Palit GeForce GTX 760 JetStream review

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Final words and conclusion

Final Words & Conclusion

And that's a wrap for the Palit GeForce GTX 760 JetStream OC edition review you guys. The release of the GeForce GTX 760 really isn't something new in terms of technology. The GeForce GTX 760 is a GTX 680 GPU with two out of the 8 available shader processor clusters disabled. And from that point of view the release really is more of the same. The interesting thing however is that NVIDIA opened up this level of performance in a 'somewhat' mainstream performance segment. But at 249 USD the performance you gain from a product like this is really interesting. Traditionally a GeForce GTX 460/560/660 and now 760 series product is upper segment of mainstream and as this product shows us, it'll eat any game for breakfast and then for lunch and dinner as well. For the reference clocked products, you may expect slightly lower than GTX 670 performance. But with all board partner 'tweaked' products, add another 10% to the performance and all of the sudden these puppies sit in between the GTX 670 and 680 performance wise.

The board partners have gone crazy and jumped all over the GeForce GTX 760 with multiple versions and custom cooled solutions. Palit jumped on the bandwagon with their popular JetStream series and added a nice 92 MHz faster clock frequency.

Performance

With the reference cards having a base-clock at 980 MHz, being factory clocked to 1046 MHz the magic is to be found in the boost clock as at that factory tweak the GPU all of the sudden finds its turbo frequency well above 1100 MHz (when the power signature allows it to do so). But mostly that is what we noticed, being that the GPU continously is hovering in the 1100 MHz range during gaming. I'm still taking reference here, okay? Now a card like shown today with its factory tweak, well let me just say that it is absolutely golden for the guys and girls with a  1920x1080 and 1920x1200 range in monitor resolution, there's not a game out there that it can't deal with at this resolution. In Crysis 3 we end at an average of 41 FPS in 1920x1200 with Very High quality settings and that high resolution texture package and FXAA. Battlefield 3 is another example, with all eye candy opened up in game and again at 4xAA the card still pushes 57 FPS at 19x12 and that nearly equal to the GeForce GTX 680. So while this product might have two shader clusters less, the performance really remains exceptionally good and once the dynamic clock aka turbo kicks in.

Aesthetics

Palit uses the JetStream cooler once again, and yeah it's a good cooler. For this GTX 760 they did revise it a bit to create a different look. The red/gold outer shell makes it look quite different. My personal preference still is black though. But the looks are great and the two white LEDs located at the fan position make this product look a little mystifying when it's powered on. Palit produced the PCB themselves and that shows as the card is much smaller than usual with a size of 9.4 Inches in length which is 24 cm. So the card will be very easy to seat in any chassis. We also like the fact that the top-side of the PCB has a metal plate, that prevents the PCB from bending through once mounted horizontally. But yes, overall a nice looking prodyct, especially when you have the rest of the chassis black or black/red toned.

 

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Noise Levels

As you have been able to see in our test sessions, the cooler does its job really well. With the JetStream cooler the GPU will get good cooling power thrown at it. As a result the 'official' temperature target might remain 80 degrees C, but we have never seen the card with this kind of cooler pass 70 Degrees. BTW unlike some other websites, we do not fire off pointless viral-like applications like Furmark to test temperatures. We simply log the temperatures during all our benchmark sessions and take the highest recorded temperature. So with the low temperatures comes an added benefit, the dynamic clock frequency will go higher up to the point it reached its power target of 160 Watt. And if you wonder about noise, you can hardly hear this card, which is lovely. 

Power Consumption

The GeForce GTX 760 edition as tested today shows roughly 150 to 160 Watt power consumption at peak utilization with a modern game. Honestly that is pretty good as well. Not far off from reference, of course. But remember the 760 is injected in the graphics arena as a mid-range product, but comes with a high-end class GPU that has been limited a bit.

Overclocking

The Palit GeForce GTX 760 JetStream OC edition in most scenarios maybe is 10% slower than the GTX 680, but the factory clock combined with that high boost frequency brings it close to that GTX 680 every now and then alright. Drivers wise we can't complain at all, we did not stumble into any issues. And with a single GPU there's no micro-stuttering (if that ever bothered you) and no multi-GPU driver issues to fight off. Performance wise really there's not one game that won't run seriously good at the very best image quality settings. The one title that is a little icky is Metro Last Light, just disable SSAA as the game already applies and enforces in-game AA. Gaming you must do with a nice 30" monitor of course, at 2560x1440/1600. I mean Codemaster's Grid 2 at high quality and 4xAA is still oozing out 57 FPS there. Or what about Hitman Absolution with 54 FPS at 1920x1200 High quality and 2xMSAA? At these resolutions the GeForce GTX 760 offers just a plenty gaming experience with image quality that you can only get on a PC.


Guru3d-recommended

Final Words

As much of a refresh as the GeForce GTX 760 really is, it is the end-result that counts. The product comes with a GTX 680 chip but was limited in performance by roughly 25% due to two disabled SMX clusters (each 192 Shaders processors). But with plenty of memory bandwith and the ROP engine left in-tact the GeForce GTX 760 remains to be serious business. The reality remains that last year's most high-end GPU can now be bought at a much better price. The AIB partners from NVIDIA jumped on it, as example today the tested version. Armed with the updated cooler and a really serious factory overclock this product closes in at the GTX 670 and almost GTX 680 performance range. And no matter how you look at it, that is just a good deal for the money. Talking about money, these are the NVIDIA MSRPs (meaning over time you may expect lower prices:

  • EUR - 199 excl. VAT
  • GGBP - £209 incl. VAT
  • USD - $249 incl. VAT 
Honestly, that is a lot of card for the money. Palit once again did a splendid job with their Palit GeForce GTX 760 JetStream OC edition, it's more than fast enough for any modern game, it's quite silent as well, it has a massive factory overclock and even has room left to get the boost clock in the 1250 to 1300 MHz range. Combine that that with the more than excellent cooling performance and you realize fast that Palit shines with this product, like a bright white LED. Here again the combined and considered make this a lovely offering that you should seriously consider if you are in the market for a nice graphics upgrade. You can search this product under SKU code NE5X760H1042-1042J. Take good note of the sku CODE as there will likely be a regular clocked version as well.

The Palit GeForce GTX 760 JetStream OC edition comes recommended by Guru3D.com

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