Can this custom dual GTX 760 card trump The GTX 780 Ti?
Asus’ Republic of Gamers MARS dual-GPU graphics cards are renowned for being oversized and over the top. The new GTX 760 edition is less extreme (by comparison), as it retains a regular dual-slot form factor and measures 281mm long – barely longer than a GTX 780 Ti card.
The card combines a pair of GTX 760 GPUs on a single custom PCB, which allows Asus to market it as having 2,304 stream processors and 4GB of memory. The base clock of both GPUs has also been nudged from 980MHz to 1,006MHz, giving them a boost clock of 1,072MHz. The memory, meanwhile, runs at the stock GTX 760 frequency of 1.5GHz (6GHz effective).
The design is typical of Asus’ RoG products, and the red metal contrasts attractively with the black, soft-touch plastic. A black metal backplate gives the card extra stability, while the glowing red MARS logo on the side will be easily visible through a case window. Outputs include two DVI-I ports and a DVI-D connector, all dual-link, as well as a mini-DisplayPort connector. A single SLI bridge means the card can be paired with a second for quad-SLI too, a world first for the GTX 760.
Cooling is achieved by a pair of Direct CU II coolers. Four heatpipes make direct contact with each GPU, before looping round into the aluminium heatsinks above them.Two 85mm fans (one per heatsink) provide airflow, but the resulting hot air is dumped into your chassis. Meanwhile, a metal contact plate draws heat away from the majority of the memory chips and power circuitry, as well as the on-board SLI bridge.
THE GLOWING RED MARS LOGO ON THE SIDE WILL BE EASILY VISIBLE THROUGH A CASE WINDOW
The two GK104 GPUs are mounted on the left and right of the PCB, each surrounded by eight 256MB SK Hynix memory chips. Between the GPUs sits the PLX PEX8747, enabling the GPUs to communicate, while a single connector controls both fans via a circuitboard, which also powers the MARS logo’s LEDs.
Asus has paid close attention to power circuitry, equipping the board with 10+2 Digi+VRM power phases, which enable precise digital GPU voltage control via the supplied GPU Tweak software. Along with the high-quality components, this should help to keep the MARS GTX 760 stable at high overclocks.
PERFORMANCE
[highlight] The GTX 760 MARS [/highlight] got off to a strong start in Battlefield 4, providing a much smoother experience at 2,560 x 1,600 than the costlier GTX 780 Ti, with a 7fps higher minimum frame rate. The combined GPUs effectively enable the card to overcome the slowdowns that Nvidia cards typically experience in this benchmark. It was unable to beat the dual-GPU Radeon HD 7990 in this test, but it trumped the R9 290X. Sadly, this isn’t true at the higher resolutions, where it falls behind the GTX 780 Ti and R9 290X, but still offers the same performance as the GTX Titan.
It fares well at 2,560 x 1,600 in BioShock Infinite as well, with frame rates 7 and 18 per cent faster than the GTX 780 Ti and R9 290X respectively, and never dipping below 60fps. Sadly, it struggles massively at the higher resolutions, though, stuttering through the benchmark with low minimum frame rates.
However, this appears to be a localised issue affecting Nvidia multi-GPU setups, as we’ve also observed similar behaviour with the GTX 690. Crysis 3 performance is also good, as it dominates the single GPU-cards and is only marginally behind the HD 7990. Its performance is also on a par with the GTX 780 Ti in this test at very high resolutions.
Power draw is high, as you would expect from a dual-GPU card. In fact, it uses even more power than the HD 7990 under load. The fans can also kick up some noise, although again, that isn’t surprising given that they’re dealing with two overclocked GPUs in a confined space.
Through overclocking, we hit a base clock of 1,127MHz on both GPUs, which is a 12 per cent increase. This took the boost clock to 1,192MHz, although in reality, it peaked at a mighty 1,254MHz.
We could only raise the memory frequency to 6.5GHz (effective), but the results were still excellent for a dual-slot, dual-GPU card. Of particular note are the Crysis 3 frame rates, where the overclocked card rockets to 5fps ahead of those of the HD 7990.
Specifiation:
Graphics processor: 2 x Nvidia GeForce GTX 760, 1,006MHz (boost 1,072MHz)
Pipeline: 2 x 1,152 stream processors,2 x 32 ROPs
Memory: 2 x 2GB GDDR5, 6GHz effective
Bandwidth: 2 x 192GB/secCompatibility DirectX 11 OpenGL 4.3
Outputs/inputs: 2 x DVI-I, 1 x DVI-D, 1 x mini-DisplayPort
Power connections: 2 x 8-pin, top-mounted
Size : 280mm long, dual-slot
CONCLUSION
At 2,560 x 1,600, the [highlight] GTX 760 MARS [/highlight] easily outperforms the costlier GTX 780 Ti, which is amazing when you consider that it has fewer stream processors. It has less of an advantage at ultra high resolutions, though, where the pair of HD 7970 GPUs on the HD 7990 give it the advantage.
The HD 7990 also currently costs around £400, making it the better buy if you’re happy to go down a dual-GPU route. MARS cards are never about value for money, though, and as an independent feat of engineering, giving you a dual-GPU card that you could effectively use in a mini-ITX machine with a beefy PSU, it’s an undeniably impressive achievement. It’s thoroughly well constructed, and its premium components are evident in its overclocking potential.
