In-Game Performance
GeForce GTX 690 SLI Scaling Performance
(High Quality) |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aliens vs. Predator | Battlefield 3 | Batman: Arkham City | DiRT Showdown | Just Cause 2 | Total War: Shogun 2 |
| 46.8% | 17.5% | 23.2% | 20.8% | 45.2% | 32.1% |
Playing games at this resolution with high-quality image settings is too big a challenge for most graphics cards, but a single GTX 690 churns out impressive results.
However, the performance picture becomes murkier when a second GTX 690 is added to the equation. Performance went up in all six benchmarked titles, but the amount of frame-rate gain varies wildly. As has historically been the case, playing with four GPUs leaves you susceptible to the vagaries of SLI scaling. Adding another £900 card hardly seems worthwhile for the extra 17.5 per cent boost in Battlefield 3, but in titles such as Aliens vs. Predator and Just Cause 2, we see benchmark results jump by a more reasonable 45 per cent.
The games (or perhaps the drivers) could be better optimised to utilise all four GPUs, but there's plenty of performance on offer here; even at this ultra-high resolution, the dual-GTX 690 configuration returns over 69 frames per second in all six games and reaches as high as 135 frames per second in DiRT Showdown.
GeForce GTX 690 SLI Scaling Performance
(Extreme Quality) |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aliens vs. Predator | Battlefield 3 | Batman: Arkham City | DiRT Showdown | Just Cause 2 | Total War: Shogun 2 |
| 46.6% | 11.5% | 9.6% | 46.4% | 49.3% | 34.6% |
These results demonstrate the games played with typically-brutal settings such as maximum anti-aliasing, PhysX acceleration, advanced lighting and GPU water simulation. Even at these extreme settings, the GeForce GTX 690 continues to return decent frame rates.
A single dual-GPU card keeps most games playable, but once again the quad-GPU configuration delivers mixed results. SLI scaling performance varies from an abysmal 9.6 per cent in Batman: Arkham City, to a useful 46.4 per cent in DiRT Showdown.
