The 780 and 780 Ti are very overclockable cards, but all 780's are not created equal and all 780 Ti's are not created equal.
At the very top are the EVGA Classified and the MSI Lightnng .... these are very special cards, capable of exceeding voltage limits and are very overclockable.
Next in line are the factory overclocked card from Asus and MSI. Excellent coolers, very quiet and very robust designs, as evidenced in these reviews.
http://us.hardware.info/reviews/4639/10/nvidia-geforce-gtx-780-asus-vs-evga-vs-inno3d-vs-msi-conclusion
.In the above 780 roundup they compare the Asus DCII , MSI Gaming Series, EVGA SC and Inno 3D cards..... the Asus finishes 1st, MSI 2nd and EVGA SC, last as would be expected since the SC's historically have basically been just a reference PCB design with stock VRM. Must mention that the MSI card in that review has been replaced with the N Gaming series which has a 954 MHz core speed whereas the card in the review had only a rather mundane 902 Mhz core speed.
http://www.legitreviews.com/nvidia-geforce-gtx-780-ti-video-card-roundup_137646/13
Here they compare the MSI N Gaming series, EVGA SC and Gigabyte Windforce models. The MSI again comes out well above the other two and given the almost identical PCB designs and coolers as used with th e780 versions, I expect the Asus and MSI will again run a very close race for 1st and 2nd place.
The Gigabyte Windforce models are on par with the MSI and Asus models with regard to attainable speeds and thermal performance but are somewhat loud. Not also that while the reviewer noted that Asus reached the highest OC..... I have twin Asus 780's with a 22.5% OC on the core (1189 Mhz) and a 20% OC on the memory ...... "outta the box" the DCII has a rather conservative 889 MHz factory overclock, . So if you are not comfortable or interested in manual overclocking (nowadays made extremely simple and risk free with voltage limits in place), the MSI and Gigabyte have the highest factory OC's at 954 MHz on the 780.
So MSI has the best clocks, lowest noise.....tho I would think that the Asus will give it a run for it's money, unfortunately it wasn't in the test.
Looking over at
MSI 780 Ti N Gaming - 9.9 rating
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_780_Ti_Gaming/29.html
EVGA 780 Ti SC - 9.5 rating
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/EVGA/GTX_780_Ti_SC_ACX_Cooler/31.html
Asus 780 Ti DCII - 9.4 rating
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GTX_780_Ti_Direct_Cu_II_OC/29.html
Now getting away from who makes it to which card..... I see some value to the 6GB though I'd take it if the extra 3 GB was free or maybe up to $25 per card. While many have theorized that larger memory will help, even for the few games that might "use it", that doesn't mean it will translate into better performance (fps). This is conclusively shown by the 5760 numbers here, and BF4 nonwithstanding, I don't see that changing until 4k screens become more affordable and game vendors see more of a market share.
http://alienbabeltech.com/main/gtx-770-4gb-vs-2gb-tested/3/
Back at the end of 2013 .... I didn't see the price increase of the flagship 780 Ti as being worth the rather moderate performance increase..... with the 780's price holding and even increasing of late, and the 780 Ti finally dropping (I guess in anticipation of the new 8xx series) , I'm kinda sitting on the fence and couldn't argue hard against either choice.
In the 780 arena, I'd want the MSI or Asus ..... on one hand, having an Asus MoBo, that makes tech support calls easier, but there is a $10 newegg price difference. The MSI 780 is now up to $500 on newegg....was $470 least week..... the EVGA SC and Asus DCII is $10 more which should make the MSI the easy choice here with Asus in 2nd. Can't see paying more to get less with the EVGA SC.
In the 780 Ti arena, I'm gonna echo techpowerup and knock the Asus card down a notch for the rather paltry factory OC. Yes, it's manually overclocks fine but since the 670, Asus has been notching the factory OC down and relying on their manual OC ability and loyalty in the enthusiast community to maintain the position. But here again the MSI card sits head and shoulders above the competition.
The EVGA 780 Ti SC is $720 .... Asus and MSI is $690....again, why pay $30 more to get less. The MSI is the clear winner here, Asus taking 2nd for the palty factory OC.
For whatever reason, the 780s which several were available in the $460-470 range a week or two ago have climbed back to the $500 zone..... while the 780 Tis which again were as low as $670 at that time, are now back nipping at $700. Your choice may therefore ultimately depend on the cost on the day you buy. The 780's price dropped precipitously on the day the 780 Ti was announced and I expect we'll see the same thing when the 880 pops. Rumors have swirled from May to September .... videocardz site still projecting June release.
Since the 5xx series, I have always found it a better option to use two 2nd or 3rd tier cards than a single 1st tier card..... My son's two 560 Tis for example were $410 when the 580 was $500 and they outperform the 580 by 40%. I couldn't justify the cost premium for the 780 Tis but I waited for their release knowing that when they hit, price would drop on the 780s. In addition to the price drop, I scored on the $150 game bundle x 2 (made nice XMas presents) . So, to summarize...... unless the 780 Ti starts dropping again, or the 880 is about to pop, I see the 780's as the way to go.
Another option ya might wanna consider is the water cooling option. While the EVGA Hydrocopper's water cooling performance has been disappointing, especially with regard ti the VRM, the new Asus Poseidon has been rather well received. You can install it using air cooling from the getgo and then move to water cooling later on. While personally, I'm a fan of custom loops and EK blocks oin GFX cards, I see more value to the Poseidon that i do to say a Corsair 100i on a CPU.
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/asus_gtx_780_poseidon_platinum_review,26.html
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