What exactly makes GPU more powerful

Gordon.C

Member
Hi,

I am torn between 2 nVidea cards.

nVidea GTX780 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162134)
and
nVidea GTX770 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500303)

I dont really understand the benchmark results. The GTX770 has higher memory clock and has 1GB bigger memory not to mention its good $200 cheaper. Still the GTX780 has better benchmark results.

I am looking for highend graphics that will be enough to power highend gaming for the following 3 years at least so I dont wanna spare any expense I just dont really understand what specs make the card more or less powerful then the other.
 
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If you compare gtx 780 and gtx 770 you can see that gtx 780 has more memory bandwidth, more texture units, more shader units and so on. Higher gpu and memory clocks does not always mean better graphic card.
If you are not extreme gamer you should buy gtx 770 otherwise you should buy gtx 780.

Here you have a comparison: http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-780-vs-GeForce-GTX-770
 
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Don't get hung up on the specs. Look at what games you are playing and monitor resolution you are using then check what the cards are benchmarked at for those settings (or close)

256 vs 384 vs memory speeds can be confusing to look at. Just know that nVidia understands how it works and you shouldn't be seeing any memory bus bottlenecks on either card :D

How much memory your card has is not the same as performance. Your GPU needs enough memory to play the game but any extra is not going to add any benefit to your gaming. Right now the sweet spot is ~3gb. 4gb is over what most users need, but not overkill as far as I am concerned. The ammount of memory on the card is tied to what the bus is. I am not quite sure exactly how but that isn't a big deal.

256 bus will use

1gb, 2gb, 4gb

384 bus will use

1.5gb, 3gb, 6gb.

So having a 770 with 4gb was (in my mind) because they wanted more than 2gb on the card. 4gb was the next choice. 780 used 3gb. 1.5gb is way too small and 6gb was overkill.

if you want the best of the 7xx series, get a 780. I would probably get a 770 and grab another for SLI when I don't have enough performance later down the road. $200 isn't worth the difference to me. But that is up to you.
 
Don't get hung up on the specs. Look at what games you are playing and monitor resolution you are using then check what the cards are benchmarked at for those settings (or close)

256 vs 384 vs memory speeds can be confusing to look at. Just know that nVidia understands how it works and you shouldn't be seeing any memory bus bottlenecks on either card :D

How much memory your card has is not the same as performance. Your GPU needs enough memory to play the game but any extra is not going to add any benefit to your gaming. Right now the sweet spot is ~3gb. 4gb is over what most users need, but not overkill as far as I am concerned. The ammount of memory on the card is tied to what the bus is. I am not quite sure exactly how but that isn't a big deal.

256 bus will use

1gb, 2gb, 4gb

384 bus will use

1.5gb, 3gb, 6gb.

So having a 770 with 4gb was (in my mind) because they wanted more than 2gb on the card. 4gb was the next choice. 780 used 3gb. 1.5gb is way too small and 6gb was overkill.

if you want the best of the 7xx series, get a 780. I would probably get a 770 and grab another for SLI when I don't have enough performance later down the road. $200 isn't worth the difference to me. But that is up to you.

Thanks. Great review. I didnt know that about the bus size compared to memory size.

I am guessing I will go with the GTX 780 even though the 770 would be far enough.
 
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