My last piece of hardware lying in wait for a game I was going to play was a GTX 660 Ti. A very capable card, make no mistake, and one I have advocated to many. However, after a brief stay in the nVidia lineup, the GTX 660 Ti is being replaced by the GTX 760. The GTX 760 is built off the same GK104 platform and features 1152 stream processors, a 256-bit memory bus and a scorching 980/1033MHz core clock coupled with GPU Boost 2.0. The end result is a card promising superior performance to the 660 Ti, which is what one would expect in the natural progression. What one wouldn’t expect is that the GTX 760 reference card comes with a price tag of only $249.00 USD, and that partner cards with OC and superior cooling are coming out for only a few dollars more. With this, nVidia and its partners are striking a huge price/performance blow.

While the stock GeForce GTX 760 is one of the best price/performance platforms to come along to date, the Gigabyte GTX 760 OC takes it a step further on every level. The “OC” naturally stands for “overclock”, with the Gigabyte GTX 760 OC taking the base/boost clock up to a screaming 1085/1150MHz. Combined with GPU Boost 2.0, this leaves the Gigabyte GTX 760 OC regularly producing sustained speeds of over 1200MHz. While increased speed typically results in increased heat, the new Gigabyte Windforce 3X with Triangle Cool Technology keeps the GTX 760 OC running far cooler and quieter than a normally clocked reference card. Three slim fans combined with a large fin array, three 8mm direct touch heatpipes and a unique RAM heat spreader all keep heat at bay. 2GB of GDDR5 are clocked to an effective 6008MHz on a 256-bit interface. To optimize the GTX 760, Gigabyte includes the OC Guru II tool for tweaking voltages, clocks and fans along with complete monitoring capabilities and even BIOS flash tools. Four outputs include DVI-I, DVI-D, DP and HDMI with audio. In keeping with the push toward efficiency, the GTX 760 OC requires one 6-pin and one 8-pin PCIe, but only a recommended 500W PSU.