Another week and another preview, it has been busy as of late… actually it is always buys here at the PCDIY labs. Flashback to approximately 1 month ago,  NVIDIA launched a 28nm beast  based on the GK110 called the GTX 780 Ti. Since its debut, I have been inundated from inquiries from social media and all corners of the internet on if or when ASUS would release a non-reference card. Just like last weeks preview of the ASUS R9 290X DirectCU II, I am going to wet your whistle with some details as well as some photos. So let’s kick off this preview!

Overview

ASUS graphics team is always excited when it comes to new GPUs. There are few things more exciting than taking a top shelf performing product and reinterpreting the design as well as tweaking and tuning it to offer performance that improves on that of the original. For those of you that have not read up on the GTX 780 Ti, it is a no compromise, ultra high-end GPU designed for maximum image quality at HD, QHD and UHD resolutions. This card truly powers through polygons providing an impressive and immersive gameplay experience. So how do you take such an awesome performing GPU and make it better? Simple. You make it faster, cooler and quieter. In addition, you sprinkle in some ASUS design magic and offer improved power components, dust proof fans and even some new aesthetic touches like replaceable metal strips that allow you to change the accent colors of the black heatsink shroud. As always, you can expect the quality to be top-notch while retaining the hallmarks of cool and quiet operation, great build quality and overall attention to detail.

The ASUS GTX 780 Ti DirectCU II will of course feature all the same cutting edge specifications and technology support present on the current reference GTX 780 Ti, but will be improved upon helping to assure non-reference also means superior than reference. This is no easy task as NVIDIA’s design team continues to offer up impressive reference designs that do their job well and provide a balance of solid acoustics and reasonable temperatures under load. For this GPU, this feat is all that more impressive considering its performance. Credit goes equally to the design team of the GPU and heatsink and fan assembly as well as that of the team that developed the Kepler architecture and GPU BOOST 2.0. “GeForce GTX 780 Ti’s lower thermal density translates directly into better cooling, quieter acoustics, and higher clock speeds, thus allowing the GTX 780 Ti GPU to deliver better performance”. The GTX 780Ti is a powerhouse and features no less than 7.1 billion transistors and 2,880 CUDA Cores 25% more than the powerhouse that is the GTX 780. In addition the GTX 780Ti brings 7GHz GDDR5 to its 3GB of VRAM offering the not only the fastest video memory currently available but upwards of 330GB/sec of bandwidth. This really helps to usher in another level of fluidity when playing games at QHD and UHD resolutions. All things considered you can begin to see how this fully enabled GK110 GPU brings gameplay and performance to an entirely other level.

Design Aesthetic

As you can see, the card features classic DirectCU II design with an aggressive but clean red and black styling. Featuring a metal shroud and an advanced heatsink and dual fan assembly the GTX 780 Ti DirectCU II is a prime candidate to be paired with any of the similarly styled ROG motherboards. In addition with the new pure black base, it compliments a range of other boards like our TUF-series. Users who have adopted our newest range of boards sporting anodized gold heatsinks are also welcome aboard. Inlcuded in the accessories the card comes included with 2 sets of metal strips with adhesive that you can use to customize and personalize the look of the card.

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• Pure Black Aesthetic – ( this color combination compliments almost all build including our TUF and WS series as well as previous generation motherboards ). Black is not only timeless but extremely complimentary. Topping it all off this pure black look matches up perfectly with our latest ROG Black Edition or ROG series motherboards.
• Black with complimenting red accents – ( this color combination work well with our entire range of ROG series motherboards )
• Black with complimenting gold accents – ( this color combination works well with our most current generation of motherboards )

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For those of you interested in checking out some additional shots feel free to check out the gallery below.

Features

While looks are always an aspect of high end non reference design, features and functionality are just as important. Some of the key features of the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 Ti DirectCU II are noted below.

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• High performance, carefully tuned and optimized dual fan design, ensures outstanding thermal dissipation while offering quieter operation. What’s more, the two fans feature our dust proof fan design extending lifespan and improving reliability.
• High quality and high performance non reference power delivery implementation. Featuring Digi+ VRM which includes an advanced digital PWM for power delivery and control. In addition the VRM is comprised of SAP power components which include 5K SAP Capacitors, SAP ( fully molded ) high amperage chokes, SAP mosfets. The power design in total features an 8 phase solution compared to the 6 phase solution offered on the reference.
• A large heatsink assembly with advanced heat dissipation design featuring extensive internal fins and multiple direct contact continuous heatpipes. This includes a large 10MM  heatpipe for further improved thermal dissipation. Overall surface area for heat dissipation is 2.2x larger than that of the reference GTX 780 Ti.
• A VRM heatsink to ensure cooling for the critical VRM components.
• A backplate in classic high end DirectCU II design that not only offers a clean visual aesthetic but also aides in thermal dissipation.

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Rounding this out are some of features present on the GeForce GTX 780 Ti

Taken from NVIDIA specifications page.

	Kepler GPU Architecture NVIDIA’s Kepler GPU architecture has been designed from the ground up not just for maximum performance in the latest DirectX 11 games, but optimal performance per watt. The new SMX streaming multiprocessor is twice as efficient as the prior generation and the new geometry engine draws triangles twice as fast. The result is world-class performance and the highest image quality in an elegant and power efficient graphics card.
	NVIDIA GPU Boost 2.0  This brand new technology allows gamers to push PC performance to the maximum with precise controls. GPU Boost 2.0 intelligently monitors work with even more advanced controls like GPU temperature target, overclocking, and overvoltage to ensure the GPU works at the ultimate performance.
	GeForce Experience™ The easiest way to optimize your games and keep your drivers up to date, The GeForce Experience application automatically notifies you of new driver releases from NVIDIA. With a single click, you’ll be able to update the driver directly, without leaving your desktop.
	Two New Anti-aliasing Modes: FXAA and TXAA Anti-aliasing smoothes out “jaggies” (jagged edges) but can be demanding on frame rates. Fast Approximate Anti-Aliasing (FXAA) is a new antialiasing technology that produces beautiful smooth lines with minimal performance impact. And with Kepler based GPUs, you’ll be able to enable FXAA in hundreds of game titles through the NVIDIA Control Panel.The second mode, Temporal Anti-Aliasing (TXAA), is an in-game option that combines Multisample Anti-Aliasing (MSAA), temporal filtering, and post processing for even higher visual fidelity.
	NVIDIA SLI Technology1 Used by the most demanding gamers worldwide, SLI technology lets you link up to four GeForce GTX 780 Ti, together for astounding performance. And with NVIDIA’s track record for fast and frequent software updates, you’ll not only get the best performance in existing games, but future games too.
	NVIDIA PhysX Technology Full support for NVIDIA PhysX technology, enabling a totally new class of physical gaming interaction for a more dynamic and realistic experience with GeForce.
	NVIDIA 3D Vision Ready2 NVIDIA 3D Vision brings a fully immersive, stereoscopic 3D experience to the PC. A combination of high-tech wireless glasses and advanced software, 3D Vision transforms hundreds of PC games into full stereoscopic 3D. Get up to 2x monitor and keyboard brightness with NVIDIA 3D LightBoost technology. In addition, you can enjoy 3D movies and 3D digital photographs from 3DVisionLive.com in eye popping, crystal-clear quality.
	NVIDIA Surround with Up To Four Monitors3 Nothing is as breathtaking as playing your favorite games across three monitors. At 5760 x 1080, the expanded field of view fully engages human peripheral vision and provides for the most immersive experience in racing and flight simulators. Add in a fourth display to keep tabs on chat, email or web while you are gaming.
	NVIDIA Adaptive Vertical Sync Nothing is more distracting than framerate stuttering and screen tearing. The first tends to occur when framerates are low, the second when framerates are high. Adaptive V-Sync is a smarter way to render frames. At high framerates, V-sync is enabled to eliminate tearing, at low frame rates, it’s disabled to minimize stuttering. It gets rid of distractions so you can get on with gaming.

 

So that wraps up our preview. Make sure to check back soon for a more in-depth look including performance and overclocking on the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 Ti DirectCU II. With that I will leave you with a teaser of some of the performance numbers the ASUS GTX 780 Ti DirectCU II is capable of. With making this into a review as a preview those are some pretty great numbers considering the reference GTX 780Ti hits approx 82 to 83c under load at stock! If you are waiting for this beast of a card you will need to wait until around the middle of *January. As for the projected MSRP you are looking at *$699, price awesome price considering reference cards are currently * going for the same price.

*Pricing and availability is subject to change.

 

Performance Preview

Temperatures under load when overclocked – 72c

Overclocked GPU and Memory Frequnecy – 1,190MHz GPU Clock , 7,600MHz Memory Clock