Do Two GeForce GTX 680s Beat Three GeForce GTX 660 Tis In SLI?

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Results: Metro 2033

A single anomaly in Metro 2033 appears as a pair of GeForce GTX 680s beat the GeForce GTX 660 Ti trio at 1920x1080. The game otherwise appears to favor the lower-cost three-way SLI solution.

Metro 2033’s integrated charting system does, however, show a slow spot around 35 seconds into the demo that, if replicated during gameplay, could definitely affect an otherwise smooth experience.

Metro 2033’s preference for three GeForce GTX 660 Tis grows at the Very High quality preset. Unfortunately, we’re forced to drop to 4800x900 to achieve smoother frame rates when the DirectCompute-based depth of field filter is enabled.

Even at 4800x900, a second-by-second analysis shows that two GeForce GTX 680 boards in SLI are somewhat more reliable.

Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
49 Comments Comment from the forums
  • renz496
    off topic:

    when titan's review comes out?

    on topic:

    frankly i'm no multi gpu nor multi monitor user. but for the green camp if you want multi monitor gtx 660 ti 3Gb is a good choice if you want the cheap option. if you want more horse power while still on the cheap side then 7950 is the answer. (the latest game bundle from amd might also lean some people to buy amd cards)


    Reply
  • A sneak peak to the GTX Titain 6GBs. From the website "WCCF Tech"
    http://wccftech.com/nvidia-geforce-gtx-titan-pictured-gk110-finally-arrives-consumers-blasting-6-gb-memory/
    Reply
  • rantoc
    From my own experience I would rather go with 2x 680 as dual sli scales very well on about _all_ titles while tri/quad sli can be more of a gambling in performance - For titles where all the cards scale well its sure nice as hell - Where it does not you can even loose performance by adding a third/fourth card (even thoo that scenario gets less and less frequent).
    Reply
  • mcd023
    id like to see some benchies on metro 2033 with physx and DoF just for fun hahaha
    Reply
  • hero1
    Nice review, makes me consider taking 3x7950 instead of 2x7970. Would equal in price due to sales that are going on. But, maybe grab a Titan? I hope to see another review in 8 hrs featuring Nvidia GeForce Titan.
    Reply
  • mayankleoboy1
    Not the point of this article, but i noticed that a single gtx680 is a complete beast at 1080P.
    Also, it would have been interesting to see the CPU usage during the tests.

    Edit : A repeat of this article with the HD7000 cards should be performed, specially after the 13.2 driver are released.
    Reply
  • hero1
    mayankleoboy1Not the point of this article, but i noticed that a single gtx680 is a complete beast at 1080P.Also, it would have been interesting to see the CPU usage during the tests.Edit : A repeat of this article with the HD7000 cards should be performed, specially after the 13.2 driver are released.
    Yes same review for HD 7000 series should be given. Can't wait for that.
    Reply
  • merikafyeah
    I'd still go for a GTX 690 Hydro Copper. Overclock it and pwn while only taking two slots. SLI configs which take up all your slots seem highly inefficient and unappealing.
    Reply
  • esrever
    when are you going to switch to the new 3dmark?
    Reply
  • rmpumper
    Why do you say "higher/lower is better" in some graphs? Which is it - higher or lower?
    Reply