You've seen our review of the NVIDIA GTX 780Ti and might be wondering how the card performs in 4k and in SLI configurations. This is why we put it through our demanding tests to see how it would perform. Check out below to see just how the NVIDIA GTX 780Ti will perform on a 4k monitor when put in 2x, 3x and Quad-SLI configurations.

The Card

Specifications

The NVIDIA GTX 780 Ti feautres 2880 CUDA cores, 3GB of VRAM, a 384 bit bus and a base clock of 876 MHz that auto boosts to 928 MHz.

In comparison, the GTX 780 features 2304 CUDA cores. It also 3GB of VRAM on a 384bit bus and a 863 MHz base block that boosts to 902 Mhz.

4k Benchmarks

Battlefield 4

Being one of the most popular franchises to date, Battlefield 4 is the latest addition to the series that takes full advantage of the latest hardware. For our settings, we set everything to Ultra with 4x MSAA enabled and set the resolution to 3840x2160p.

On it's own, the NVIDIA GTX 780Ti barely makes it and gets an average of 30.1 fps. It is important to note, however, that the fps dips below 30 very often and makes the gameplay shaky. If you want to play on a single card, expect to turn the settings down.

When tested in SLI configurations, the NVIDIA GTX 780Ti truly shined. It was able to obtain 41.8 fps in 2x SLI, 48.2 fps in 3x SLI and a minimal gain to 48.5 fps in Quad-SLI. It seems that after three GTX 780Ti's, there is no benefit in Battlefield 4. Perhaps the game is not optimized yet for multiple card situations.

Bioshock Infinite

We chose to use Bioshock Infinite to test the video card due to its magnificient visual qualities and the fact that it is one of the most popluar PC games out at the moment. This will allow us to get an accurate benchmark of how the card will perform in real life scenarios. We tested the NVIDIA GTX 780ti and the other graphics cards using the built-in benchmark tool under the 3840x2160p resolution with ultra graphics and DDOF enabled.

In single-card performance the NVIDIA GTX 780Ti had an average of 34.9 fps. Is it possible to enjoy smooth gameplay on a single card? Yes, as long as you turn down 1-2 settings. Once we ran the cards in SLI, a 2x SLI configuration had an average of 64.6 fps, a 3x SLI configuration had 85.1 fps and Quad-SLI had 85.3 fps. Again, the performance seemed to peak at 3x SLI with four cards in SLI showing no significant bump in performance.

Crysis 3

Crysis 3 is still one of the most demanding games currently out on the market. It's able to put any graphics card through its paces by throwing everything at it. For the settings, we cranked the graphics to Very High with 4x MSAA on 3840x2140p.

Being that Crysis 3 is such a demanding game, it comes to no surprise that a single card, even dual-cards fell below 30fps. It wasn't until 3x GTX 780Ti's in SLI that the game became playable with a frame rate of 33.8 fps. With the fourth card added in Quad-SLI, the performance actually started to fall. Again, it seems that most games are not optimized for 4x configurations.

Heaven 4.0

Widely used to test the capability of a GPU, Heaven benchmark puts maximum stress on the GPU allowing you to check stability issues and real time performance of the card. It also generates real-time in game video that gives the user an accurate reading of the cards capability. The settings that we used to test the cards were as follows: 3840x2160p Full Screen, High graphics, 4x Multisample Anti-Aliasing, and Normal Tessellation.

Conclusion

If you're gaming on a 4k monitor, you'll want the NVIDIA GTX 780Ti. It outperformed both the GTX Titan and the GTX 780 in almost all of our tests, most likely due to the wider bus. However, If you plan on going with a resolution higher than 4k, you might want to pick up the GTX Titan instead as it features twice the VRAM and will help with textures. With the introduction of 4k displays and cards like the GTX 780Ti, its only a matter of time till 4k becomes the norm for gaming computers and computing in general.