Gigabyte GTX 780 Ti GHz Edition 3GB Graphics Card Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

In the USA we found the Gigabyte GTX 780 Ti GHz Edition (GV-N78TGHZ-3GD) selling for $744.45 at Provantage and $729.99 at Newegg. In the UK Overclockers are stocking this card for £619.99. Remember GTX 780 Ti graphics cards start at about $680+ or £530+ and these tend to be reference designs but you will actually find some custom board designs for that price too. So the Gigabyte GTX 780 Ti GHz edition holds approximately a 10% premium in the USA and due to limited availability in the UK we are seeing about a 20% premium but as more retailers start to stock this card we should see it settle at the 10% mark eventually. If we point out this product’s main rival, non-reference R9 290Xs, then this actually looks immensely attractive as those appear to be starting at $700+ due to the cryptocurrency mining bonanza pushing up AMD GPU prices.

Overview 

So for that extra money over reference pricing what does the Gigabyte GTX 780 Ti GHz Edition offer up? Well we aren’t going to dwell on the GTX 780 Ti itself because we’ve already reviewed that here, this is a review of what Gigabyte have done with the GTX 780 Ti GPU. When I reviewed the GTX 780 GHz Edition from Gigabyte I really liked it and to be honest not much has changed here, aside from the GPU and the price. In effect then the conclusion is similar. This is a brilliant graphics card. The results speak for themselves – it’s stupidly fast thanks to the bonkers overclock, it’s amazingly cool and quiet thanks to the excellent cooling solution and Gigabyte have still kept a relatively competitive price given all those things. Of course you can just buy a lower clocked Gigabyte GTX 780 Ti with a WindForce cooler and overclock it and save yourself that extra money. However, you have to consider not all GTX 780 Ti GPUs will clock that high and obviously the non-GHz Edition variants will not have a backplate. So in effect you’re paying more for a speed-binned GPU and a backplate.

When it comes to overclocking you shouldn’t expect much. I’ve read a few reviews of this graphics card myself and I’ve seen similar results. The card comes pretty much at its limits out of the box so there is minimal room left for further overclocking, however, given the performance you’re unlikely to need it. All in all the Gigabyte GTX 780 Ti GHz Edition is a very polished graphics card. It’s got the performance, cooling, acoustics, decent pricing and it looks great with a nice backplate to finish. It also comes with a three year warranty which I guess is decent enough, though for such an expensive product you’d always like to see a little more.

Pros

• Blisteringly fast
• Very cool running given clock speeds and noise
• Virtually silent
• Backplate
• Competitive pricing in USA

Cons

• 3 year warranty could be longer
• Game bundle deals in the USA seem non-existent
• Limited availability in the UK, as a result pricing isn’t that competitive

“Gigabyte’s GHz Edition SKUs are starting to become a favourite here at eTeknix. The concept is so beautifully simple but it just works – crank the clock speed up to the max, add a backplate and strap on a great cooling solution. If you’re in the market for the ultimate Nvidia gaming graphics card then the GTX 780 Ti GHz Edition from Gigabyte looks like an immensely attractive option, especially considering the inflated prices of AMD R9 290X graphics cards right now.“

Thank you to Gigabyte for providing this review sample.