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

Gibbo

Gibbo

Gibbo

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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

GX-078-ZT_400.jpg


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:-


780ti_comp.jpg~original







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. :)
 
Nice Gibbo, I got 980 zotac per your advise adjusted fan curve temps is good now :) I would like ask in overclockers uk retail store do you have lots monitors on displays can look at because cant make decision what to buy thinking come around some time soon?;)
 
skarpinis said:
Nice Gibbo, I got 980 zotac per your advise adjusted fan curve temps is good now :) I would like ask in overclockers uk retail store do you have lots monitors on displays can look at because cant make decision what to buy thinking come around some time soon?;)
Click to expand...

Only a few, our range is too big to display them all.

If you want FPS gaming, Asus ROG Swift. ;)

If you want best viewing experience, high resolutions, IPS then LG 34" UM95. :D
 
very hard buy something when you cant see yourself Friday returned one monitor (LG Flatron 29EB53-B) very bad desktop and browsing image quality everything blurry :(
 
You like making things awkward, had my mind set on the G1 980! Or save a little and go with the Zotec! :p
 
RJC said:
You like making things awkward, had my mind set on the G1 980! Or save a little and go with the Zotec! :p
Click to expand...

Bear in mind the 980 for comparison was stock. :)

If you want best out of the box gaming performance and value for money 780Ti at £299 is unbeatable. If you don't mind overclocking then 970 and 980 are excellent performers.

We have all three, so we win no matter what you choose anyway. :D
 
It is the question that is running around in my head to be honest Gibbo because I am sitting with a single 780Ti.

I could sell and get two 970's or just buy another 780Ti.


I do wonder if the water is a bit murkier than you let on though mate.

The 970 has more ROP's than the 780Ti.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1072?vs=1355

This puts the two cards side by side in various game titles in none overclocked cards.

The 780Ti generally win's more than the 970 does but the 970 does win some over the 780Ti it depends on the game title.

I'd say that the 970 would overclock more than the 780Ti judging by the press and the community so that means the 970 would recover some of the lost ground in those titles it does lose in and the 970 does still come in at about £40-50 cheaper and has an additional 1GB of memory and a few little extra driver related features.

So you are right OCuk win's either way whatever I would buy but I am still not convinced the picture is a clear picture of the 780Ti being the better card. Yes it's a huge reduction on the price of a 780Ti but I think the reality is that the 970's are just too good to be ignored.

I like to think of the 780Ti of rendering a scene by brute force. The 970 does the same job almost with much less making it highly efficent at what it does and it's cheaper even after this amazing 780Ti deal.

So yeah still think the 970 is the better choice. 980 if you have the cash.
 
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Aurhinius said:
It is the question that is running around in my head to be honest Gibbo because I am sitting with a single 780Ti.

I could sell and get two 970's or just buy another 780Ti.


I do wonder if the water is a bit murkier than you let on though mate.

The 970 has more ROP's than the 780Ti.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1072?vs=1355

This puts the two cards side by side in various game titles in none overclocked cards.

The 780Ti generally win's more than the 970 does but the 970 does win some over the 780Ti it depends on the game title.

I'd say that the 970 would overclock more than the 780Ti judging by the press and the community so that means the 970 would recover some of the lost ground in those titles it does lose in and the 970 does still come in at about £40-50 cheaper and has an additional 1GB of memory and a few little extra driver related features.

So you are right OCuk win's either way whatever I would buy but I am still not convinced the picture is a clear picture of the 780Ti being the better card. Yes it's a huge reduction on the price of a 780Ti but I think the reality is that the 970's are just too good to be ignored.

I like to think of the 780Ti of rendering a scene by brute force. The 970 does the same job almost with much less making it highly efficent at what it does and it's cheaper even after this amazing 780Ti deal.

So yeah still think the 970 is the better choice. 980 if you have the cash.
Click to expand...


Did you read the end-user review over at Anandtech I linked to, the 780Ti becomes a clear victor at higher resolution.

Plus you mention SLI, in SLI I think 780Ti is for sure a clear winner.
 
Lol @ NVIDIA, 'old' tech gfx cards at still £300 :p

As mentioned it's apples and oranges, the 970 is the logical replacement/successor of the 780ti (think AMD 280X vs 7970Ghz), so once there are more custom cooled & modified versions available you'll see more of a gap between them.
 
Gibbo said:
Did you read the end-user review over at Anandtech I linked to, the 780Ti becomes a clear victor at higher resolution.

Plus you mention SLI, in SLI I think 780Ti is for sure a clear winner.
Click to expand...

Yeah I did have a look but and you are right it does win but not by much in some cases as little as 1-2 FPS.

In the odd title like Rome 2 it loses.

I'd have found it harder at £250 but £300 is a £50 hike over a 970. Not interested in the game voucher.

On paper the 780Ti should probably still be worth £50 more but it just doesn't seem that way. Alien isolation would have been a better game to bundle than borderlands as well but that's my opinion only.

Blame nvidia for making what was a £500+ card as good as a £250 card!

There is also the "new card room for driver optimisation" argument for the 970 as well. 780Ti is dead in the water on that front.
 
Not to mention all new features that goes with 9xx series directx12 or VXGI etc,something that should also be consider before buying.

Not that I want to start arguing in my first ever post.:)
 
Roady said:
Lol @ NVIDIA, 'old' tech gfx cards at still £300 :p

As mentioned it's apples and oranges, the 970 is the logical replacement/successor of the 780ti (think AMD 280X vs 7970Ghz), so once there are more custom cooled & modified versions available you'll see more of a gap between them.
Click to expand...

Not to mention all new features that goes with 9xx series directx12 or VXGI etc,something that should also be consider before buying.

Not that I want to start arguing in my first ever post.
 
behemothlair said:
...Not that I want to start arguing in my first ever post.
Click to expand...

Or a double post for that matter ;)

I can see the benefits of both, think they're priced about right, and as has been said before I don't think anyone will be disappointed by either. I guess one thing to consider is if you want to go SLI in the future, you may not be able to get another 780ti new, whereas that problem won't arise with the 970 for some time.

Here's a question - would my 610W PSU be able to handle this 780ti when overclocked (given that I've got an average overclock on the CPU in my sig)? I'm sure the 970 would, so curious to see if the 780ti would be ok or would merit a PSU upgrade.
 
behemothlair said:
Not to mention all new features that goes with 9xx series directx12 or VXGI etc,something that should also be consider before buying.

Not that I want to start arguing in my first ever post.
Click to expand...

Totally correct though! The 'gap' will only increase as time goes on (driver optimisations etc), I'm guessing the 780ti was so popular that NVIDIA don't need a real big price drop on it to clear stocks... Plenty of 780ti owners will just SLI them rather than swapping them out.

Aa83 said:
Here's a question - would my 610W PSU be able to handle this 780ti when overclocked (given that I've got an average overclock on the CPU in my sig)? I'm sure the 970 would, so curious to see if the 780ti would be ok or would merit a PSU upgrade.
Click to expand...

Would really depend on your PSU, I had problems with a PC P & C (Seasonic based) 600W running an overclocked 2700K with 2 overclocked AMD 7 series cards. Dropping the CPU overclock was enough to solve it until I purchased a larger (1000W) PSU :)
 
you say this........JUST when my G1 970 arrives? Curse you Gibbo.....currrrrssse you with a big rusty spooooooooon!

LOL!
 
kfouwels said:
How come, based on the memory bus?

I'm now stuck between SLI 970s and SLI 780 tis for 144Hz@1080p, curse you making my poor life difficult with your deals. :P
Click to expand...

Look at the Anandtech testing, they show the 780Ti as a clear victor in 1440P and above, upto 20% faster against an overclocked 970 and in SLI yes the bus helps further.

It is a very hard choice, if you want maximum FPS potential in games and your budget is £300 max, the 780Ti is the card to get. If you like the new features NVIDIA are offering and prefer lower power usage then 970 is the choice to get.

Either way your not going to be disappointed, you have to remember 780Ti's were a £500-£600 just a few months ago and were NVIDIA's flagship gaming card.
 
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