Review: asus gtx770 direct cu ii

We continue with our Nvidia Geforce GTX 700 series review carousel. This time, Asus has sent us its Asus GTX 770 Direct CU II graphics card that starts with a certain advantage over the reference models: with a custom PCB, an aesthetic that makes you fall in love and one of the best dissipations on the market.

To be fair with Nvidia, this Geforce GTX 770 series is not just a name change for the GTX 680. If we recall, it already happened a few years ago with the famous 8800 GTX and 9800 GTX. Although it inherits the same GK104 silicon chip, 1536 shader in the core, 2048 mb of GDDR5 memory (4GB variant), 128 TMU, 32 ROPS and a memory width of 256 bits. The PCB is totally different: VRM changes and higher clock speeds and incorporation of GPU Boost 2.0 technology.

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Technical characteristics

ASUS GTX 770 DIRECT CU II FEATURES
Chipset	GeForce GTX 770
PCB format	ATX
Core frequency	GPU Boost Clock: 1110 MHz GPU Base Clock: 1058 MHz
Shader clock	N / A
Memory Clock	7010 MHz
Process technology	28 nm
Memory size	2048 MB GDDR5
BUS memory	256 bit
BUS card	PCI-E 3.0
DirectX and OpenGL	Yes.
I / O	Dual-link DVI-I * 1 DVI-D * 1 DisplayPort * 1 HDMI * 1
Dimensions	27.17 x 13.2 x4.06 cm.
Warranty	2 years.

Its frequencies are standard at 1046 mhz and with the Boost it goes up to 1085. Its memories run at 7000 mhz with a bandwidth of 224 GB / s. These Asus GTX770 Direct CU II comes with “steroids”: 10 power phases, dual fan dissipation, 8mm thick aluminum fins, backplate to enhance aesthetics, and memory dissipation has improved.

Asus GTX770 Direct CU II posing in front of the camera

The bundle includes:

- Asus GTX 770 Direct Cu II Graphics Card

- Documentation

- CD with drivers.

- I steal PCI Express to Molex.

Asus has been proving for several generations that its Direct CU II heatsink is one of the best on the market, as it meets its objective: to cool. In addition, to cool the aesthetics if it matters more every day and includes a backplate that provides firmness, aesthetics and better dissipation in the memories.

The card only needs two bays for installation. This allows us to connect to 2 or more cards without having serious temperature problems.

Already on the back we can see the multiple connections that shield us: two DVI ports, an HDMI 1.4a port compatible with high-definition audio, Blu-Ray 3d and a DisplayPort connection. All these connections allow us the possibility of installing three surround monitors on a single card.

Connection detail for SLI. The GTX770 allows us to connect between 2 Way, 3 way and 4 way sli.

The graphic needs for its operation a 6-pin connection and another 8-pin PCI-Express for proper operation. Its TDP can reach 300W. Therefore, we recommend a good diet.

It is time to see his guts. And as we already knew it is not a reference model, but a personalized one.

What improvements do we find? The first is better VRM cooling with a black aluminum heatsink.

This chip is a voltage controller that allows any voltage overload. We also see three welding points. For what? It is used to make measurements with the voltmeter and possible voltmodding.

Unlike the GTX680 graphics, it includes GDDR5 memory chips manufactured by Samsung, specifically the models: K4G20325FD-FC28. They are specified to operate at 1750 MHz 7Ghz effective.

The chipset is the same GK104 of the same Kepler architecture. Made in Taiwan with a 28nm process with a total of 3540000000 transistors.

Test bench and tests

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	Intel i7 4770k
Base plate:	Asus Sabertooth Z87
Memory:	Kingston Hyperx Predator
Heatsink	Custom Liquid Cooling.
HDD	Kingston Hyperx 120gb
Graphic card	Asus GTX 770 Direct CU II 2GB
Power supply	Antec HCP-850W
Box	Dimastech Mini White Milk

To evaluate the performance of the graphics card we have used the following applications:

• 3DMark11.3DMark Vantage.The Planet 2.Resident Evil 5.Heaven benchmark 2.1

All our tests have been carried out with a resolution of 1920px x 1080px.

What are we looking for in the tests?

First the best possible image quality. The most important value for us is the average FPS (Frames per second), the higher the number of FPS, the more fluid the game will be. To slightly differentiate the quality, we leave you a table to assess the quality in FPS:

FRAMES BY SECONDS
Frames for Seconds. (FPS)	Gameplay
Less than 30 FPS	Limited
30 - 40 FPS	Playable
40 - 60 FPS	Good
Greater than 60 FPS	Fairly Good or Excellent

Let's not fool ourselves; there are games that can have an average of 100 FPS. It may be because the game is quite old, does not require excessive Graphics resources or that the graphics is the most powerful on the market, or we have GPU systems for thousands of euros. But the reality is different, and games like Crysis 2 and Metro 2033 are very demanding and do not usually give high scores.

WE RECOMMEND AMD Radeon Vega 56 benchmarks, GeForce GTX 1070 killer

GIGABYTE ASUS GTX770 DIRECT CU II TESTS
3Dmark Vantage	P38863
3DMark11 Performance	P10347
Heaven DX11 Benchmark	1728 and 3585 pts
CineBench 11.5	9.62 fpS
Metro 2033	78.2 fps
tomb Raider	140.2 fps

conclusion

It is the first GTX770 that we reviewed and the impressions that Asus has left us are fantastic both for its custom PCB, its voltage control chip and its outstanding cooling system. We can find it in the 2GB and 4GB versions.

If we stop to read its characteristics, we realize it is very similar with the top of the previous generation: the GTX680. Although it stands out in two quite significant improvements: memory chips updated to 7Gbps and much higher frequencies.

Your Direct CU II heatsink is famous for its high efficiency and low noise. Composed of four 8mm thick aluminum arms, two 90mm fans and a backplate that gives firmness, aesthetics and lowers temperatures to memories. In our previous reviews we have considered a heatsink suitable for lovers of SilentPC and QuietPC. The temperatures in idle have been 25ºC and in full performance 55ºC.

We have used the graphics card with a team at its height: OC Z87 motherboard, i7 4770k processor and 16GB DDR3. The performance has been terrific with a score of: 10347 points. We are talking that the improvement between the GTX670 is 13%, the GTX680 9% and the ATI HD 7970 Ghz Edition another 9%.

We have also measured its power consumption. The equipment at rest has not exceeded 88W and in full performance 268W.

The market price of the graphics card ranges from € 420. Seeing the price difference between GPUS it is possibly the best positioned in quality / price / performance of the market.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ VERY NICE AESTHETICS.	- ASUS HAS IMPROVED THE DISSIPATION OF MEMORIES A LITTLE. BUT IT COULD INCLUDE A SYSTEM WITH DIRECT CONTACT FOR EXCELLENT REFRIGERATION.
+ SILENT FANS.
+ CUSTOM PCB.
+ 10 FEEDING PHRASES.
+ EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE.
+ CAN COMPETITION IN OVERCLOCKING COMPETITIONS.

The Professional Review team awards him the gold medal: