Zotac GeForce GTX 780Ti OC VS 970 OC & 980, WHO IS THE VICTOR?

[Gibbo]

Hi there


OK it seems there is still some confusion and miss-information on how the 780Ti really performance, the general message is that 970 OC is faster than a 780Ti OC but really is it?

So I decided to do some testing on the Zotac card we have the crazy deal on:-


Zotac GeForce GTX 780Ti OC "GHz Edition" 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (ZT-70505-10P) @ £299.99 inc VAT

This is a truly exceptional deal as this GTX 780Ti OC from Zotac which boost to over 1000MHz offers GTX 970 beating performance, it even beats overclocked GTX 970's (when overclocked), yet the cost is the same for a card that performs close to GTX 980 levels. This is a close out sale and is limited to the stock we have incoming which is only 1000 units, were expecting them to sell out so fast especially considering the FREE games bundle and 5yr warranty! Perfect for those who want the fastest 1080P sub £300 card on the market or are looking for an SLI upgrade.

Experience PC gaming like never before with surreal visuals and world-class performance with the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 780 Ti OC. The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 780 Ti OC ushers in the next generation of PC gaming with unmatched visual realism and performance for the most demanding gamers and enthusiasts.

NVIDIA 3D Vision Surround technology enables the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 780 Ti OC to drive up to three displays for high-quality triple display gaming with immersive stereoscopic 3D effects. NVIDIA 3-Way SLI readiness lets the most demanding enthusiast gamers combine up to three ZOTAC GeForce GTX 780 Ti OC graphics cards for up to a 280-percent performance boost.


Specification:-
- GeForce GTX 780Ti
- GPU: GeForce GTX 780Ti (GK110)
- Core Base Clock: 941MHz
- Core Boost Clock: 1006MHz
- Memory Clock: 7000MHz
- Memory Size: 3072MB GDDR5
- Bus Type: PCI Express 3.0
- Memory Bus: 384-bit
- CUDA Cores: 2880
- DirectX 11.2: Yes
- DVI Port: DVI-I /DVI-D
- DisplayPort: Yes
- HDCP: Yes
- HDMI: Yes
- FREE Splinter Cell Compilation
- Warranty: 5yr (2yr +3yr FREE when you register the product with Zotac within 28 days of purchase)


Only £299.99 inc VAT.

ORDER NOW





The card itself is rather impressive, the cooler is superb never getting loud and typically always remaining very quiet simply due to the size of the cooler and the three low rpm fans which keep it very cool.

For overclocking I kept the overclocks at levels that are easily achievable by all and as such I did only 1200/7000 on the Zotac 780Ti and 1450/7600 on the 970 OC which is an easy overclock for both cards. Typically a 780Ti will hit 1250-1350MHz core and upto 8000MHz memory overclock. Whereas a 970 will typically hit 1500-1550MHz core and upto 8200MHz memory overclock.

So my benchmarks are based on what everyone can achieve not just the elite and those who got lucky on silicon. I also threw in a 980 at stock which was boosting to 1280MHz for comparison sake.


I ran only benchmarks which are below:-

1600P Game testing at Anandtech

Also check this 1600P testing in games by a user on Anandtech:-
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2401606



Conclusion

For 1080P gaming the 970 OC is a very good rival to the 780Ti but when both cards are overclocked the 780Ti does typically hold a 10% performance advantage and between the cards noise levels are very similar with the 780Ti consuming more power.

But when you increase to 1440P and 1600P resolution the 780Ti's performance gain become more apparent with upto 20% lead over the 970 OC and a lot of this is down to the wider bus on the 780Ti as 3GB of memory in most games is still more than enough for these resolutions.

So whereas we highly recommend the 970 and it is one of the best overclocking cards probably in the history of NVIDIA we should not get blinded and think it is the destroyer of everything before it. As it simply is not, yes it beats a 780 but compared to a 780Ti the 780Ti is the faster card, especially when both cards are overclocked, particular more so when resolutions are increased and the extra bandwidth from the 780Ti memory bus is utilised.

Soon this will not matter as 780Ti will be no more but right now whilst OcUK is offering such a card below £300 with a games bundle it really is the performance king at 1080P, 1440P and 1600P resolutions for gamers and should seriously be considered.

I did this as I thought it makes sense to show the true end-user performance of how a 970 and 780Ti compare when both overclocked.

Hope this helps and we've got plenty of 970 in stock so whatever your thinking of buying we have it with 970's from as little as £257.99 and the 970 I used in this review was the Galax 970 reference.

 

[Gibbo]

Nice comparison. With the massive price drops on 780 (ti) I have been recommending them to people but they seem to ignore me and favour the 970 for some reason.



I assume you got these numbers from the bench thread and not from what people are running 247? Seem pretty high otherwise.

And possibly add your watermark to your graphs in a more subtle way, it is super hard to read with the massive opaque OcUK logo in the middle.

My testing was done at 1200/7000 on the 780Ti, very easy to achieve. The card in question hit 1320/8000 but I did not testing as that was 100% fan speed and maximum voltages and not all cards will achieve that.

Just like not all 970's can achieve 1500MHz+ and 8000Mhz memory too.

The 970 out shadows the 780Ti simply because it is the latest thing with all the hype and most people think 780Ti's are still priced around £400 and not sub £300 like we have here at OcUK.

If you sold the games the 780Ti is then more likely £275ish.

 

[Gibbo]

Ah but Gibbo's just trying to shift 780Ti stock

He is right, the 780 is unbeatable at sub £200 by anything, we got plenty to last as well for now.

 

[Gibbo]

Am I missing something or are there zero 780 cards that are sub £200...or were all those comments for a "this week only" special on a blower-cooler design?

Sold out!

 

[Gibbo]

Gibbo will you be doing any crazy deals on the KFA2 780ti too?

It is already crazy at £289.99 and is nearly sold out too!

A 780Ti at sub £300 is the best buy for yonks, out of the box they cream a 970, the 970 only puts up a fight when overclocked but you can overclock a 780Ti too.

 

[Gibbo]

With the zotac 780ti, is the warranty through you guys or zotac direct?

Completely upto you for the 5yr period.

 

[Gibbo]

I'm half considering selling on my GTX 770 (friend has offered £160) and going for that Zotac 780ti... Am I mad? Planning on a monitor upgrade to 1440p early next year which is my 'justification'

No that is a good price for 770, considering we have new at £169.

The 780Ti is a good deal quicker!

 

[Gibbo]

Could I have the gigabyte or Asus ti for under £300 pleeease

Nope sorry! They are selling very well and both are less than 100 left, doing about 50 per week of each!

 

[Gibbo]

Bingo

Not all 970's do 1500 core or 8000 ram, a few people on here have clocked to less as unstable.

In hindsight not all 780ti can do such core speeds either.

But a 970 would need to be clocked beyond 1600/8000 to beat the 780ti at the clocks I tested and then I could simply run the 780ti at 1300/8000 further improving it's scores.

A lot of our customers also don't overclock at which point it's a slam dunk with the 780ti having a clear victory. Or ideal for those looking for a second 780ti for SLI.

We sell both and as I have over 2000 970's in stock with 10,000 more on order I've got far more 970 to sell and the 970 also makes me higher margin.

So I'm not a good sales person for pushing the product I've got less off and lower margins? We wanted to pull 780ti to sub £300 to offer people a great deal and an alternative to 970 or 290X, we achieved our plans.

Sorry guys nothing dodgy about it and it's not old stock as it's not in our warehouse we have an exclusive deal and informing you guys. The benchmarks ran are exactly the same benchmarks we run on any card we test, facts are the 780ti put in a stronger showing in the benchmarks we ran and always run on all the reviews we do here at OcUK.

 

[Gibbo]

Well i for one will thank you for bringing these deals Gibbo most of us know your bring us good deals because you can for us no other suppler does these kinda things as ocuk and like you said you would make more money off new tech as there is no reason to discount.

Its just made me move more towards buying a 780ti rather than a 970gtx for the same money its a better card for me.

Thanks Again

Thanks simple fact is we're trying to nail it at every gaming segment, examples

1. First etailor to get TitanZ close to £1000 and maybe under soon
2. First etailor to being 295 X2 under £700
3. First etailor to bring 780ti under £300
4. First etailor to bring 290X under £250
5. First etailor who will bring 290 under £200
6. Only etailor with 970 reference card
7. Largest and best in stock range of 980
8. Largest and best in stock range of 970
9. First and only etailor who sold 780 at under £200
10. Only retailer to sell 770 at £169


Plus many more!
We are absolutely owning it and forcing prices lower for consumers in the market.