EVGA’s reference GTX 780 meets the R9 290X OC

Performance summary charts & graphs

Here are the summary charts of 30 modern PC games and 4 synthetic benches. The highest settings are generally chosen and it is DX11 whenever there is a choice; DX10 is picked above DX9, and the settings are generally ultra or maxed unless specified on the chart. Specific settings are listed on the charts. The benches are run at 1920×1080 and 2560×1600.

First up, a note on the testing – Warmed-up versus ‘Cold’ benching and Uber vs. Quiet

All of our cards are tested in a Thermaltake Tower case with superb airflow, and they are thoroughly warmed for at least five minutes before benching.  The PowerColor R9 290X OC at Uber clocks does not throttle any more than the GTX 780 does at cool ambient temperatures – 72-76F.  It runs 1030MHz as its temperatures with a noisy fan at 55% to stay below 94C.  However, in Quiet mode – which is a little louder than the EVGA GTX 780 with stock fan profile – the fan at 40% is unable to cool the GPU and the clocks throttle affecting performance.  Some games are not affected much while others lose frame rates as shown by ten examples below.We will cover this more thoroughly in the upcoming PowerColor 290X OC evaluation, and we will then also go for the maximum overclock with voltages unlocked and fans screaming at 100% to further compare with the overclocked GTX 780 and GTX 780 Ti.  However, the following chart will show the 290X in Uber as well as in warmed-up Quiet mode.  If we are going to compare performance based on noise alone, both the GTX 780 stock and the GTX 780 at max overclock would both compare to the R9 290X in Quiet mode.

Main Overall Summary chart – the Big Picture

Here is the master chart. We call it “the big picture”.  The first column shows the performance results of the R9 290X in warmed-up Quiet mode.  The EVGA GTX 780 results at reference clocks are in column 2 while Uber 290X (1000MHz) is in column 3 followed by the user-overclocked GTX 780 (+150MHz core/+550MHz memory).   The new GTX 780 Ti at stock clocks are followed by the GTX Titan and the GTX 690. The last 4 columns show the HD 7970 at stock (925/1375MHz) and GHz Edition Boost clocks (1050MHz/1500MHz) followed by the stock GTX 770 and finally the stock R9 280X.

The EVGA GTX 780 3GB when overclocked further performs closer to its big brother, the GTX 780 Ti.  At reference speeds, the GTX 780 beats the Quiet mode of the R9 290X in the majority of the benches and it more-or-less matches the stock 290X (1000MHz) in Uber mode. When we overclock the GTX 780, it easily surpasses the PowerColor 290X OC (1030MHz) version.  Let’s head for our conclusion.