Asus Mars 760 Review: Two GPUs In SLI; One $650 Graphics Card

Features
By Don Woligroski
published

We like the idea of two GK104 GPUs in SLI on one graphics card. Sounds like a GeForce GTX 690, right? Except that board costs $1000 and Asus' Mars 760 sells for $650. In a world with sub-$700 GeForce GTX 780 Tis, can this dual-GPU stunner still impress?

Power, Temperature, And Noise Benchmarks

We measured power consumption through the Metro: Last Light benchmark run and recorded the following results:

The benchmark chart starts at 45 W, which is our test system's idle power use. We're trying to focus the graph on graphics consumption, though the platform undoubtedly still plays a role in the numbers we're reporting as load increases. 

With that in mind, most of the configurations we're testing end up pretty close together, except for AMD's Radeon HD 7990, which peaks about 100 W higher than its competition.

Asus' Mars 760 leads the pack when we compare thermals. At the other end of the spectrum, AMD's Radeon R9 290X peaks and plateaus about 20 degrees Celsius higher than the rest of the field.

When it comes to noise under load, Nvidia's GeForce GTX Titan distinguishes itself as the quietest card in our high-end round-up of pricey contenders. The 690 is another card we know to be fairly quiet, and the Mars 760 isn't much different from Nvidia's reference effort.

On the other hand, we know from prior testing that the Radeon HD 7990 and 7950s in CrossFire can get obnoxiously loud. Partner cards are the only way to get around this.

Don Woligroski
55 Comments Comment from the forums
  • AMD Radeon
    i would like to see dual GTX 780 Ti in one card
    Reply
  • vinhn
    @AMD Radeon, everyone would like to see it, not everyone would buy it, the market knows that, there's a reason why they would rather release the dual 760 rather than a 1600$ dual 780 Ti.
    Reply
  • Immaculate
    Why an i5-2550K?
    Reply
  • blackmagnum
    Bring on the Kepler cards already.
    Reply
  • vertexx
    I'm not sure why you would even publish this review without a 780ti in the comparison.
    Reply
  • Shneiky
    It was actually disappointing that there was no regular 760 SLI in there. It would have helped to see if the Asus's solution gives better results then regular 2 760s.
    Reply
  • bemused_fred
    Looking at the way that various card configurations bounce around in the charts, with the ranking of cards varying from page to page, the only thing I'm taking away from this article is not to bother with dual-GPU set-ups. It seems their performance is entirely decided by how well-optimised the games are for Nvidia or AMD, and not their actual specs.
    Reply
  • Raheel Hasan
    Too high price only $30 below 780ti, it should be around $550.
    Reply
  • Adroid
    I'm confused why the 780 and 770 aren't shown here - especially since the 780 is at the same price point.
    Reply
  • Au_equus
    without the gtx 780 ti, you are missing half the article, as ASUS, according to the price, was presenting this card as an alternative to the 780 ti at its price/performance. I stopped reading after the first BM.
    Reply