PNY GTX 780 Ti XLR8 OC Single & SLI
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Acoustics / System Power Consumption
What you see below are the baseline idle dB(A) results attained for a relatively quiet open-case system (specs are in the Methodology section) sans GPU along with the attained results for each individual card in idle and load scenarios. The meter we use has been calibrated and is placed at seated ear-level exactly 14” away from the GPU’s fan. For the load scenarios, Hitman Absolution is used in order to generate a constant load on the GPU(s) over the course of 15 minutes.
What can we say other than the results really do speak for themselves? The PNY GTX 780 Ti XLR8 OC is one of the quietest GTX 780 Ti’s we’ve ever tested even though its heatsink isn’t marketed as much of anything. Even when two of the cards are placed in SLI, they’re nearly as quiet as the TITAN Z, and that’s really impressive considering there are six fans spinning in the place of the TITAN’s one.
For this test we hooked up our power supply to a UPM power meter that will log the power consumption of the whole system twice every second. In order to stress the GPU as much as possible we used 15 minutes of Hitman Absolution while letting the card sit at a stable Windows desktop for 15 minutes to determine the peak idle power consumption.
Please note that after extensive testing, we have found that simply plugging in a power meter to a wall outlet or UPS will NOT give you accurate power consumption numbers due to slight changes in the input voltage. Thus we use a Tripp-Lite 1800W line conditioner between the 120V outlet and the power meter.
While the GTX 780 Ti is quite a bit more efficient than the R9 290X despite its performance lead, adding in higher frequencies to that mix does boost power consumption up by a bit. Naturally, adding another card in has a cumulative effect and you’ll need a good 800W PSU to keep things running. That’s actually not too bad considering how much AMD’s competing solutions require.
Acoustical Testing
What you see below are the baseline idle dB(A) results attained for a relatively quiet open-case system (specs are in the Methodology section) sans GPU along with the attained results for each individual card in idle and load scenarios. The meter we use has been calibrated and is placed at seated ear-level exactly 14” away from the GPU’s fan. For the load scenarios, Hitman Absolution is used in order to generate a constant load on the GPU(s) over the course of 15 minutes.
What can we say other than the results really do speak for themselves? The PNY GTX 780 Ti XLR8 OC is one of the quietest GTX 780 Ti’s we’ve ever tested even though its heatsink isn’t marketed as much of anything. Even when two of the cards are placed in SLI, they’re nearly as quiet as the TITAN Z, and that’s really impressive considering there are six fans spinning in the place of the TITAN’s one.
System Power Consumption
For this test we hooked up our power supply to a UPM power meter that will log the power consumption of the whole system twice every second. In order to stress the GPU as much as possible we used 15 minutes of Hitman Absolution while letting the card sit at a stable Windows desktop for 15 minutes to determine the peak idle power consumption.
Please note that after extensive testing, we have found that simply plugging in a power meter to a wall outlet or UPS will NOT give you accurate power consumption numbers due to slight changes in the input voltage. Thus we use a Tripp-Lite 1800W line conditioner between the 120V outlet and the power meter.
While the GTX 780 Ti is quite a bit more efficient than the R9 290X despite its performance lead, adding in higher frequencies to that mix does boost power consumption up by a bit. Naturally, adding another card in has a cumulative effect and you’ll need a good 800W PSU to keep things running. That’s actually not too bad considering how much AMD’s competing solutions require.
Overclocking Results
As we mentioned in the introduction, PNY lacks the overclocking software of their immediate competition but that doesn't mean other manufacturers' software won't work on their cards. In this case we used EVGA's Precision tool and the results were good, though nowhere near what was achieved with a purposed-built card like ASUS' Matrix.
While PNY may not make their own overclocking tools, they have included a handy OCP citcuit that can be jumpered with a bit of solder. We didn't test this out but the option is there if you're willing to void the lifetime warranty.
Working within NVIDIA's severely constrained limits is always a challenge, especially when we come across a card like this one. The XLR8 OC has plenty of thermal overhead to spare, even when overclocked and we were actually able to leave its fan speed profiles at their stock settings without worrying about the card throttling.
Even when operating within NVIDIA's strict limits, by maxing out the allowable voltage and power limits, we had the cards running at a core speed of 1183MHz (a bit less than a 100MHz overclock) while the GDDR5 fared considerably better at 7844MHz.
Overclocking Results
As we mentioned in the introduction, PNY lacks the overclocking software of their immediate competition but that doesn't mean other manufacturers' software won't work on their cards. In this case we used EVGA's Precision tool and the results were good, though nowhere near what was achieved with a purposed-built card like ASUS' Matrix.
While PNY may not make their own overclocking tools, they have included a handy OCP citcuit that can be jumpered with a bit of solder. We didn't test this out but the option is there if you're willing to void the lifetime warranty.
Working within NVIDIA's severely constrained limits is always a challenge, especially when we come across a card like this one. The XLR8 OC has plenty of thermal overhead to spare, even when overclocked and we were actually able to leave its fan speed profiles at their stock settings without worrying about the card throttling.
Even when operating within NVIDIA's strict limits, by maxing out the allowable voltage and power limits, we had the cards running at a core speed of 1183MHz (a bit less than a 100MHz overclock) while the GDDR5 fared considerably better at 7844MHz.
Conclusion
PNY’s GTX 780 Ti XLR8 OC may not be the fastest graphics card on the block but it provides enough performance to satisfy just about anyone while also costing less than most of the competition. Make no mistake about it, these cards aren’t inexpensive by any stretch of the imagination but there’s still a certain amount of value attached to getting flagship performance for less than some heavily marketed alternatives. This one also comes with that ultimate of rarities: a lifetime warranty.
This far into the GTX 780 Ti’s life, the performance of overclocked versions doesn’t come as a surprise but that doesn’t mean the benchmark results weren’t impressive. The single XLR8 OC is about 8% faster than a reference solution, which may not be noticeable to most users but a bit higher framerates are better than nothing. Add another card for SLI and things start to fly. Due to NVIDIA’s stellar SLI scaling, this $1300 solution is able to easily power ahead of the ultra-expensive TITAN Z and similarly priced R9 295X2. There are one or two instances where the larger memory allotments of those cards to start to bend things in their favor but overall, the dual GTX 780 Ti XLR8 OC setup remained comfortably in the lead.
When looking at a card like this, the first thing you’ll likely think of is overclocking. In that respect the XLR8 is a bit of a disappointment but none of the blame lands on PNY’s shoulders. The card does overclock well but without a way around NVIDIA’s power and voltage limiters, it is constantly held back. Imagine a dog yanking at its leash in an effort to sprint free and you’ll have an idea of what it’s like overclocking a locked-down GTX 780 Ti. Some board partners have bypassed the lockdown but only on cards that are significantly higher priced than PNY’s XLR8. You can utilize the OCP jumper but that involves a voided warranty for what may be minimal gains on air cooling.
The real beauty of PNY’s solution lies in its relatively simple but nonetheless impressive heatsink. It kept temperatures at some of the lowest levels we’ve seen thus far while also providing some of the quietest acoustical results. Even during our overclock testing, leaving the fans at their default setting didn’t cause a noticeable jump in noise. Ironically, these results either equal or are better than supposedly “precision engineered” examples from PNY’s competitors.
In a market that’s cluttered with plenty of options from more recognizable board partners, PNY’s GTX 780 Ti XLR8 OC finds itself fighting an uphill battle. There are higher performing alternatives and more budget friendly reference-based choices but from a value standpoint, this card is almost impossible to beat. It almost offers the performance of EVGA’s Superclocked coupled with some of the best temperatures and acoustics we’ve ever seen from a flagship product at a price that’s slightly easier to stomach than so many similarly equipped cards.
What really pushes the XLR8 to the forefront is its lifetime warranty which gives gamers peace of mind provided they intend to keep their new purchase for any length of time. With all of these factors in their favor, we have to applaud PNY’s efforts to get themselves some well-deserved recognition.
Conclusion
PNY’s GTX 780 Ti XLR8 OC may not be the fastest graphics card on the block but it provides enough performance to satisfy just about anyone while also costing less than most of the competition. Make no mistake about it, these cards aren’t inexpensive by any stretch of the imagination but there’s still a certain amount of value attached to getting flagship performance for less than some heavily marketed alternatives. This one also comes with that ultimate of rarities: a lifetime warranty.
This far into the GTX 780 Ti’s life, the performance of overclocked versions doesn’t come as a surprise but that doesn’t mean the benchmark results weren’t impressive. The single XLR8 OC is about 8% faster than a reference solution, which may not be noticeable to most users but a bit higher framerates are better than nothing. Add another card for SLI and things start to fly. Due to NVIDIA’s stellar SLI scaling, this $1300 solution is able to easily power ahead of the ultra-expensive TITAN Z and similarly priced R9 295X2. There are one or two instances where the larger memory allotments of those cards to start to bend things in their favor but overall, the dual GTX 780 Ti XLR8 OC setup remained comfortably in the lead.
When looking at a card like this, the first thing you’ll likely think of is overclocking. In that respect the XLR8 is a bit of a disappointment but none of the blame lands on PNY’s shoulders. The card does overclock well but without a way around NVIDIA’s power and voltage limiters, it is constantly held back. Imagine a dog yanking at its leash in an effort to sprint free and you’ll have an idea of what it’s like overclocking a locked-down GTX 780 Ti. Some board partners have bypassed the lockdown but only on cards that are significantly higher priced than PNY’s XLR8. You can utilize the OCP jumper but that involves a voided warranty for what may be minimal gains on air cooling.
The real beauty of PNY’s solution lies in its relatively simple but nonetheless impressive heatsink. It kept temperatures at some of the lowest levels we’ve seen thus far while also providing some of the quietest acoustical results. Even during our overclock testing, leaving the fans at their default setting didn’t cause a noticeable jump in noise. Ironically, these results either equal or are better than supposedly “precision engineered” examples from PNY’s competitors.
In a market that’s cluttered with plenty of options from more recognizable board partners, PNY’s GTX 780 Ti XLR8 OC finds itself fighting an uphill battle. There are higher performing alternatives and more budget friendly reference-based choices but from a value standpoint, this card is almost impossible to beat. It almost offers the performance of EVGA’s Superclocked coupled with some of the best temperatures and acoustics we’ve ever seen from a flagship product at a price that’s slightly easier to stomach than so many similarly equipped cards.
What really pushes the XLR8 to the forefront is its lifetime warranty which gives gamers peace of mind provided they intend to keep their new purchase for any length of time. With all of these factors in their favor, we have to applaud PNY’s efforts to get themselves some well-deserved recognition.
