PNY GTX 780 Ti XLR8 Review

Introduction Introduction The PNY GTX 780 Ti XLR8 is an incredibly high performance video card. It consistently surpassed our expectations on what a single card could do. As a leading manufacturer with over 21 years of experience PNY Technologies are well known for delivering products which offer equal helping of performance, quality and value. The latest addition to their video card lineup is the PNY GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8 which has an MSRP of $699 but can be found online for $10-$20 less. It may sound odd considering it is an enthusiast grade video card, but this new card has been positioned to not only offer bleeding edge performance but also offer consumers a good value. Terms like value are rather ethereal in nature and defining it can be difficult to say the least. What is a good value to one person bears very little resemblance to someone else's idea of value. Making things even more difficult for PNY is a certain amount of premium always accompanies class leading performance - and makes no mistake this GeForce GTX 780Ti does have performance to burn. To accomplish this seemingly Sisyphean task PNY have implemented a multipronged solution that may just make the impossible possible. Firstly, like others have broken their high performance 780Ti series into multiple models: a 'stock' 780Ti and a factory overclocked model. The GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8 is the former and not the latter model. By not having to bin cores or guarantee a level of overclocking PNY has been able to keep this second from the top GeForce GTX 780Ti's price somewhat in check. While $699 is still a lot of money, it is actually less than what most of the competitions stock 780Ti model's command and is a full $50 less than PNY's flagship GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8 OC model. Backstopping this lower price point, and further boosting value, is PNY have given this card a default 1 year warranty that instantly gets upgraded to a lifetime warranty as soon as you register the card. All you need do is register it within the 'standard' warranty period and in return you never have to worry about this cards warranty expiration date again. On the performance side of things - and helping to explain the less extreme asking price - PNY have opted for both the stock NVIDIA cooler and kept the fully enabled GK110 core at stock settings. This means a base clock of 875Mhz and a boost clock of 928Mhz which is higher than a stock GeForce GTX 780's specifications of 863/900. Add in the additional 25% cores backed paired to faster RAM and this PNY should have the horsepower to keep up with the demands of any modern game. More importantly this performance boost comes at only a $200 price premium over a stock GeForce GTX 780. Put another way the PNY GeForce GTX 780Ti still costs $300 than a GeForce GTX Titan and has more core enabled than it! This rather unique blend of performance, price and value is what PNY is counting on to convince consumers to opt for this card over the competitions. But the key question is if this particular stock GeForce GTX 780Ti is not if it is worth the extra $200 over a stock GeForce GTX 780 but whether or not it can justify its $699 MSRP. After all, if this GeForce GTX 780Ti can't impress, how does the more expensive models ever stand a chance?! Specifications and Features A Closer Look at the PNY GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8 The PNY GeForce GTX 780TI XLR8 comes in a very compact and attractive packaging that is both attention getting and filled with all the details any consumer could ask for. Even though PNY has opted for 'NVIDIA green and black' color scheme they have greatly improved the overall aesthetics by the strategic use of gold flair. The only fault anyone can find with this external packaging is that a picture of the actual card is nowhere to be found. The front certainly proclaims - in that highly attractive gold font - that this is a XLR8 Enthusiast Edition video card and the back has plenty of pictures but not one of them is a shot of the card itself. Of course anyone spending nearly $700 will have already done their homework and know what they are buying before they reach the store, but it still is a curious oversight by PNY. When you remove the internal packaging from the shipping container you can see that PNY has opted for a plastic enclosure. This clear top and white bottomed plastic enclosure both secures the card and further helps reduces the chances of damage to the card happening while in transit. More importantly it doesn’t add much weight or increase the overall dimensions of the shipping container. Something that anyone ordering online will like as it will help keep shipping costs down! Unfortunately, while there is very little to take issue with the external shipping container the included accessories are a touch sparse. In grand total you will get a single 8pin PCI-e adapter, a single digital to analog port adapter, a quick start guide and a CD with the necessary drivers for the 780Ti XLR8. Considering the more frugal price point of this card this is somewhat acceptable, but more value orientated or not this is nearly a $700 card we would have liked to have seen a much better and varied selection of accessories. On cursory glance the PNY GeForce GTX 780TI XLR8 looks exactly like a stock GeForce GTX 780 or even a stock GeForce GTX Titan. This is for the simple reason that the PNY GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8 uses NVIDIA's reference design. This means the same very good cooler with vapor chamber technology backstopped by aluminum fins, a metal and plastic heatshink shroud to funnel the air out the back of the case, the same 10.5" PCB, and even the same overall silver and black aesthetics. Truth be told the only way can tell one from another is by reading the model name on the top of the card itself. Interestingly unlike a stock GeForce GTX 780 the 'GTX 780Ti' has not been stamped into the metal fascia and rather has been laser engraved. However while it has been cut out, the plastic cover does run underneath this branding so consumers need not worry about hot air leaking inside the case via these large holes. The rear port of the card is also a dead-ringer for the typical Titan or GTX 780. This means the same connector selection of two DVI connectors stacked above the other and a single full size HDMI and DisplayPort connector. Also like any reference design the rear exhaust ports consist of one row of vents plus two additional vents below the row. This unfortunately does leave a large solid metal area which could have been used for either more connector options or - better yet - more exhaust vents. This will impact overall temperatures, but based on experience with the reference GeForce GTX780's cooler the PNY GeForce GTX 780TI XLR8 should still provide more than adequate cooling potential. What does distinguish this GeForce GTX 780TI from a reference stock GeForce GTX 780 cannot be seen from the outside. Even if you remove the heatsink you would not be able to tell the difference and it is only be taking a closer look at the GK110 core that you would have any inkling. Instead of the now standard GTX 780's GK110 which has 2,304 CUDA cores running at 863/900MHz, the PNY GeForce GTX 780TI XLR8 has all 2,880 cores enabled and running at an base clock of 875MHz and a boost clock speed of 928. This means not only a 25% increase in theatrical performance from the 25% more cores but even more performance from each and every one of those cores. Helping to further improve performance is the 3GB of onboard GDDR5 ram does not run at an effective frequency of 6,000MHZ and instead runs 7,000Mhz. Even though the GK110 has finally been fully enabled and this card does run it faster than a a GK110 inside a reference GeForce GTX 780, NIVIDA and PNY have been able to keep the power requirements the same at 250 watts. This means only a single 8-pin and single 6-pin PCI-E power connector is needed. Like most reference designs the two power connectors are located along the top edge so as to no make this card even longer and are in the standard side by side configuration. Also like any high performance reference NVIDIA design, the PNY GeForce GTX 780TI XLR8 comes equipped with support for 3-way SLI support via dual SLI connectors. Speaking of reference designs, PNY has opted forgone the use of a backplate and gone with a naked PCB on for the back. This is unfortunate as the back is what most people will see the most of when this XLR8 is installed inside a case. Testing Methodology To fully test the abilities of a given video card, we have used a blend of in-game benchmarks and custom recorded real world game benchmarking. For custom game play we have used FRAPS to record the minimum and average frame rates and to do so for as set period of time. All tests were run a minimum of four times and the scores are the average of all four runs.All games were patched to their latest version, the OS was a fresh clean install of Windows 7 with all latest hotfixes, patches and updates applied. All games were tested at the two of the most popular resolutions of 1080P (1920x1080) and then again at 1440P (2560x1440). This means each game’s tested was run a minimum of 8 times: 4 @ 1080P and 4 @1440P. Before testing Unigine’s Valley benchmark was run for 15 minutes to ‘warm up’ the video card. This was done to ensure that more realistic long term performance and not short term 'cold card' performance is being illustrated. The games used for testing were: Sleeping Dogs Metro: Last Light BioShock Infinite Crysis 3 Batman: Arkham Origins Tomb Raider Battliefield 4 Assassins Creed: Black Flag Call of Duty: Ghosts For stress testing we used Unigine’s Valley benchmark. For overclocking we used either the manufactures included software overclocking program or if necessary EVGA’s Precision X program. Drivers: GeForce 332.21 Main Test System Processor: Intel i7 4770K Memory: 16GB GSkill 2666 Trident X CL11 1.6v Motherboard: MSI MPower Max Z87 Cooling: Corsair H100i SSD: 1x Seagate 600 Pro 400GB, 2x Intel DC S3700 800GB SSDs. Power Supply: Corsair AX860i Monitor: Dell U2713H OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 Sleeping Dogs Gaming Benchmark In the Synthetic Gaming Benchmarks section we will show a number of benchmark comparisons of PNY GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8 and other comparable GPUs, using various benchmarks which come included with five popular modern PC games. This will illustrate how much performance the GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8 has to offer. To ensure that long term performance is and not short term performance is illustrated 15 minutes of Unigine’s Valley benchmark was run to ‘warm up’ the video card. Only then were any tests run on the now warm video card. Sleeping Dogs Gaming Benchmark Sleeping Dogs is an open world action-adventure video game developed by United Front Games in conjunction with Square Enix London Studios and published by Square Enix, released on August 2012. Sleeping Dogs has a benchmark component to it that mimics game play and an average of four runs was taken. The settings used in the testing below are the Extreme display settings and a resolution of 2560x1440 and 1920x1080. World density is set to extreme, Vsync disabled, high-res textures are enabled, and shadow resolution, shadow filtering, screen space ambient occlusion, and quality motion blur are all set to high. While no single card is able to do consistently do above 30 frames per second with every setting maxed out at 1440P, the GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8 does post a remarkable boost in minimum frame rates over both a stock GeForce GTX 780 and a GeForce GTX Titan. Specifically, it may cost $200 more than the standard 780 but in return you do get an additional four frames per second on the all import minimum results. In most cases it is the minimum frame performance that forces gaming enthusiasts to turn down the post processing levels and this increase is significant to say the least! Conversely this powerhouse of a card is pretty much overkill at 1080P but once again, the increase will be noticeable. 30 frames per second is not a hard and fast rule and for some the extra 6 frames per second on the minimum side of the equation backstopped by a whopping 11+ frames per second increase on the average will certainly be noticeable. More importantly this extra buffer is the difference between 'nearly good enough' (GTX 780) and 'more than good enough' (GTX 780Ti). The same holds true for the GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8 vs. GeForce GTX Titan comparison and while the Titan does post very good numbers the GTX 780Ti is simply better - yet costs a heck of a lot less. That to us is even more impressive. Metro: Last Light Gaming Benchmark Metro: Last Light is a DX11 first-person shooter video game developed by Ukrainian studio 4A Games and published by Deep Silver released in May 2013. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic world and features action-oriented gameplay. The game has a benchmark component to it that mimics game play. Scene D6 was used and an average of four runs was taken. The settings used in the testing below are Very High for quality and a resolution of 2560x1440 and 1920x1080. DirectX 11 is used, texture filtering is set to AF 16X, motion blur is normal, SSA turned on and tessellation is set to high. Metro LL is one of those next generation games where you simply will not be able to have all the post processing turned to maxium if you want to play the game at something which remotely resembles fluid movement. Even at 1080P this game simply puts a big old hurting on video cards and no single card solution will let you run at above slide show levels. You will have to turn the settings down to get playable frame-rates. With that being said the PNY GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8 does post significant improvements over a stock 780 and even outperforms the much more expensive Titan. Overall we saw a greater than 20% improvement over the GeForce GTX 780 and this level of improvement will translate a better looking game. BioShock Infinite Gaming Benchmark BioShock Infinite Gaming Benchmark BioShock Infinite is a first-person shooter video game developed by Irrational Games, and published by 2K Games released in March 2013. The game has a benchmark component to it that mimics game play and an average of four runs was taken. The settings used in the testing below are UltraDX11 (option 3) for quality and a resolution of 2560x1440 and 1920x1800. As with Sleeping Dogs, BioShock Infinite will force you to turn down the enhancements if you plan on using a 1440P monitor; however just like Sleeping Dogs the PNY GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8 comes as close as we have ever seen a single card come to hitting 30 frames per second for its minimum results. In fact, it is not only 5 frames per second on the minimums better than a stock 780 but nearly a full 1 frame per second better that GeForce GTX Titan! On the average fps side of the coin the GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8 looks even better as it is 11 frames better than stock 780 and over 3 frames faster than a Titan. At 1080P the differences are even greater as the GeForce GTX 780Ti post minimum scores that are over 7 fps better than a stock GTX 780 and better than 2 fps better than the Titan. Either way you slice it this is one powerful card. Tomb Raider Gaming Benchmark Tomb Raider Gaming Benchmark Tomb Raider is an action-adventure video game published by Square Enix and released in March 2013. The game has a benchmark component to it that mimics game play and an average of four runs was taken. The settings used in the testing below are Ultimate default settings for quality, VSync disabled and a resolution of 12560x1440 and 1920x1080. Once again this Titan killing card is easily justifying its price tag of nearly $700. Tomb Raider is not precisely 'NVIDIA friendly' but if you want to consistently hit above 30 frames per second with all the eye candy turned up at 1080P but don’t want to spend a thousand dollars this is the kind of card you want. At 1440P the results are almost good enough to leave everything maximized but you will have to turn the settings down ever so slightly; however with all the other test results, the GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8 is significantly better than a stock 780 and even out muscles a GTX Titan. Batman Arkham Origins Gaming Benchmark Batman Arkham Origins Gaming Benchmark Batman: AO is an action-adventure video game published by Warner Bros and released in October 2013. The game has a benchmark component to it that mimics game play and an average of four runs was taken. The settings used in the testing below are highest settings for quality, VSync disabled and a resolution of 12560x1440 and 1920x1080. Anti-Aliasing is set to TXAA (high). Motion blur, Distortion, Lens Flare, Light Shafts, and Reflections set to On. Geometry, Dynamic Shadows, Depth of Field, and Ambient Occlusion all set to DX11 Enhanced. At this point these results are not unexpected in the least and just underscore precisely how good this new breed of video card truly is. If PNY's 780TI is able to continue to post results this good they really will have created an actual value orientated, enthusiast grade video card - $699 asking price or not! Battlefield 4 Gaming Benchmark Real World In-Game Benchmarks In the Real Gaming Benchmarks section we will show a number of timed real world game play results using FRAPS and four popular modern PC games. This will illustrate how much performance the GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8 has to offer and do so in a way which cannot be unduly skewed by driver ‘optimizations’ which have been included for the sole purpose of improving benchmark results. While not as common as it once was such optimizing is still not unheard of by either AMD or NVIDIA. Once again Unigine’s Valley benchmark was run for 15 minutes to ‘warm up’ the video card prior to testing. Battlefield 4 Gaming Benchmark Battlefield 4 is first person shooter video game, published by EA Digital Illusions CE and released in October 2013. Unlike most, this games does not include an in-game benchmark. This makes it perfect for more real world gaming tests. To obtain repeatable results we have used FRAPs and recorded the first 90 seconds of the single player Tashgar level. An average of four runs was taken. The settings used in the testing below are Ultra pre-set for quality, with VSync disabled and a resolution of 12560x1440 and 1920x1080. Double digit percentage increase on average frames per seconds and an 5 - 6 additional frames added to the minimum scores over what a typical GTX 780 can do, what's not to love about this kind of improvement?! Of course it does come at the cost of an additional $150 dollars, but up until the Ti models the only way to get better than GTX Titan performance was to go the SLI route, a route which is not without its own host of problems. Assassins Creed: Black Flag Gaming Benchmark Assassins Creed: Black Flag Gaming Benchmark Assassins Creed: BF is an historical action-adventure video game, published by published by Ubisoft and released in October 2013. Like Battlefield 4 this games does not include an in-game benchmark. This makes it perfect for more real world gaming testing. To obtain repeatable results we have used FRAPs and recorded a custom run through Havana’s marketplace. An average of four runs was taken. The settings used in the testing below are highest settings for quality, VSync disabled and a resolution of 12560x1440 and 1920x1080. Environment quality was set to very high, Anti-Aliasing was set to TXAA 4X, Ambient Occlusion set to HBAO+ (high), Shadow Quality set to ‘soft shadow’, Motion Blur and Volumetric Blur both set to On. Texture Quality, Reflection Quality, and God Rays all set to High. Once again a massive 18-19% average FPS improvement backstopped with additional five or six frames per second on the minimum side of the equation is rather impressive. Call of Duty: Ghosts Gaming Benchmark Call of Duty: Ghosts Gaming Benchmark Call of Duty: Ghosts is a first person shooter video game, published by Activision and released in October 2013. Since it does not include an in-game benchmark, it perfect for more real world gaming testing. To obtain repeatable results we have used FRAPs and recorded 90 seconds of the single player ‘Ghost Stories' level, starting as soon as we resume control of Logan back on Earth. An average of four runs was taken. The settings used in the testing below are highest settings for quality, VSync disabled and a resolution of 12560x1440 and 1920x1080. Image Quality, Textures Resolution, Normal Map Resolution, and Specular Map Resolution set to Extra. Screen Space Ambient Occlusion and Antistrophic Filtering set to High, Terrain Detail set to ON, and Anti-Aliasing was set to TXAA 4X. With Shadows, Distortion, Motion Blue and Depth of Field set to Yes. The more we use this video card the more we like it and once again the boost in performance is an across the board improvement large enough that even if your wallet may not like the idea, the PNY GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8 is the more sensible option. In the wake of these results, going the stock GTX 780 - let alone the GTX Titan - route is now rather hard to justify. Crysis 3 Gaming Benchmark Crysis 3 Gaming Benchmark Crysis 3 is a first person shooter video game, published by Electronic Arts and released in February 2013. While older than some of the others it is one of the most visually stunning games released to date and puts a lot of demands on the GPU. This makes it perfect for more real world gaming testing. To obtain repeatable results we have used FRAPs and recorded 90 seconds of the single player ‘Post Human' level, starting as soon as soon as prophet is handed a Hammer II pistol by Psycho. An average of four runs was taken. The settings used in the testing below are highest settings for quality, VSync disabled and a resolution of 12560x1440 and 1920x1080. Texture Quality, Game Effects, Objects, Particles, Post Processing, Shadows, Shading, Water, and System Specs all set to Very High. Motion Blurr was set to High and Lens Flare was set to On. Anti-Aliasing was set to MSAA 8X and Antistrophic Filtering was set to 16x. And this seals the deal as once again the PNY GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8 makes justifying its asking price a lot easier than we thought possible. In fact for well-heeled enthusiasts it really is one of the most optimal value options available. Temperature, Noise, and Power Analysis Video Card Temperature Results For all temperature testing the cards were used in an open test bed environment. Ambient temperature was kept at a constant 20°C (+/- 0.5°C) and if the ambient room temperatures rose above 21°C or dropped below 19°C at any time, all benchmarking was stopped until proper temperatures could normalized. For Idle tests, we let the system idle at the Windows 7 desktop for 25 minutes and recorded the peak temperature. For Load tests, we ran Unigine’s Valley benchmark for 20 minutes. Sound Level Test Results While everyone "hears" noise differently there is one easy way to remove all subjectivness and easily compare different fans: use a sound level meter. This way you can easily compare the various fans noise envelopes without us colouring the results and see what fans fit within your personal comfort level. Of course, we will endeavour to try and explain the various results - which are taken at a 15 inch distance from the GPU’s fan(s) - to help you gain an even better understanding of how loud a cooler's stock fan is, but even if you discount our personal opinions, the fact remains numbers don't lie. For Idle tests, we let the system idle at the Windows 7 desktop for 25 minutes and recorded the peak dB. For Load tests, we ran Unigine’s Valley benchmark for 20 minutes and recorded the peak dB. While the stock NIVIDIA cooler may not exactly be as aggressive looking as some custom cooling solutions it does get the job done. Just as importantly not only does it keep the fully enabled GK110 core running at a rather reasonable temperature levels it does so without being as loud as a vacuum cleaner. In fact, it is rather mild compared to some previous generation designs and certainly puts AMD's stock cooler to shame. System Power Consumption To obtain accurate results we have connected the system to a Power Angle power meter that has in turn been attached to a 1500watt UPS. This ensures only 120volt power is supplied to the PSU and removes an varaiences that could potential crop up because of brownouts and power spikes. In order to stress the video card we have once again used Unigine’s Valley benchmark and ran it for 20 minutes to determine peak system power consumption. For idle results we have let the system idle at the Windows 7 desktop for 25 minutes and recorded the peak idle power consumption. Even with a full 25% more cores, the PNY GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8 is not what we would call a power hog by any stretch of the imagination. Simply put, in return for approximately 40 watt increase in power consumption consumers get to take advantage of all that extra horsepower. That is a trade-off many - including ourselves - would be more than willing to make. This goes double when you consider that while idling the differences between a stock 780, a GTX Titan and the PNY GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8 is only a couple watts and certainly not enough to worry about. Overclocking Overclocking To discover our PNY GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8 sample’s overclocking abilities we used EVGA’s Precision X software and began raising power and thermal thresholds to the maximum allowed and then increased the voltage the maximum permitted. Then using Unigine’s Valley benchmark we began stability testing and overclocked until instability occurred. A stable overclock was not considered stable until it passed an hour long torture test using Unigine's Valley benchmark. After hours of testing and tweaking we were able to boost performance to a peak of 1152Mhz –a whopping 24.1% percent over the cards default boost levels of 928Mhz. The memory was also able to run at an effective 7760Mhz, which is a very decent 10.8 percent improvement over the card’s default of 7000Mhz. Needless to say we are actually impressed with the PNY GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8's stock cooler. Such an increase is impressive given the more conservative and value orientated nature of this particular card. As you can see the end result was a performance boost of easily over 10% in average frames per second with multiple frames per second improvement to the all-important minimum frame rate performance results. While you will still have to turn performance down to get to a minimum playable 30 frames per second in all games, a moderately overclocked 780Ti comes awfully darn close to not needing it in BioShock and a lot closer than expected in Crysis 3! Overall, these results just reinforce our opinion that the PNY GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8 may indeed be expensive, but it does provide surprising value for the money. Performance Summary & TL;DR Performance Summary In an effort to make sorting through all the results as easy as possible we have combined the results all of all the game results into an easy to digest summary format. By comparing the PNY GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8 to similar products in an easier to digest chart format, you should easily be able to find the game(s) you are interested in, see the improvement and decide if the PNY GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8 is the worth the investment. TL;DR Not everyone is interested in long but well-reasoned conclusions. Many simply want it distilled down to its barest essentials. In as concise a manner as possible this is our findings on the PNY GeForce GTX 780Ti : The PNY GeForce GTX 780Ti is an incredibly high performance video card. Throughout testing it consistently surpassed us and made us reevaluate our expectations on what a single card could do. Unfortunately all this performance comes at a rather steep asking price. At this price point it may be too expensive for most consumers to justify - Titan destroying performance or not. Score Card Packaging & Accessories : 8 out of 10 While the included accessories are certainly lackluster for such an expensive video card what is included is of good quality. The same can be said of the shipping container as it may not be the flashiest of boxes but it is still stylistic pleasing while offering good protection to the card while in transit. More importantly finding room to store this box - in case you need to RMA this lifetime warrantied card - will be a snap. It is actually surprising how much power can be contained in such a small package. Functionality & Aesthetics : 18 out of 20 Much like the included accessories, the stock cooler does seem rather pedestrian compared to some of Ti's custom clad brethren; however the nude silver and black styling is still very aesthetically pleasing. More to the point this card will fit in with a wide variety of custom PC builds. Silver with black, silver with red, silver with yellow the color scheme combinations are almost limitless. The stock cooler may or may not appeal to everyone, but it is a very functional blower that does get the job done. This combined with the downright excellent performance this stock 780Ti has to offer makes for a very functional piece of engineering. Build Quality & Warranty : 18 out of 20 Once again where PNY has opted for a completely stock 780Ti the build quality is more than adequate if not exactly stunning. On the other hand the lifetime warranty is impressive and goes well beyond making up for the merely average build quality - so much so that we can only deduct two points from this section! Performance : 29 out of 30 Bleeding edge performance? Check. Decent if not precisely whisper quiet noise envelope? Check? Surprisingly decent temperatures? Check. Surprisingly efficient power usage? Check. Surprisingly good overclocking abilities? Check. This card really does have nearly everything you could ask for in the performance department. Value : 18 out of 20 Let's face it, this is an enthusiast grade product and expecting it to have as good a price to performance ratio as the smaller 7-series card is just never going to happen. If you want the best you have to be willing to pay for it. With that being said, when you take into account the lifetime warranty and the amount of performance this card has to offer the value is actually very, very reasonable. This goes double when you take the more expensive GTX Titan into consideration as it goes from being good to a down right bargain! In either case, this card will last for many years before becoming 'obsolete' and if it dies an early death before that day comes, PNY will replace it with the equivalent card as its warranty will never expire. This to use means that no matter how you define value this card has it. Final Score : 91 out of 100 Closing Statement During testing we quickly went from first liking to respecting this impressive piece of engineering. No matter what the game, be it an AMD or NVIDIA centric, the PNY GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8 acquitted itself with aplomb. It may not be as powerful as a dual card SLI solution, but for a non-factory overclocked video card this 780Ti XLR8 is as powerful and as future proof as you will find this side of dual core monstrosities. Equally impressive and arguably more important, is with the PNY GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8 consumers really not need worry about if a game has been optimized for AMD or NIVIDIA cards. It is a well-known fact that both AMD and NVIDIA spend a lot of time and effort 'one upping' each other and influencing game developers to give their cards an advantage over the competition. This can lead to situations where PC gaming enthusiasts actually have to choose the card that is best optimized for their games instead of choosing the card they want. When a system is equipped with one of these 780Ti XLR8's, such worries become less critical. Much like a gigantic wrecking ball the 780Ti XLR8 has the horsepower to simply muscle its way through any inefficiencies and lack of optimization an unscrupulous developer may have placed in its path. At higher resolutions you will still have to lower some of the post processing levels, but the amount of concessions you have to make is as low as you are likely to find this side of the $700 mark. While we may liken it to a wrecking ball a more apt metaphor is to say that the PNY GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8 is vide card equivalent of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde; however unlike that monster, this is the kind of ‘monster’ you would actually want to hang out with. During the day when you don’t need all that horsepower this card will stay as quiet and as well-mannered as any Victorian era gentleman, but at night when you want to get down and party the monster will come out and help you ravage the pixelated beasties with glee. Unfortunately, because PNY has used the stock the NVIDIA cooler a – and much like the hard partying Mister Hyde – this card can get somewhat loud and noticeable. This noise profile combined with lack of even more overclocking headroom is the greatest weakness of this seven hundred dollar card. For this amount of money were hoping for a bit more headroom, but this is a problem all stock GTX 780TI’s suffer from. Helping to balance this out – and unlike most video cards – PNY offers a lifetime warranty on this wee beastie and that alone makes this card a solid choice in the flagship card marketplace. For its combination of amazing performance, decent if uninspiring noise profile, backed up by a great warranty there really is a lot to love about the PNY 780Ti XLR8 and very few things to dislike. As long as you can afford its asking price the PNY GeForce GTX 780Ti XLR8 would make a great addition to any hardcore, PC gaming enthusiast’s system.

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