GEFORCE GTX 780 SLI – PC performance graphics benchmarks of Graphics Cards

Description of Radeon GeForce GTX 780 SLI

We have long noticed that some of the most demanding games at 2560×1600 resolution require more powerful solutions than those currently available GeForce GTX TITAN, GeForce GTX 690 and Radeon HD 7990. More powerful graphics solutions no longer exist and the next stage of testing was the organization SLI bundles of two GeForce GTX 780 video cards.

NVIDIA SLI is a technology that allows you to use the power of several video cards to process three-dimensional images. In 1998, 3dfx introduced the Voodoo2 graphics processor, which among other innovations included SLI technology, which involved two Voodoo2 chips working together to generate images. Even cards from different manufacturers, as well as cards with different amounts of memory, could work with SLI technology. The SLI system made it possible to work with a resolution of 1024×768, which at that time seemed impossible. The disadvantages of SLI from 3dfx were the high price ($600) and high heat dissipation, in addition, there were problems with interlace synchronization of the resulting image. However, soon video cards are moving from the PCI bus to a more modern AGP port. Since there was only one port on motherboards, the production of video cards with SLI support ceased for a while.

In 2000, with the release of the new VSA-100 chip, 3dfx was able to implement SLI on AGP, but this time within a single board that housed two or four such chips. However, boards based on the SLI system had high power consumption and failed due to power supply problems. About 5 Voodoo6000 200 boards were sold worldwide, and only 100 of them actually worked.

In 2001, NVIDIA buys 3dfx for $110 million. With the introduction of the PCI-E specification, it is once again possible to use multiple graphics cards for image processing. In 2004, with the release of the first solutions based on the new PCI Express bus, NVIDIA announced support in its products for multi-chip data processing technology SLI, which stands for something else – Scalable Link Interface.

When SLI is running, the image is divided into several parts, the number of which corresponds to the number of video cards in the bundle. Each part of the image is processed completely by one video card, including geometric and pixel components. Frame processing occurs alternately: one video card processes only even frames, and the second only odd ones. However, this algorithm has a drawback. The fact is that one frame can be simple, and another difficult to process.

To implement SLI, it is enough to have an appropriate motherboard that supports this technology and a high-quality power supply. The setup itself is not complicated and can be easily configured using the NVIDIA control panel.

Overclocking GeForce GTX 780 SLI

Overclocking GeForce GTX 780 SLI turned out to be quite successful. Both video cards, as well as a single solution, in some cases could raise the frequency to 1150 MHz, per core. From memory, stable overclocking was at 7000 MHz.

 

As we can see, the result when overclocking this bundle was very solid:

 

Well, then we will move directly to tests of the GeForce GTX 780 SLI in comparison with other top solutions. 

The test is GEFORCE GTX 780 SLI

All video cards were tested at maximum graphics quality using MSI Afterburner. The purpose of the test is to determine how video cards from different manufacturers behave under the same conditions. The minimum and average frame size is taken as the performance indicator. 

Our video cards were tested at different screen sizes of 2560×1600 at the maximum graphics quality settings allowed by the games, and, of course, by the resources of the video cards. In this case, we took games that, at different quality settings, have the greatest impact on the performance drop of video cards. These include the most resource-intensive games of our time – Metro 2033 Total War: Shogun 2 and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, as well as the latest innovations in the gaming industry.  

Radeon HD 7990 tested at stock frequencies and overclocked Radeon HD 7990 OC – core 1100 MHz and memory 6500 MHz 

ASUS ARES II tested at stock frequencies and overclocked ASUS ARES II OC – core 1200 MHz and memory 7200 MHz 

GeForce GTX 690 tested at stock frequencies and overclocked GeForce GTX 690 OC – core 1020 MHz and memory 7000 MHz 

GEFORCE GTX TITAN tested at stock frequencies and overclocked GEFORCE GTX TITAN OC – core 1080~1180 MHz and memory 6700 MHz

GeForce GTX 780 SLI tested at stock frequencies and overclocked GeForce GTX 780 SLI OC – core ~1150 MHz and memory 7000 MHz

The test was carried out on one of the most powerful gaming configurations to date based on the Intel Core i7-3970X with overclocking to 4.9 GHz, 16 gigabytes of DDR3 RAM with a frequency of 2133 MHz and an SSD OCZ Vertex 3 hard drive.

Metro 2033

 

Metro 2033 came out about two years ago and to this day is one of the most technologically advanced games, and, of course, one of the most demanding. This is the only game from 2010 that we took to test modern top-end video cards.

Testing at maximum quality settings 2560×1600

 

In Metro 2033, a combination of two GeForce GTX 780 showed good performance, beating all existing top solutions.

Total War: Shogun 2

 

Total War: Shogun 2 is an excellent continuation of its Total War series that will appeal to many of its fans. Graphically, the game has become a leader in the abundance of graphical bells and whistles and special effects, representing a mixture of scale and beauty unprecedented in the world of strategy. The test was carried out with the maximum possible graphics settings in the game. Only the vertical sync function remained disabled. And just like in the 2011 video card test at a resolution of 2560×1600, video cards with a video memory capacity of at least two gigabytes were able to show themselves worthy.

Testing at maximum quality settings 2560×1600

 

В  Total War: Shogun 2 all video cards showed good performance.

The Witcher 2: The Assassins of Kings

 

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings has become one of the most beautiful, technologically advanced and spectacular games of last year. At the moment, the game is one of the most resource-intensive games of the present time. The game settings for the test were turned up to the maximum.

Testing at maximum quality settings 2560×1600

 

В The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, with this bundle, finally has the opportunity to play comfortably.

Far Cry 3

Far Cry 3 was the main project of last fall. The beauty of this game lies in the fact that the developers not only provided players with a fascinating plot and gameplay, but were also able to present the most beautiful and technological picture in the PC version.

Testing at maximum quality settings 2560×1600

 

Testing at maximum quality settings 2560×1600 MSAA 8X

В Far Cry Almost all 3 solutions are acceptable for a more or less comfortable game.

Crysis 3

Crysis 3 was quite surprising and made us rehabilitate Crytek in our eyes as a leading developer of computer game graphics. We have made tremendous progress regarding the second part, and what appears before us is not a console porting product, but a very modern and technologically advanced project.

Testing at maximum quality settings 2560×1600

 

Testing at maximum quality settings 2560×1600 MSAA 8X

In Crysis 3, in the hardest mode, fans of NVIDIA video cards have the opportunity to play comfortably…

tomb raider

Tomb Raider is a multi-platform project, and the development of the PC version was carried out in parallel with the console versions. In fact, all versions of the game on different platforms are identical to each other and the only difference between the PC version is the more powerful graphics component, which is simply crammed with modern technologies.

Testing at maximum quality settings 2560×1600

 

Testing at maximum quality settings 2560×1600 SSAA 4X

В Tomb Raider combination of two The GTX 780 outperformed all competing solutions from AMD.

Metro 2033

 

Metro Last Light is currently one of the most technological products of our time, even though the game was released not only for personal computers, but also for the current generation of game consoles. The sequel was just as impressive graphically as Metro 2033 was in its time.

Testing at maximum quality settings 2560×1600

In Metro LL SLI GTX 780. at a resolution of 2560×1600. This is practically the only solution available for a comfortable game.

3DMark 11

 

3DMark 11 is the most optimal solution for testing modern top-end video cards, since its performance is not limited by the central processor. The result was the result of the GPU speed in the mode Extreme.

Testing at quality settings 1920×1080 Extreme

 

3DMark 

 

3DMark is the most optimal solution for testing modern top-end video cards, since its performance is not limited by the central processor. The result was the result of GPU speed in Fire Strike mode Extreme.

Testing at quality settings 2560×1440 Fire Strike Extreme

 

In both versions of 3DMark, the GeForce GTX 780 SLI showed the best performance.

GEFORCE GTX 780 SLI – at the moment this is the most optimal and productive solution for 2560×1600. GeForce GTX TITAN and GeForce GTX 690 are sometimes unable to provide optimal performance for a given resolution. From AMD, only ASUS ARES II can more or less allow you to play comfortably.

GEFORCE GTX 780 SLI costs 30% more than one GeForce GTX TITAN and is 70% faster than it. The video card is also 15% cheaper than ASUS ARES II and 30% faster than this solution. GeForce GTX 690 is no longer ideal for this resolution, since it has a small amount of video memory. So for those who are assembling a graphics system for ultra-high resolutions, the best choice at the moment is the GeForce GTX 780 SLI.