Closing Statement
In marketplace full of excellent video cards, the PNY GTX780 XLR8 OC stands proudly apart from the crowd. It may use the same 2304 CUDA core equipped GK110 found in the typical GTX 780, but this is not your typical GTX 780. Thanks to aggressive parts binning, a massive factory overclock and a custom 3 fan cooler design this GTX 780 is radically different than reference GeForce GTX 780s.
The reason this video card is so special is because its design goals are radically different than the typical NVIDIA GTX 780. This video card has not been built to help you hunt virtual monsters; rather it is a monster which has been built to hunt other monsters and its prey of choice is the mighty GTX 780Ti. Compared to the more expensive GTX 780Ti, the XLR8 OC’s more reasonably priced of $549 makes deciding between the two down right easy for most consumers. Even though it costs $150 less throughout testing it consistently nipped at the heels of its more expensive 780Ti counterparts in stock settings. When manually overclocked, the 780 XLR8 OC was even able to outperform a typical GTX 780Ti without causing temperature or noise levels to get out of hand.
Quite honestly the only GTX 780Ti that can fend off this beast would be custom 780Ti variants which have also been upgraded over a stock NVIDIA 780Ti. Considering these special 780Ti’s cost even more than the regular Ti’s the 780 XLR8 OC’s price to performance ratio is all the more enticing. When you consider that the XLR8 OC only demands a fifty dollar price premium over a stock NVIIDA GTX 780 choosing a stock GeForce GTX 780 no longer makes much sense.
Much like Batman would not be as effective without his utility belt, the XLR8 OC would not be as fearsome a predator without its extremely impressive customer cooler. PNY’s engineers really created something special with cooler as it not only keeps temperatures in check at the default factory overclocking levels, but begs for customers to push things even further. It is so effective that we doubt that the 780 XLR8 OC is even allowed to reach its fullest potential because of NVIDIA’s stubborn refusal to allow for higher voltages.
In the end there is not much to dislike and a whole lot to like about the PNY GTX 780 XLR8 OC. As long as you can afford and can justify this level of performance the GTX 780 XLR8 OC deserves to be on your short list for further consideration. Overlooking it would be doing yourself a great disservice as it offers a lot of bang for your hard earned buck.
