Conclusion

Lets take a closer look at the results in the games we tested. In this case we can see, that the performance improvement from the GTX 680 to the GTX 780 varies between 14 (Call of Duty Black Ops 2) and 32 percent (Far Cry 3). Something that becomes very clear is that on average graphical intense titles benefit more from the GTX 780 than titles which are less demanding. Calculating the average in all games grants the GTX 780 an advantage of 20 percent over the GTX 680, which is quite something.

Things are starting to get a bit more interesting if we start looking at the framerates in absolute numbers. Since we mention average frames per seconds, this means that minimum framerates, can be up to 50 percent lower. If we now look at the games, where both cards score less than 60 fps, then 50 percent less would mean a minimum framrate of 30 fps, which comes dangerously close to stuttering. Since we have average frame rates as low as 30 fps here, it's to be expected, that the minimum framerate can dive below 20 fps, where we're definitely seeing stuttering.
It's these demanding games, where every additional frame makes a difference. But still a 20 percent improvement won't cut it, since the framerates will still be too low even with the GTX 780. So far we've only been talking about performance and we haven't spent one word on pricing, which is going to change now.

If you own a GTX 680 and you upgrade to a GTX 780, you will have to pay about 420 Euro for a 20 percent improvement. Should really be willing to spend this kind of money just for replacing your "old" graphics card with the latest model, you should definitely consider building an SLI. Adding another GTX 680 to your setup will give you a 40 to 80 percent performance boost and it will cost you quite a bit less. In other words the price performance ratio with adding a second GTX 680 is much better than with simply replacing the GTX 680 with a GTX 780. After checking eBay we found the prices for second hand GTX 680 cards starting at 320 US-Doller in the US, 180£ in the UK and 230 Euro in Germany. Unfortunately an SLI will also come with downsides. First of all the power consumption will go up, which also means, that the heat produced by the gaming rig will increase. In winter time this isn't an issue, but during summer, especially when you're living an a warmer country, an SLI might help to increase room temperature to a degree where it's not really comfortable anymore. Other than that you'll have to have a power supply, that can cope with two cards.

Nevertheless if it was our PC and our money and we wanted to get the highest framerates for the money, we would go for the SLI option, although power consumption will go up significantly.

Page 1 - Introduction	Page 10 - DIRT Showdown
Page 2 - Test Setup	Page 11 - Far Cry 3
Page 3 - 3DMark Fire Strike	Page 12 - Sleeping Dogs
Page 4 - Unigine Heaven 4.0	Page 13 - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Page 5 - BattleField 3	Page 14 - Metro: Last Light
Page 6 - Borderlands 2	Page 15 - GTA V
Page 7 - Bioshock Infinite	Page 16 - Power Consumption
Page 8 - Crysis 3	Page 17 - Performance Index
Page 9 - Call of Duty Black Ops 2	Page 18 - Conclusion