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Performance and Benchmarks

All our tests were run at 2560x1600 to show performance on high-res systems and what's immediately evident from the benchmarks is that the Titan isn't the fastest graphics card around, but it's hitting close to SLI performance from just a single GPU. That's important because of the difficulty getting a consistently pleasing multi-GPU experience.

Compared with the other single-GPU cards though it's a good deal quicker for the most part, though the DiRT Showdown score is a bit of an anomaly and shows just how impressive AMD's GCN tech is for compute-based game engines.

DirectX 11 tessellation performance
Heaven 3.0: FPS: higher is better
GTX Titan: 55.6
GTX 690: 70.6
HD 7990: 65
HD 7970 GHz: 38.3
GTX 680: 41

DirectX11 gaming performance
Batman: Arkham City: FPS: higher is better
GTX Titan: 98
GTX 690: 106
HD 7990: 89
HD 7970 GHz: 68
GTX 680: 65

DiRT Showdown: FPS: higher is better
GTX Titan: 64
GTX 690: 70
HD 7990: 78
HD 7970 GHz: 67
GTX 680: 48

Max Payne 3: FPS: higher is better
GTX Titan: 43
GTX 690: 56
HD 7990: 50
HD 7970 GHz: 38
GTX 680: 30

Sleeping Dogs: FPS: higher is better
GTX Titan: 32
GTX 690: 38
HD 7990: 47
HD 7970 GHz: 28
GTX 680: 22

DirectX 11 1080p performance
Shogun 2: FPS: higher is better
GTX Titan: 108
GTX 690: 124
HD 7990: 127
HD 7970 GHz: 89
GTX 680: 85

PCFormat value metrics
Heaven 3.0: £/FPS: lower is better
GTX Titan: £14.91
GTX 690: £10.62
HD 7990: £10.77
HD 7970 GHz: £8.88
GTX 680: £9.54

The magic number

If you thought one GTX Titan might be a bit of overkill, then let us take that to an extreme with three of them jammed into a X79 rig with an eight-core Xeon. You know, just for kicks.

SLI performance has improved, but you can see how little benefit you actually get from adding a third card. Two cards gives a fairly hefty boost, but at best a third will only give you another 40% FPS.

DirectX 11 tessellation performance
Heaven 3.0: FPS: higher is better
GTX Titan: 55.6
Two-way Titan SLI: 97.8
Three-way Titan SLI: 137.2

DirectX 11 gaming performance
DiRT Showdown: FPS: higher is better
GTX Titan: 64
Two-way Titan SLI: 81
Three-way Titan SLI: 93

Max Payne 3: FPS: higher is better
GTX Titan: 43
Two-way Titan SLI: 72
Three-way Titan SLI: 94