In the distant and, as practice has shown, so carefree and joyful 2020, we recognized the doubtful prospect of graphics adapters built on the NVIDIA Kepler architecture. The notional GTX 670, which at the start of sales had no problems with Radeon HD 7950, stepping on the heels of HD 7970, in the context of actual games in 2020 became in line with a much weaker and cheaper HD 7870.
Now, after a solid five years, it’s time to return to the Kepler architecture and see if a 12-year-old pre-top GPU can provide its owner… at least something.
Graphics card
The first thing is that the GeForce GTX 770 is only a slightly overclocked version of the GTX 680 graphics card. Thus, it has only a formal relation to the 700 series.
The most trivial and obvious illustration here will be the supported version of DirectX and CUDA: GTX 780 and GTX 780 Ti, although built on the same Kepler architecture, but came out a little later and received very important improvements, along with DirectX 11.1 and CUDA 3.5. But everything below of them in the hierarchy, including the “old lady” behind this article, is limited to DirectX 11.0 and CUDA 3.0.
Some games that work relatively well with GTX 780 won’t even launch on GTX 770. Here we can also mention the fact that on the “real” 700 series GeForce it is quite possible to try “playing” with simple neural networks, but on our GTX 770, alas, it is not possible.
So, in other words, to some extent, this material can be considered a test of a “slightly” overclocked GeForce GTX 680. We’re done with the preface, it’s time to finally take a look at the graphics adapter itself.
For its time, the MSI GTX 770 Gaming OC graphics adapter boasted a very impressive appearance.
Eye-catching, bright design, relatively efficient cooling system, and even with a Lamborghini-like logo. All these features did their job: MSI sold a lot of such graphics cards in 2013-2014.
Cooling system
MSI GTX 770 Gaming OC graphics card cooling system is based on (by modern standards) relatively large radiator with five heat pipes, cooled by two 90-mm fans.
A very simple aluminum plate is responsible for cooling the rest of the video card components, such as GDDR5 video memory, GPU power supply system and VRAM. It is also partly a stiffener, which is designed to protect the video card from bending. Obviously, this solution does not cope with it at all. The graphics adapter we got in our hands is extremely sagging downwards from the side of PCI-e power pads.
This cooling system layout, coupled with not the most energy-efficient GPU does not allow to call MSI GTX 770 Gaming OC a cold video card. At automatic fan speeds, the GPU temperature in FurMark stress test almost immediately reached 80 degrees, after which the throttlingstarted with a concomitant decrease in supply voltage and frequencies.
Uh, peak power consumption of 276 watts…. Nowadays, of course, no one can be surprised by such “consumption” even on budget video cards, but in 2013 only top cards like GTX 780 and R9 290 could boast of such voracity.
Nevertheless, the video card can by no means be called noisy. Even at 80 degrees on the GPU, it was practically inaudible. However, the heat was so hot that even a meter away from the test bench one could feel the temperature pressure.
However, FurMark is an unrealistic load on the graphics adapter. Let’s check what MSI’s proprietary cooling system is capable of in a quite representative load in the form of Superposition:
And this is where things get much better. Power consumption dropped to ~190 watts, and the temperature dropped to 70 degrees. No trotting was observed at the same time.
GPU and memory
For many years of use, and as a consequence of repeated maintenance of the video card, the marking of the graphics processor has become somewhat faded. However, this by no means prevents us from recognizing the familiar full-fledged version of the GK104 chip in the 425-A2 modification:
The last value of the marking just tells us that we are facing the maximum configuration of GPU GK104, operating 1536 stream processors (CUDA cores), 128 texture blocks and 32 ROP (rasterization units).
As a video memory MSI decided to choose not particularly popular and fast GDDR5 W2032BBBG -7A-F made by ELPIDA:
These chips have 256 MB of memory, which in the presence of 8 pieces in total gives us the same 2048 MB. The recommended real frequency of “ banks” is equal to 1750 MHz (effective 7000 MHz).
PCB analysis
The GPU power supply system is either a 3-phase or a 6-phase power supply system. It is impossible to say more precisely, because I could not find any information about 81061 RZY drivers.
It is quite possible that one such driver can control two phases at once, since there are only three of them soldered in, while the physical phases are six. Besides, the NCP4206 controller the entire power supply subsystem is six-phase according to its datasheet.
If you have more accurate information regarding MSI GTX 770 Gaming OC power supply circuits and especially 81061 RZY drivers – please share it in the comments.
Anyway, there are 2 types of mosfets soldered on the board: 50 amp PK616BA and 78 amp PK632BA, which in general is not bad, even taking into account the huge consumption of the video card.
Two phases with the familiar PK616BA and PK632BA transistors are responsible for powering the video memory.
Test Bench:
- CPU — Core i5-12400F;
- Graphics card — MSI GTX 770 Gaming OC;
- Motherboard — MSI PRO Z690-A DDR4 (MS-7D25);
- RAM – 2 sticks of 8 GB Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO (CMW16GX4M2C3600C18), totaling 16 GB (Micron E-Die chips);
- SSD – KINGSTON SUV400S37120G 120.0 GB (Windows 11), SAMSUNG 870 EVO 1 TB (Games);
- PSU – Chieftec GPS-1250C.
Software
- Operating System: Windows 11 x64 with latest updates as of February 2025;
- Graphics card drivers: NVIDIA GeForce 475.14 WHQL (the latest driver that supports Kepler architecture-based graphics cards (GTX 600/700));
- Additional software for FPS measurement: MSI Afterburner 4.6.7;
- Games: testing was conducted on current versions of games as of February 2025;
Test results
Before we give you the fruits of our GTX 770 performance research, we would like to remind you that the Kepler architecture cannot use AMD FSR technology above the first version. Consequently, it is not possible to get a better image quality or activate FSR in some games. Thus, in some projects you have to be satisfied with 720p resolution, which is quite low by modern standards. Keep this in mind.
Multiplayer / session / cybersports games
Taking into account the venerable age of the reviewed video card, I suppose it would be best to start testing with relatively simple games in terms of graphics. However, even so, it should be noted that some very popular multiplayer projects released recently do not run on GTX 770. Marvel Rivals is a great example of this. This game requires full support for DirectX 12, which our “old lady”, alas, can not boast. And this behavior can be distinguished by most games based on the Unreal Engine 5.
Call of Duty: Warzone
Minimum graphics settings preset, 1080p, FSR 1.0 – Balanced.
The popular battle royal Call of Duty: Warzone is completely unplayable on GTX 770. Not only because of the severe lack of video memory the game constantly frezes, but also the terrain is covered with graphic artifacts in the form of multicolored textures (probably due to broken shaders).
Here we will give some full screenshots for you to appreciate the quality of the picture:
It should be noted that I have played more than five matches, and the freezes, along with broken shaders did not go anywhere. So the classic “wait” of 10-20 minutes for the game to cache data will not help here.
Counter-Strike 2
Medium preset graphics settings, 1080p, MSAA – 2X. Dust 2 map.
Surprisingly, the GTX 770 does a great job with the very demanding Counter-Strike 2! At medium settings the game produces ~130 frames per second, which is a very decent result!
Dota 2
Maximum preset graphics settings, 1080p.
In the case of Dota 2 things are even better: GTX 770 gives out stable 100+ FPS at maximum graphics settings without any problems!
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
Medium preset graphics settings, 1080p.
Another, but now already classic battle royal PUBG, also works not badly on an old video card. On average, you can get a little more than 60 FPS, and the minimum will not fall below 50 frames. However, extremely rare, but there are microfreezes due to lack of video memory. 2 GB in 2025 is a negligible amount of VRAM.
World of Tanks
Maximum preset graphics settings, HD client, HD textures, 1080p. Replay on the map “ Outpost”.
Unhit, “hits”, shells falling to the ground, ricochets and other delights of World of Tanks can be seen at ~70 frames per second, and moreover, at maximum graphics quality settings! Wargaming has perfectly optimized its project.
Summarizing the results of multiplayer games, we can confidently say that GeForce GTX 770 is still able to “pull” them at an acceptable level. Of course, not all of them (Call of Duty: Warzone), but the most popular projects work quite well, and some of them can be played at maximum graphics quality settings.
Single-player games
Unfortunately, the GTX 770’s situation with actual single-player story games is dismal. Hogwarts Legacy, Dragons Dogma II, Alan Wake, Starfield, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl and Elden Ring refused to run on our old card, referring to the lack of support for DirectX 12 technology. What to speak about Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which requires from the video card the presence of physical executive blocks for ray tracing, the existence of which GTX 770 did not know about.
Given all of the above, you realize how limited the test suite of games turned out to be.
Baldur’s Gate III
Minimum preset graphics settings, DirectX 11, 1080p, FSR 1.0 – Ultra Quality. Testing was conducted in the city “Baldur’s Gate”
GeForce GTX 770 demonstrates quite acceptable frame rate in one of the most difficult locations of the game. Taking into account the specifics of the title, 40 frames per second is more than enough to familiarize yourself with the project, and maybe even for its full playthrough.
Cyberpunk 2077 [patch 2.21]
Minimum preset graphics settings, 720p. Testing was carried out in the benchmark, as well as on the ring road near Arasaka Tower.
As you can see from the above screenshots, the benchmark does not quite reflect the real state of affairs in the game. In free movement around the city, the average FPS is much lower, but the minimum FPS is higher on the contrary.
In general, we can’t say that it’s impossible to play, especially remembering the technical state of Cyberpunk 2077 on last generation consoles. However, the 720p resolution somewhat spoils the impression. It’s a pity that CD Projekt Red removed FSR 1.0 support.
The Witcher 3 Next-Gen Update [patch 4.04]
Minimum preset graphics settings, DirectX 12, 1080p dynamic resolution, FXAA. Running through Novigrad city.
The current version of The Witcher 3 is playable only in dynamic resolution. Nevertheless, it should be noted that testing was conducted in Novigrad, and this is one of the hardest locations in the game.
It is difficult to summarize the results of single-player games, considering their scarce number. However, as you have already seen above, you will still be able to play a few projects.
Overclocking
Even a little bit, but MSI GTX 770 Gaming OC is already overclocked from the factory, and taking into account the fact that we are looking at a GTX 680 overclocked twice (first by NVIDIA itself and then by the vendor), there is no sense in hoping for any overclocking potential.
And so it turned out: by increasing the supply voltage by 10 mv, the GPU frequencies were raised by only 40 MHz, and the memory by 180 MHz (in terms of effective frequency from 7000 to 7712 MHz).
It’s not much. GPU overclocking potential is clear, but the memory is noticeably let down. Usually, if the vendor installs Samsung or Hynix chips on the board, you can expect to reach 2000-2150 MHz. In our case the memory banks from Elpida are installed, the overclocking potential of which is often much lower than that of competitors.
Nevertheless, let’s still take a look at how much the performance of the overclocked video card has increased.
The gain was just over 5%, which means it was absolutely not worth it.
Conclusion
As of February 2025, the Kepler graphics architecture is effectively dead, and graphics cards based on it are only suitable for simple multiplayer games, or as a “plug” for a while to sit out until you buy a truly actual adapter.
