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Virtual Reality
A couple of months back, we published FCAT VR: GPU And CPU Performance in Virtual Reality, introducing hardware- and software-based methods for benchmarking graphics cards using the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. Today we’re dusting off the FCAT VR toolset to show how Titan Xp compares to Titan X and GeForce GTX 1080 Ti.
Arizona Sunshine
Arizona Sunshine was one of the first games we tested using FCAT VR. Due to some well-publicized (and controversial) Core i7-only content, we were especially curious to explore its performance. Is the game CPU-bound, or can we stress these GP102-based cards using maxed-out detail settings?
All three cards drop a handful of frames through our 100-second test sequence, and none of them demonstrate any reliance on asynchronous spacewarp. The result is a constant 90 FPS on our Oculus Rift. A look at unconstrained frame rate, however, shows Titan Xp capable of 129 FPS compared to Titan X’s 112. That’s a 15% advantage favoring Titan Xp.
Chronos
Our introduction to FCAT VR also included a lot of data from an ~80-second benchmark sequence in Chronos at the game’s Epic detail settings. Titan X was the only card able to deliver 90 FPS of new frames, without ever leaning on Oculus’ asynchronous spacewarp technology to synthesize frames.
Titan Xp and GeForce GTX 1080 Ti enjoy the same distinction. All three cards drop a handful of frames throughout our run, corresponding to spikes in frame time. However, they deliver an almost-constant 90 FPS.
Were it not for the HMD’s fixed refresh interval, FCAT’s frame time data suggests that Titan Xp would serve up 146 FPS versus Titan X’s 102 FPS. That’s an incredible 43% speed-up, though we have to point out that 1080 Ti achieves 137 unconstrained frames per second, beating Titan X by 34% for a lot less money.
Robo Recall
Robo Recall is one of the most fun games available for the Rift, in our opinion. We benchmark this title with a 150-second recording from its first level, choosing High detail, 2xMSAA, enabling Planar Reflections and Indirect Shadows, and disabling Adaptive Resolution to avoid dynamic changes that’d create an unfair comparison.
Make no mistake—it’s completely possible to overwhelm these cards by maxing out the Pixel Density option. We scale back to 1.2, though, to avoid more of the frame time spikes already prevalent throughout our recorded runs.
Again, all three cards avoid triggering asynchronous spacewarp, but not with much headroom to spare. Titan Xp achieves 110 unconstrained FPS, beating Titan X by ~9%. GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is 7% faster than 1080 Ti. Not many enthusiasts are willing to pay an extra $500 for that difference in performance.
Serious Sam VR
Though seemingly less demanding than games like Robo Recall and Chronos, Serious Sam VR is undeniably a blast to play. An 80-second recording through the first stage on Earth is enough to finish the level.
Titan X and GeForce GTX 1080 Ti score similarly through our benchmark, while Titan Xp is about 10% faster. As you can see, though, frame times are fairly consistent and not many frames are dropped by any one card. They all deliver a smooth 90 FPS to the HMD with a bit of available headroom left over.
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