The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Review
by Ryan Smith on November 7, 2013 9:01 AM ESTBioshock Infinite
Bioshock Infinite is Irrational Games’ latest entry in the Bioshock franchise. Though it’s based on Unreal Engine 3 – making it our obligatory UE3 game – Irrational had added a number of effects that make the game rather GPU-intensive on its highest settings. As an added bonus it includes a built-in benchmark composed of several scenes, a rarity for UE3 engine games, so we can easily get a good representation of what Bioshock’s performance is like.
As opposed to our previous game, with Bioshock the GTX 780 Ti comes out at a very strong contender, easily surpassing everything AMD and NVIDIA. Here we see it best AMD’s best by 18%, and against GTX Titan and GTX 780 it’s 7% and 20% ahead respectively. Though admittedly everything here is averaging better than 60fps at this point.
Meanwhile for the AFR matchup, with a pair of GTX 780 Ti’s we’re either looking framerates that will make a 120Hz gamer happy, or enough horsepower to take on 4K at our highest settings and still come out well ahead. At 57.3fps the GTX 780 Ti is several frames per second ahead of the 290X CF, coming up just short of averaging 60fps even at this very high resolution.
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Filiprino - Thursday, November 7, 2013 - link
And I have to add that with aftermarket coolers the 290X will get better performance, allowing to overclock even more.Here you have only compared the 290X without overclocking, only "Uber mode" which I is not the same as overclocking.
ludikraut - Thursday, November 7, 2013 - link
I'm not really on board with the R9 290X. Seems to me that the performance/overclocking of the 290X is a little sketchy, whereas the results for the 290 appear to be more consistent and for $150 less, much more attractive.Skiddywinks - Thursday, November 7, 2013 - link
I think that sketchiness comes from the fact it gets throttled all the time. With the fan running on a temperature knife edge, the ambient temp and layout of your PC is going to have a massive effect on how well it is going to perform.The 290, as we should all know, had a fan speed boost to try and take on the 780 after the price drop, instead of the targeted 770. Once AMD get around to giving the 290X the same treatment (or, alternatively, we start seeing these after market coolers), I would be willing to bet the 290X will start looking much more promising. Probably still not enough to ruin the 290 as the go-to value high end product, but it will certainly not look as pointless as current reviews and benchmarks have it looking.
madwolfa - Thursday, November 7, 2013 - link
Crysis 3 section has BF3 part pasted in it.ludikraut - Thursday, November 7, 2013 - link
What this review really needs is results for a CF R9 290. Seems to me that a pair of R9 290s will trounce a 780Ti for only $100 more. Actually looking at the overall results and how the R9 290 stacks up, I just don't see being able to justify a $300 premium for the 780ti.l8r)
smartypnt4 - Thursday, November 7, 2013 - link
This. 100% this. They'll do it eventually, but I doubt he had a 2nd R9 290 in time to put those results in.That said, the R9 290X crossfire results make me very, very hopeful for R9 290 performance. A pair of them for $800 would be a steal to get a level of 4K gaming that wasn't available at anything below $1300 previously (2x780), and the 2x290 should even beat dual 780s handily at 4K based on how the 290X does (unless they give a special 780 some of that 7GHz memory).
just4U - Friday, November 8, 2013 - link
From what I've noticed thru the years..with a product launch of this nature Anandtech doesn't rain to much on the featured cards parade. It's the star of the show after all. They get some criticism for that but ah well. They do release updated information and head to head comparison articles after initial launches. Maybe it's just a time thing.
Vorl - Thursday, November 7, 2013 - link
I can't believe that the reviewer is allowed to be so blatantly biased.I suppose they assume most of their audience is too stupid to actually think.. but still. things like this are really making me start to lose respect for a site I have read for years now.
It is so bad, it is almost to the point of leaving and recommending people I talk to/work with look for a less biased site.
nsiboro - Thursday, November 7, 2013 - link
I was initially worried about the wording/flow too but I think Ryan did the right thing.He was comparing 780ti to 780/Titan and only brought up R9-290/X when things mattered.
The take away from this review is that R9-290/X with AIB custom cooler will beat 780-Ti and reclaim the crown for AMD.
The R9-290 non-X with AIB custom cooler (when it gets released) will surely get an Editor's Award.
Vorl - Thursday, November 7, 2013 - link
I could see your point if he hadn't blatantly said "don't but the 290". Not "look forward to after marked cooling".They downplayed 4k, and the games that the 290 series did better in, and use much stronger words in the few areas that the Ti did better in.
It's also funny how they downplay the price for a minimal improvement in speed. I remember in past reviews that a price difference like that would have made a huge difference in recommendation no matter things like noise levels.