Clock Rates and Thermal Limits
We already covered GPU Boost 2.0 and, small though they may be, the subtle changes Nvidia made to GeForce GTX 780 compared to Titan. Specifically, we see that both cards start limiting core clock rates once the GPU reaches 60°C, dialing back the performance gains attributable to GPU Boost a bit. This becomes more pronounced on the GeForce GTX 780 as its core temperature rises, though the 780 exhibits much greater and more varied clock speed fluctuations, while the GTX Titan is basically limited to three clock levels. While GeForce GTX Titan practically loses the ability to boost its clock speeds as soon as it reaches its thermal limit, the graph still shows 780’s core frequency spiking upward consistently.

Power Consumption
In less demanding applications (including games), the GeForce GTX 780 uses slightly less power than Titan. Although both cards bear the same TDP, this is still somewhat surprising. You'd think that the pared-back hardware would be less power-hungry. The difference are in-line with what we're used to seeing from two similar cards with different amounts of RAM. In other words, it seems that the deactivated hardware blocks on the GTX 780 are still drawing power.




Also curious, the GeForce GTX 780 appears to use more power under full load than the Titan until it reaches its thermal limit. Meanwhile, the bigger card runs into its thermal limit sooner, while still offering more performance. One explanation is that the Titan operates closer to the GK110 GPU’s sweet spot, while the GTX 780 relies on higher clock speeds for its performance.

As long as the cards stay within their predefined thermal limits, they can hit power peaks beyond what their nominal TDP would allow. In practice, you will see these only rarely and very briefly at that. Still, don’t forget to take them into account and pick your power supply accordingly.

Effects of the Thermal Limit
Lastly, let’s look at what happens when both cards hit their thermal limits after being under load for a while. The GeForce GTX 780’s power consumption drops from 245 to 232 W, while the GeForce GTX Titan only dips by 2 W, from 238 to 236 W. This is another example of how much more headroom GPU Boost 2.0 provides, extracting extra performance as long as the GPU remains cool enough.

- GK110 Gets A Little Bit Leaner
- GeForce GTX 780: The Card
- GeForce Experience And ShadowPlay
- GPU Boost 2.0 And Troubleshooting Overclocking
- Test Setup And Benchmarks
- Single-Card Results: Battlefield 3
- Single-Card Results: BioShock Infinite
- Single-Card Results: Borderlands 2
- Single-Card Results: Crysis 3
- Single-Card Results: Far Cry 3
- Single-Card Results: Hitman: Absolution
- Single-Card Results: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Single-Card Results: Tomb Raider
- Multi-GPU Results: Battlefield 3
- Multi-GPU Results: BioShock Infinite
- Multi-GPU Results: Borderlands 2
- Multi-GPU Results: Crysis 3
- Multi-GPU Results: Far Cry 3
- Multi-GPU Results: Hitman: Absolution
- Multi-GPU Results: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Multi-GPU Results: Tomb Raider
- Heat, Noise, And Cooling
- Power Consumption And GPU Boost
- OpenGL: 2D And 3D Performance
- DirectX And CAD: 2D And 3D Performance
- CUDA Performance
- OpenCL: Single-Precision
- OpenCL: Double-Precision
- GeForce GTX 780: Another GK110-Based Card For Wealthy Gamers
Of course, one could argue that as we get closer to higher-end products, the performance increase is always minimal and price to performance ratio starts to increase, however, for the past 3-4 years (or so I guess), never has it been that the 2nd highest-end GPU having such low performance difference with the highest-end GPU. It's usually significant enough that the highest end GPU (GTX x80) still has it's place.
Tl;dr,
The GTX Titan was released to make the GTX 780 look incredibly good, and people (especially on the internet), will spread the news fast enough claiming the $650 release price for the GTX 780 is good and reasonable, and people who didn't even bother reading reviews and benchmarks, will take their word and pay the premium for GTX 780.
Nvidia is taking a different route to compete with AMD or one could say that they're not even trying to compete with AMD in terms of price/performance (at least for the high-end products).
Of course, one could argue that as we get closer to higher-end products, the performance increase is always minimal and price to performance ratio starts to increase, however, for the past 3-4 years (or so I guess), never has it been that the 2nd highest-end GPU having such low performance difference with the highest-end GPU. It's usually significant enough that the highest end GPU (GTX x80) still has it's place.
Tl;dr,
The GTX Titan was released to make the GTX 780 look incredibly good, and people (especially on the internet), will spread the news fast enough claiming the $650 release price for the GTX 780 is good and reasonable, and people who didn't even bother reading reviews and benchmarks, will take their word and pay the premium for GTX 780.
Nvidia is taking a different route to compete with AMD or one could say that they're not even trying to compete with AMD in terms of price/performance (at least for the high-end products).
Thats apretty bad analogy. A gpu is still smooth even with some of the cores/vram/etc turned off, it doesn't increase latency/frametimes/etc.
I must've missed something. Why wait a week?
Probably to get the GTX 770 launch into the picture, and maybe price cuts from AMD.
That was my opinion after I read Anandtech's review.
Not all is right at nvidia and this is just desperate times for desperate measures stuff, we now await AMD's response and if they play it right and make the node jump it could end up being very ugly.
but i don't know why people are complaining about the price because nvidia had no good competition for it at the moment and when they do they will have to reduce it
GK110 isn't a new anything. It's been around as long as the GTX 680 aka GK104 and is still part of the Kepler family. I think the new cards you're thinking of that are due sometime next year (maybe?) are the Maxwell family of cards.
I still maintain that this is what the 680 should have been a year ago, but I've beaten that horse to death too many times so I'll shut up...
No, if I meant Maxwell I would have said Maxwell. GTX 700 is GK110 but in the long and short Nvidia talked this up to be an almighty part yet we are only talking about 20% faster than the aging 7970. So now we wait for AMD's response which may still be some time yet.
I'd rather save $200+ and get a 7970GE. If Nvidia really wants to be aggressive they need to sell this for ~$550.
Granted, the price difference between this and Titan is ridiculously, making it a no-brainer purchase. Not for me though. Not upgrading from two 670s yet, hehe.