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Gaming Benchmarks
Alien: Isolation
There's little doubt that the Velox's GTX 1080 SLI configuration will continue to place it above the single GPU systems in the field, and Alien: Isolation doesn't tax any of the desktops below an 80 FPS average, even at 3840 x 2160. However, it's interesting to note that at 1080p, the Velox averages a ridiculously high 333.12 FPS, and even at 4K resolution the Digital Storm beast averages 132.27 FPS.
Ashes of the Singularity
We had to dial back Digital Storm's overclock to get the Ashes of the Singularity benchmark to run correctly, not because it was unstable, but because Ashes didn't seem to want to complete the DX12 benchmark without crashing when MSI Afterburner was running (which is a requirement for the overclock to take effect). To be sure we even loaded default GPU clocks with Afterburner, but the error persisted despite our troubleshooting. Only after closing down the overclocking tool were we able to complete the test with multi-GPU support enabled (we made sure it wasn't that, too). We theorize this may only occur with the DX12 version of the test, but we were able to get consistent results from the Velox after shutting down the program.
Although the GPU overclock was disabled for this test, enabling multi-GPU support gave the Velox a sizable lead over the other systems with only one graphics card. Whereas all of the GTX 1080-equipped systems all fall into a narrow pocket of performance, the Velox sees gains of roughly 38% at 1080p and about 47% at 2560 x 1400 and 3840 x 2160 over the single-card competition in the Ashes of the Singularity benchmarks.
Bioshock Infinite
We reinitialized Afterburner for the remainder of the tests, bringing the GPUs up to Digital Storm's intended clock rate (+150MHz Core Clock, +50Mhz Memory Clock). However, for a benchmark like Bioshock Infinite, we really didn't have to. Even at 3840 x 2160, the Velox achieves an average framerate of 136.4 FPS. Oddly, it also scores the lowest minimum framerate at every tested resolution, but the stutter is consistently early in the benchmark and about where all the others make their minimum framerate mark.
DiRT Rally
DiRT Rally is a title that stresses the whole platform, and even the Digital Storm Velox is brought below a 60 FPS average at 4K resolution. However, it still leads the field in this benchmark at all tested resolutions, although not by a considerable amount at 3840 x 2160 (its 51.9 FPS average is only 11.56 FPS ahead of the next closest competitor, the Avatar). This is one game where the SLI scaling isn't as effective at higher resolutions.
Grand Theft Auto V
The Digital Storm Velox sees more moderate gains in Grand Theft Auto V. At 1920 x 1080, the SLI GTX 1080s net roughly a 38% gain in average FPS over the Avatar, which leads the systems with single GPUs with 72.65 FPS (the Velox crushes this with 100.94 FPS). However, the gains become more substantial at 2560 x 1440 and 3840 x 2160, with an average framerate increase of about 74% and 87%, respectively, over the Avatar. GTAV seems to like SLI at higher resolutions, but even the Velox simmers down to an average framerate of 46.47 FPS at 4K at the game's highest settings.
GRID Autosport
The massive power of dual EVGA GTX 1080 graphics cards in SLI is lost on the GRID Autosport benchmarks, with the Digital Storm Velox hitting a ceiling at around 153-to-155 FPS at 1920 x 1080 and 2560 x 1440. This isn't much better than the systems with only one GPU in them, and it's not until you hit 4K that you see a significant difference in performance between the Velox and its next closest competitor, the Avatar.
Hitman
The Hitman benchmark is another DirectX 12 test, and multi-GPU support was completely borked (we could not run the test with SLI enabled), so we turned off SLI and ran the benchmark with a single, manually overclocked GPU. This of course brings the beastly Digital Storm Velox down to comparable framerates against the other GTX 1080-equipped systems, but the Velox remains on top, barely, with its slightly higher GPU clock rate. The factory-overclocked EVGA GTX 1080 SC inside the Syber M is close behind, but the Founder's Edition-equipped systems (the Avatar and our reference rig) fall behind by a larger (yet negligible) margin in the GPU-intensive benchmark.
Metro: Last Light Redux
Metro: Last Light Redux is another GPU-stressing gaming benchmark that pushes even the Velox's SLI graphics configuration below 60 FPS at 4K on the highest settings. However, the SLI scaling of the dual GTX 1080s sees amazing returns in Metro, with an additional 78% average framerate performance at 1920 x 1080 over the second place Syber M and its single factory overclocked GTX 1080. Once you crank up the resolution, the performance gains from SLI reach roughly 94% and 101% (over the single card Syber M) at 2560 x 1440 and 3840 x 2160, respectively.
Rise of the Tomb Raider
We return to another DirectX 12 benchmark with multi-GPU support to see if scaling in SLI is any better, and this time around Rise of the Tomb Raider sees similar returns as Metro: Last Light Redux, with a roughly 92-to-104% increase in average framerate performance over the second place Syber M's single factory-overclocked GPU at all tested resolutions.
The Division
The Division heavily favors GPU clock rate, and you would think the Velox is a shoe-in for top honors in this particular gaming test. However, we run the benchmark with DX12, and multi-GPU support goes out the window (and makes it crash, similar to our Hitman tests), putting the Velox in a single-GPU showdown against the competition in the field. Digital Storm's overclock proves potent, with the Velox taking the lead over the factory-overclocked GTX 1080 in the Syber M at 1920 x 1080 and 2560 x 1440. However, we're shocked with the first (and only) second place finish for the Velox at 4K, where the Syber M was just slightly more stable, beating out the Velox by 0.6 FPS.
Thief
The Digital Storm Velox finishes our test suite strong, with Thief bringing back SLI functionality and bringing the system back to its dominant glory over the single card gaming rigs. We can safely assert that two GPUs are better than one in most cases, and the aging Thief benchmark enjoys increasingly higher returns on the SLI configuration as you turn up the resolution. At 1920 x 1080, the Velox achieves a roughly 25% better average framerate over the second-place Syber M, but this increases to about 49% at 2560 x 1440, and 79% at 4K.
