Results: Crysis 3
Our Crysis 3 benchmark is a manual run-through that’s typically pretty consistent. The first time we ran FCAT scripts on the output, though, it was clear that v-sync switched on in a couple of cases, even though it was off in the game. As a result, we ran several configurations with the option toggled off in Nvidia’s driver. The performance figures changed in response, but the average frame rates suggest something is still off in Crysis 3. Two GeForce GTX 770s should be faster than one Titan, and we were really hoping for more scaling from two $1000 cards.
Charting out frame rate over time shows the GeForce GTX 770s in SLI and Titan card trading blows, with the 780s and Titans in SLI behaving similarly as well.
Big spikes again affect the 770s, though average frame time variance continues to show Nvidia’s multi-GPU solutions yielding a fairly consistent experience.
What I will say is that, in a game like Crysis 3, when performance starts dipping under the 30 FPS range, your ability to react quickly falls off very fast. Because this game requires a manual run-through, I was painfully aware on both the single-Titan and 770 SLI systems that low frame rates were getting me shot more often, forcing me to restart my run. Two 780s and Titans helped this issue immensely.