So you might have heard that Nvidia released the GeForce GTX Titan X video card yesterday. It's the fastest single-GPU card on the planet (though not the fastest single card, because of the dual GPUs in the Titan Z and the Radeon R9 295X2). Maybe most people would be satisfied with the benchmarks of a single Titan X, but we're not most people. So we called a guy who knows a guy, and we acquired a second Titan X. The things we do for you people!
To recap, this is the system that we've been using to test our video cards:
It's an aging system, but it has plenty of juice to drive up to four GPUs. We used six titles to benchmark the Titan X and similar cards: Metro: Last Light, Hitman: Absolution, Tomb Raider, Batman: Arkham Origins, Unigine Heaven, and Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. We use these games because they have an even balance of Nvidia friendliness and AMD friendliness, they'll push your hardware when you max-out the settings, and they have built-in benchmarks, so you can reproduce our results yourself.
The Nvidia cards were benchmarked with the GeForce 347.84 sent to Titan X reviewers, which are apparently nearly identical to the 347.88 drivers released to the public yesterday. Our MSI Radeon R9 290X Lightning Edition card used AMD's Omega drivers released in December. The other cards in the mix are the Asus GTX970-DCMOC-4GD5; and the Asus STRIX-GTX780-OC-6GD5. The GTX 780 Ti in this roundup is the reference model. All clock speeds in the chart below are of the actual cards we tested, rather than the default clock speeds of the baseline models, except when a baseline model was actually used.
Since we were not blessed with a second MSI GTX 980 Gaming 4G, the SLI benchmark is of two reference 980s in our possession. The difference will be small, but it is there.
Titan X
Titan
GTX 980
GTX 970
GTX 780 Ti
GTX 780
R9 290X
Generation
GM200
GK110
GM204
GM204
GK110
GK104
Hawaii
Core Clock (MHz)
1,000
837
1,216
1,088
876
889
"up to" 1GHz
Boost Clock (MHz)
1,075
876
1,317
1,228
928
941
N/A
VRAM Clock (MHz)
7,010
6,000
7,000
7,000
7,000
6,000
5,000
VRAM Amount
12GB
6GB
4GB
4GB
3GB
6GB
4GB
Bus
384-bit
384-bit
256-bit
256-bit
384-bit
384-bit
512-bit
ROPs
96
48
64
56
48
48
64
TMUs
192
224
128
104
240
192
176
Shaders
3,072
2,688
2,048
1,664
2,880
2,304
2,816
SMs
24
15
16
13
15
12
N/A
TDP (watts)
250
250
165
145
250
250
290
Launch Date
March 2015
March 2013
Sept 2014
Sept 2014
Nov 2013
May 2013
Oct 2013
Launch Price
$999
$999
$549
$329
$649
$699
$549
You can refer to our Titan X review for more information on what these specs mean. We don't want to flap our gums here any more than necessary. Now that we've explained the context of the benchmarks, here they are:
3840x2160 Bechmark Results, Average Frames Per Second
Metro:
Last Light
Arkham
Origins
Hitman:
Absolution
Shadow of
Mordor
Tomb
Raider*
Unigine
Heaven
Titan X SLI
54
94
58
75
83/112
49
Titan X
35
53
33
44
44/60
26
SLI Scaling
54%
77%
76%
70%
87%/87%
88%
Titan
24
34
22
25
26/37
18
980
32
41
24
37
36/48
20
980 SLI
46
74
44
59
64/84
35
SLI Scaling
44%
80%
83%
60%
77%/75%
75%
970
24
32
19
28
27/37
15
780 Ti
27
38
23
32
29/40
19
780
26
35
23
30
27/38
18
290X
28
41
29
37
31/43
17
*TressFX on/TressFX off
We're benchmarking these games on their highest presets with 4x multi-sample anti-aliasing (or in Tomb Raider's case, 2x super-sample anti-aliasing, since it has no MSAA option), so you're not going to see ideal performance here. We push these cards by design, rather than aiming for playable framerates. At the prices you're paying for these cards, you shouldn't have to make many compromises. Even with a second Titan X in the mix, though, we still can't hit 60fps across the board. Granted, at 4K, you probably don't need 4xMSAA, but it is interesting to see just how much this resolution affects performance. What's also interesting is how much the SLI scaling varies from game to game. The Titan X is a lot more constistent, but both it and the GTX 980 struggle with Metro: Last Light (which, it should be said, is an AMD-friendly game, as is Hitman: Absolution).
In the coming days, we plan to get you some more multi-GPU benches to compare against the Titan X. In the meantime, we hope you found these new numbers both delicious and nutritious.
Components aren't fickle, even if the ones handling them are. That's to say your parts can be just as content in a well built budget chassis as in a much more expensive luxury case. And in some instances, you don't have to give up a whole lot. For example, check out today's top deal for an NZXT Source 210 Elite White Mid-Tower Case for $50 with $10 shipping (normally $55; additional $10 mail-in-rebate). Though it's relatively inexpensive, it has eight internal 3.5-inch drive bays, three external 5.25-inch bays, a screwless design, cable management cutouts, aluminum textured panels, and more!
Electronics Arts' highly anticipated Battlefield Hardline game released to PC (and consoles) yesterday, and with it Nvidia has a new WHQL driver release, version 347.88, that it says will ensure you'll have the best possible gaming experience in EA's latest title. The new driver also comes right as Nvidia officially releases its newest flagship graphics card, the GeForce Titan X (check out our review of the Titan X here).
The driver adds support for the mighty Titan X, which is based on the second-generation Maxwell architecture, and also adds or updates a handful of SLI profiles. They include:
Life is Strange - Added DX9 SLI
Medieval Engineers - Added DX11 SLI
NASCAR '14 -- Added single SLI
Trine 3 - Added DX9 SLI
Zombie Army Trilogy - Added DX11 SLI
Though the newest driver is recommended for Battlefield Hardline, Nvidia doesn't recommend running 3D Vision for the game (the same goes for Project CARS and Saint's Row: Gat Out of Hell).
Also included in the driver is Dynamic Range control, which lets you use the full RGB color range for applications on HD displays. You'll find the option by going to Nvidia Control Panel > Display > Adjust Desktop Color Settings.
Trendnet unveiled a new flagship router -- AC3200 Tri Band / TEW-828DRU -- at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas back in January, but at the time, it wasn't available. Now it is, or soon will be once stores update their inventories. Trendnet tells us the TEW-828DRU is now shipping to North America and North America only, promising strong performance in busy connected homes.
As always the case with wireless routers these days, the advertised performance metric -- in this case, AC3200 -- is a combination of the separate bands. The TEW-828DRU is a tri-band router with up to 1,300Mbps available on the AC1 band, up to 1,300Mbps on the AC2 band, and up to 600Mbps on the N band.
If you add the three together, you arrive at 3,200Mbps, though be advised that you can't combine all three. Nevertheless, the rated speeds are on the high end, and having two separate AC bands to play with is a welcome convenience as AC-capable devices become more commonplace.
The TEW-828DRU also sports four Gigabit LAN ports, USB 3.0 port, USB 2.0 port, one guest network per band (with option for Internet access only), beamforming support, 1GHz dual-core processor to optimize network throughput, parental controls, and OpenVPN support.
You can find the TEW-828DRU online going for between $250 and $320ish.
Software piracy has been the bane of Microsoft's existence ever since the first copy of Windows was pirated. Since then, it's been a cat and mouse game between Microsoft and software pirates, but when it comes to Windows 10, it looks like Microsoft is willing to call a truce. More specifically, reports have emerged that Windows 10 will be offered as a free upgrade to all Windows users, even those running non-genuine copies.
The initial report comes from Reuters, which spoke with Terry Myerson, Microsoft's Executive Vice President of Operating Systems.
"We are upgrading all qualified PCs, genuine and non-genuine, to Windows 10," Myerson said, adding that the plans is to "re-engage" with the hundreds of millions of Windows users in China.
Windows piracy runs rampant in China, and to deal with the problem, Microsoft is extending an olive branch, so to speak. It will dole out Windows 10 through security outfit Qihoo 360 Technology and Tencent Holdings, China's most popular social networking company with more than 800 million users.
The article doesn't mention whether the free upgrade for Windows pirates only applies to users in China or if it will also be valid for users in the U.S. and other parts of the world. Other reports make it sound like it's a global thing, including The Verge, which was told by a Microsoft spokesperson that "anyone with a qualified device can upgrade to Windows 10, including those with pirated copies of Windows."
I dropped a line to Microsoft asking for clarification and will post an update when I hear back.
Update
A Microsoft spokesperson provided Maximum PC with the following the statement:
"We are excited to launch Windows 10 this summer. Anyone with a qualified device can upgrade to Window 10, including those with pirated copies of Windows. We believe customers over time will realize the value of properly licensing Windows and we will make it easy for them to move to legitimate copies."
It's the same statement that's been floating around the web, however we were also able to confirm with Microsoft that aforementioned upgrade policy for non-genuine copies of Windows to Windows 10 at no cost is indeed worldwide, not just for China.
This is an interesting turn of events, especially for anyone building a PC now. With Windows 10 right around the corner, and confirmed to be a free upgrade for both genuine and pirated copies of Windows, some may find it tough to pull the trigger on a paid version. I'm not condoning piracy by any means, just pointing out the obvious dilemma.
In any event, this is a big deal and more than just an olive branch, it's the entire olive tree Microsoft is extending. If this doesn't buy the company some good will, I'm not sure what will.
Cougar on Monday announced the arrival of its QBX, the "most advanced compact gaming case" around. According to Cougar, there are three reasons the QBX stands out from the crowd. The first is its compact dimensions -- the small form factor (SFF) chassis measures 178 (W) x 260 (H) x 368 (D) millimeters, or 7 (W) x 10.2 (H) x 14.5 (D) inches and can only swallow up mini-ITX motherboards.
Second on Cougar's list is expandability. While small in stature, it has a big appetite for hardware and can be stuffed with up to five storage drives (hard drives or solid state drives), a long graphics card up to 350mm (13.77 inches), a standard ATX power supply up to 140mm long (5.51 inches), and a slim optical drive.
Cougar's third reason is cooling. The QBX supposedly offers the "best cooling" of its class on the market, a claim Cougar makes based on the cases seven fan mounts and liquid cooling support (you can mount a radiator up to 240mm). There's also a dedicated PSU compartment to prevent hot air from affecting the other components, along with wide ventilation openings with dust filters.
Look for the QBX to be available in April. We've reached out to Cougar for a price and will update when/if we hear back.
Update
Cougar tells Maximum PC that the QBX's MSRP will be $60, though it doesn't enforce MSRPs on its distributors "due to the massive differences between the world's markets." The company also sent us a bunch of photos of the QBX, which you can check out in our photo gallery below.
Artcraft has announced that Valerie Massey has been hired to take on a community management role for Crowfall. Massey is the former senior director of public relations and communication at CCP and brings a wealth of experience to the team.
Today's column is a list geared toward you, the returning player who might be stepping back into what seems like familiar territory only to land in a city and find yourself at the mercy of the guards within the first five minutes. Or not. But for those returning to ESO, here are a few quick things to keep in mind.
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD released today and with it the preview to the highly anticipated Final Fantasy XV. I have yet to play XV and I have avoided most of the videos surrounding it so I will play it tonight with a fresh perspective. But has it gone too far from what Final Fantasy once was?
Ogardonix has announced the commencement of its KickStarter project to bring Ralin: Dwarf Wars to life. Seeking £45,000, Ralin is described by Ogardonix as a "hack-n-slash procedurally generated roguelike RPG".
Orcs Must Die: Unchained has been in beta for a while, and the developers at Robot recently unveiled a new build that will kick off phase two of the beta beginning on March 24th. The new build features hero overhauls, new systems, UI improvements, and more, and was playable at PAX East.
With the Iconians ready to wage war on the Star Trek Online universe, the team is ready to re-introduce players to the threat in the form of a new serialized adventure called Uneasy Allies starring Denise Crosby. Two more blogs will be released between then and now to set things up for the March 26th release.
Wakfu players will want to check out the Isle of Kelba thanks to today's deployment of the first half of a two-part update to renew the area's graphics. The overhaul more closely aligns the island with the Wakfu anime series on Netflix.
Bandai-Namco has announced that the Scholar of the First Sin remaster for Dark Souls II will be released in the EU on April 2nd, nearly a week earlier than anticipated. The first part of the deployment has been released in the form of a new patch that brings the Scholar NPC into the game as well as item descriptions, online matchmaking improvements and other gameplay tweaks.
Greetings fellow Crusaders, and it's time for another look into the world of Eternal Crusade. Actually, this week we are going to look, not only at Eternal Crusade, but at some other Games Workshop titles that are currently in production that have piqued my interest.
One Thumb Digital has released a new update for mobile and PC/Mac MMO Celtic Heroes that features the dwarven-themed Gelebron's Tower. The tower caters to high level players and contains five levels that can yield a new Dragonlord armor and unleashes several tough new bosses into the game world.
Obsidian Entertainment has announced that Pillars of Eternity, its upcoming highly-anticipated RPG, has achieved "gold status" and is on track for a March 26th release date. The announcement marks the final opportunity for interested fans to pre-order a copy of the game prior to its release.
A new developer blog has been posted by Guild Wars 2 game designer Tyler Bearce. In it, Bearce discusses the new WvW Desert Borderlands map and how it will bring new elements to PvP. The team, Bearce writes, has learned a lot about "what works and what doesn't in the time since releasing the original game." To that end, the team wanted to give players something really new that should give players new battlegrounds to master.
Prior to arriving at PAX East, I'd heard of Fable Legends, but I honestly didn't pay too much attention to it. I'm a fan of the Fable IP, but I haven't really been grabbed by anything to come from it since the series' debut (on PC) back in 2005. I had no expectations for the game when we arrived at the Microsoft booth to take some footage of the free-to-play title, but once I got to the booth I just had to get my hands on it.
Just in time for Battlefield Hardline
A new flagship
Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!
Mini-ITX or bust
