The GTX 780 Ti is unleashed on PowerColor’s 290X OC
A look at the GTX 780
Nvidia has redesigned their lighted GeForce logo and the GTX 780 Ti joins the GTX 780, the Titan and the GTX 690 in what are described as “Exotic Industrial Design”. They are the first “designer” cards from either Nvidia or AMD, and the GTX 780 Ti’s “looks” are part of the design for efficiency and cooling.
There is a bit more plastic used in the GTX 780 Ti compared to the Titan and to the GTX 690 although the look and the feel are the same. A clear window allows you to see the vapor chamber that plays such a critical role in cooling the GK110 GPUs.
The GeForce GTX logo on the edge of the GTX 780 Ti board is LED backlit. The lettering is laser-etched, ensuring precise design. This LED acts as a power indicator, lighting up when the board is in use. The intensity of this LED can be manually adjusted using tools provided by the AIB manufacturers.
With some cards, the intensity can be based on GPU utilization, so the LED will shine brighter as GPU utilization increases. We used EVGA’s tool to change the lighting effects but our case does not show off the logo to its full potential because of its design.
Here are the connectors on the Titan backplate which are identical to the GTX 780 Ti’s connectors: 
There are two dual link DVI ports, a Display Port and a HDMI port. Only one adapter is needed for 3-Panel gaming using Nvidia’s Surround.
Quiet Gaming
The GeForce GTX 780 Ti uses the same high performance cooler that was first implemented on the GeForce GTX Titan. This cooler consists of a copper vapor chamber and dual-slot aluminum heatsink along with a blower-style fan.
Nvidia uses an axial fan that has optimized the fin pitch and angle at which air from the fan hits the fin stack as the smoother the airflow, the lower the noise output. The section of the baseplate directly underneath the fan is carved with low-profile channels to encourage smooth airflow, and all components under the fan are low-profile to minimize turbulence and create an efficient airflow.
The gamer using a GTX 780 or Titan gets treated to less-perceptible noise than the GTX 680. When you listen to the fan alone – even running over 60 percent, it’s clean and smooth – and this is especially contrasted with the R9 290X, a very noisy card in Uber mode. At regular fan profiles we never reached an intrusive level over our quiet Noctua case fans – even under maximum load in gaming; we generally did not hear the GTX 780 Ti’s fan over our PC’s other cooling fans.
Compare with R9 290X
In stark contrast, the R9 290X is quite noticeable when it ramps up even in “Quiet” mode. In Uber mode it can become quite irritating, especially if the fan profile is allowed to exceed it’s 55%. Gamers that are sensitive to noise are advised to wait for quieter vendor solutions from AMD’s partners or to game with headphones.
New Adaptive Temperature Controller
With GPU Boost 2.0, the GPU will boost to the highest clock speed it can achieve while operating below 80C. Boost 2.0 will dynamically adjust the GPU fan speed up or down as needed to attempt to maintain this temperature. Previous generation GPUs have a much more noticeable fan fluctuation.
For the GeForce GTX 780 series, Nvidia has developed an all-new fan controller that uses an adaptive temperature filter with an RPM and temperature-targeted control algorithm to eliminate excessive fan fluctuations that contribute to fan noise, providing a smoother acoustic experience. It is noticeable that the GTX 780 Ti is a very quiet card even compared to other quiet cards such as the GTX 770. And it runs significantly cooler and quieter than its competitor, the R9 290X.
SLI and Tri-SLI
The GTX 780 Ti is set up for Tri-SLI by using three GTX 780 just as the Titan and GTX 780 are.
The specifications look extraordinary with solid improvements over just about anything else. Let’s check out performance after we look at our test configuration on the next page.
