz effective) taking the total memory clock to 1622MHz actual or 6488MHz effective. Compared to reference Nvidia GTX 760 specifications the Gigabyte WindForce OC GTX 760 2GB graphics was able to add 17.9% to the GPU core clock, 18.1% to the GPU boost clock and 8.1% to the effective memory clock. In terms of actual performance we saw a score of P9149 in 3DMark11, up from P8752 at the factory graphics card speed, meaning an actual performance gain of about 4.7%. If we consider that the Gigabyte GTX 760 WindForce OC already comes overclocked by 10% then an extra 5% of performance is very much welcomed. Final Thoughts We have already seen from Nvidia's GTX 760 that it is the new sweet-spot gaming graphics card in Nvidia's new line up. The GTX 760 replaces the GTX 660 Ti and sits just behind the GTX 770 in the new GTX 700 series. Gigabyte's implementation of the GTX 760 that we've seen here today is certainly an interesting one. Firstly Gigabyte have stepped up to the market in offering both a custom cooled GTX 760 and one with significant out of the box overclocks. We can see across a wide range of benchmarks that it sits very close behind the GTX 770 but at a fraction of the cost, the reason for that is the fact Gigabyte have implemented such a high overclock out of the box. In terms of pricing we are seeing current availability and pricing for about £215 which makes Gigabyte's GTX 760 WindForce OC possibly the cheapest factory overclocked GTX 760 with a custom cooler money can buy. The eagle eyed among you will have noticed that the Gigabyte GTX 760 we reviewed had a blue PCB and finger print magnet outer plastic shroud. Since release Gigabyte have opted to release a second revision of this exact graphics card fixing both these problems. The new revision features an all-black PCB as well as a more matte-style outer shroud. Furthermore Gigabyte are also partaking in the Splinter Cell Blacklist bundle so if you buy from selected retailers, available below in our pricing section, then you will be able to pick up a free copy of that game adding some extra value. While we have seen that the strong points of the Gigabyte GTX 760 include its performance, price and overall aesthetics (if you buy revision 2), it is also important to examine this graphics card's weaknesses. From our results it is apparent that the WindForce 3X solution isn't the quietest and even under gaming load it does create a lot of noise. That said it is still able to hold the GTX 760 overclocked at temperatures just under the 80 degree mark meaning GPU Boost 2.0 doesn't need to kick down the clocks as much as it would have to on a reference cooling solution, so while the temperatures are similar to reference coolers this is only the case because GPU boost 2.0 chooses 80 degrees as the thermal cap. The Gigabyte GTX 760 is able to sustain much higher clocks at that same thermal cap than other solutions so it may be loud but it does give cooling performance to compensate. My other issue with the Gigabyte GTX 760 WindForce OC 2GB graphics card is that it is rather power hungry. The card can uses as much as, if not more than, the next card up in the series the GTX 770. Of course a lot of this is to do with the increased clock speeds and addition of two more fans. Pros Value for money & price Close to GTX 770 performance Good cooling performance Reasonable overclocking headroom Free Splinter Cell Blacklist game promotion New revision has black PCB and improved shroud Cons Cooler gets loud under load Power consumption is nearly as much as GTX 770 eTeknix says: "Gigabyte's GTX 760 WindForce OC 2GB Graphics card is a smart choice for any gamer looking for the best performing GTX 760 money can buy. The WindForce cooling implementation allows for additional overclocking headroom and for the graphics card to maintain consistently high Nvidia GPU Boost 2.0 clock speeds. The decision by Gigabyte to revise the design to include a black PCB and improved shroud only shows how in-touch with consumers they are and Gigabyte really deserve credit for such a move. Silent freaks may not be impressed with the noise though it can be tamed with custom fan and temperature profiling." Thank you to Gigabyte for providing this review sample.