The GeForce GTX 770 is another cornerstone for the foundation of a strong GeForce 700 Series. The new card is largely based on last generation's GeForce GTX 680, but improves upon it by running higher GPU and memory clocks, and adding NVIDIA's GPU Boost 2.0 algorithm. The memory chips have been upgraded to a fast 7 Gbps, which is the first time we see this kind of memory used on a graphics card. It allows NVIDIA to run significantly higher memory clocks, which directly translates into a performance improvement. Visually, NVIDIA has chosen a cooler that's similar to that of the GTX Titan, which is definitely a pretty sight.

ASUS has overclocked their GTX 770 DirectCU, but the overclock is relatively small—smaller than on other custom cards we are reviewing today. Memory isn't overclocked at all, which should have been easy given how well these new memory chips do. In terms of performance, we see the card about 14% faster than the GeForce GTX 670, and the improvement over the GTX 680 is 8%. Compared to the recently released GTX 780, the card is 10% slower, which still makes the GTX 780 a significant upgrade (at much higher cost, though). The GTX 770 easily beats the more expensive Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition by 8%. The new GPU Boost 2.0 algorithm focuses more on operating temperatures, so the card's clocks will be reduced once it reaches 80°C. ASUS cleverly worked around that by ensuring their card never reaches that limit, which provides an additional performance boost.

Being based on the GK104 graphics processor, it's not surprising that we see maximum overclocking results similar to other GK104 cards, like the GTX 680 and GTX 670. The new memory chips are great overclockers that set new records, though. We reached well over 2000 MHz actual memory clock on the tested cards, which is a good 200 MHz higher than anything we've ever seen before.

We've seen the ASUS DC II cooler on many products before, and it does a good job without creating too much noise. Actually, compared to the GTX 770 reference cooler, it runs 5°C cooler and a bit quieter. It seems quite difficult to improve on NVIDIA's reference cooler any further, so differences from any custom cooler won't be as big as what we were used to seeing. Oh, and ASUS is the only company to provide a backplate—something a more expensive card should come with by default. It looks great and protects the product against damage during handling.
Gaming power consumption is reasonable, being, as expected, slightly below the GTX 680. Non-gaming power consumption has been advanced further by adding a new clock state that runs 135 MHz GPU clock, which is a good improvement over the 300 MHz we've seen before. This move helps NVIDIA gain even more of an advantage over AMD; AMD definitely need to improve in this area.

NVIDIA's MSRP for the GTX 770 is $399, which positively surprised me when I first heard it. Given the pricing history of the GTX Titan and GTX 780, everyone probably expected another overpriced card that will touch your wallet inappropriately. The ASUS custom design will come with around a $20 price premium, which is not unreasonable, but it still feels like a bit much. I could imagine many people already eyeing the reference design for its looks, so custom boards should offer a price incentive if they replace the expensive NVIDIA cooler with a custom design. Overall, NVIDIA's $400 price point is a great choice for taking this segment by storm. With current pricing, AMD is not competitive at all. The Radeon HD 7970 is slightly cheaper, but much slower, and the HD 7970 GHz Edition is more expensive and slower. Both AMD cards also lose to NVIDIA's recent offerings when looking at power consumption and noise. The only thing they bring to the table is the rich Never Settle game bundle. The GTX 770 will also affect NVIDIA's own lineup. The GTX 680 is suddenly completely undesirable at its current price, and I would buy the GTX 770 over the GTX 670 any day, as long as the GTX 670 remains at a $370 price point, but even "last-generation" GTX 600 Series cards could become an interesting buy if NVIDIA pulls off price reductions across a wider range of products. It's not like the GTX 700 adds any essential features that gamers will miss out on by buying older GeForce cards.