Average 2080 Ti SLIscaling:40%
Average 2080 SuperSLIscaling:42%RED2,560DEADx 1,440,customREDEMPTIONhighsettings, (^2) Vulkan,TAA
0 75 150 225 300
75 150 225 300
75 150 225 300
75 150 225 300
2 x GeForceRTX 2080 TiSLI
GeForceRTX 2080 Ti
69fps 112fps
59fps 80fps
2 x GeForceRTX 2080 SuperSLI
GeForceRTX 2080 Super
58fps 102fps
54fps 72fps
99thpercentile
Average
Average 2080 Ti SLIscaling:48%
Average 2080 SuperSLIscaling:44%
3,840x 2,160,customhighsettings,Vulkan,TAA
0
2 x GeForceRTX 2080 TiSLI
GeForceRTX 2080 Ti
43fps 78fps
43fps 54fps
2 x GeForceRTX 2080 SuperSLI
GeForceRTX 2080 Super
38fps 62fps
35fps 43fps
Average 2080 Ti SLIscaling:97%
Average 2080 SuperSLIscaling:84%
SHADOW2,560x 1,440,OFHighestTHEsettings,TOMBTAARAIDER
0
2 x GeForceRTX 2080 TiSLI
GeForceRTX 2080 Ti
164fps 211fps
83fps 107fps
2 x GeForceRTX 2080 SuperSLI
GeForceRTX 2080 Super
145fps 180fps
76fps 98fps
Average 2080 Ti SLIscaling:72%
Average 2080 SuperSLIscaling:63%
3,840x 2,160,Highestsettings,TAA
0
2 x GeForceRTX 2080 TiSLI
GeForceRTX 2080 Ti
81fps 100fps
47fps 58fps
2 x GeForceRTX 2080 SuperSLI
GeForceRTX 2080 Super
67fps 85fps
41fps 52fps
75 150 225 300
75 150 225 300
Average 2080 Ti SLIscaling:76%
Average 2080 SuperSLIscaling:74%
2,560x 1,440,Highestsettings,HighRTshadows,TAA
0
2 x GeForceRTX 2080 TiSLI
GeForceRTX 2080 Ti
80fps 120fps
46fps 68fps
2 x GeForceRTX 2080 SuperSLI
GeForceRTX 2080 Super
67fps 99fps
38fps 57fps
Minimum
Average MinimumAverage
Average 2080 Ti SLIscaling:78%
Average 2080 SuperSLIscaling:69%
3,840x 2,160,Highestsettings,HighRTshadows,TAA
0
2 x GeForceRTX 2080 TiSLI
GeForceRTX 2080 Ti
45fps 66fps
37fps24fps
2 x GeForceRTX 2080 SuperSLI
GeForceRTX 2080 Super
49fps29fps
29fps19fps
200 400 600 800
TOTALShadowofSYSTEMtheTombRaider,LOAD3,840POWERx 2,160,HighestCONSUMPTIONsettings,TAA
0
2 x GeForceRTX 2080 TiSLI
GeForceRTX 2080 Ti
690W
393W
2 x GeForceRTX 2080 SuperSLI
GeForceRTX 2080 Super
638W
404W
75 150 225 300
75 150 225 300
Average 2080 Ti SLIscaling:25%
Average 2080 SuperSLIscaling:40%
TOTAL2,560x 1,440,WAR:UltraWARHAMMERsettings,FXAA,DX11II
0
2 x GeForceRTX 2080 TiSLI
GeForceRTX 2080 Ti
82fps 118fps
70fps 94fps
2 x GeForceRTX 2080 SuperSLI
GeForceRTX 2080 Super
80fps 112fps
67fps 80fps
Average 2080 Ti SLIscaling:53%
Average 2080 SuperSLIscaling:63%
3,840x 2,160,Ultrasettings,FXAA,DX11
0
2 x GeForceRTX 2080 TiSLI
GeForceRTX 2080 Ti
67fps 84fps
46fps 55fps
2 x GeForceRTX 2080 SuperSLI
GeForceRTX 2080 Super
65fps 75fps
39fps 46fps
75 150 225 300
75 150 225 300
Average 2080 Ti SLIscaling:55%
Average 2080 SuperSLIscaling:62%
THE2,560WITCHERx 1,440,Ultradetail,3:WILDHairWorksHUNTmax
0
2 x GeForceRTX 2080 TiSLI
GeForceRTX 2080 Ti
131fps 157fps
90fps 101fps
2 x GeForceRTX 2080 SuperSLI
GeForceRTX 2080 Super
126fps 141fps
78fps 87fps
Average 2080 Ti SLIscaling:67%
Average 2080 SuperSLIscaling:70%
3,840x 2,160,Ultradetail,HairWorksmax
0
2 x GeForceRTX 2080 TiSLI
GeForceRTX 2080 Ti
91fps 105fps
56fps 63fps
2 x GeForceRTX 2080 SuperSLI
GeForceRTX 2080 Super
84fps 92fps
49fps 54fps
75 150 225 300
75 150 225 300
Average 2080 Ti SLIscaling:20%
Average 2080 SuperSLIscaling:34%
DEUS2,560x 1,440,EX:MANKINDUltrasettings,DX12DIVIDED
0
2 x GeForceRTX 2080 TiSLI
GeForceRTX 2080 Ti
67fps 100fps
66fps 83fps
2 x GeForceRTX 2080 SuperSLI
GeForceRTX 2080 Super
77fps 95fps
57fps 71fps
Average 2080 Ti SLIscaling:50%
Average 2080 SuperSLIscaling:45%
3,840x 2,160,Ultrasettings,DX12
0
2 x GeForceRTX 2080 TiSLI
GeForceRTX 2080 Ti
58fps 72fps
40fps 48fps
2 x GeForceRTX 2080 SuperSLI
GeForceRTX 2080 Super
45fps 58fps
33fps40fps
Loweris better
When we discussed this feature with Scan,
the company told us that very few of the SLI
systems it sells use air-cooled GPUs, with
most SLI buyers looking for a water-cooled
system. This makes a lot of sense, and not
just because people who can afford SLI can
probably afford water cooling too. Water-
cooling the GPUs means you can direct the
cooling to the radiators, with no concerns
about airflow between the two cards. A
water-cooled SLI system will be massively
quieter than an air-cooled one, and the GPUs
will be less likely to throttle too.
Don’t underestimate the power
requirements either. With both the RTX 2080
Ti and Super, our system went from drawing
around 400W from the mains at peak load,
to well over 600W (and nearly 700W in the
case of the RTX 2080 Ti SLI setup). The Scan
test rig had an 850W PSU to cope with this
load, and you’ll want the same or higher if
you’re planning to do it too.
Conclusion
Is it still worth using SLI in games? The answer is
a very hesitant yes from us, with the caveat that
it very much depends on your circumstances. If
you have the money, and you want to be able to
play the latest games at 4K with all the top eye
candy and ray tracing, then SLI is the only way to
do it at the moment. Even then, though, we’d be
tempted to wait and see what Nvidia and AMD
might have waiting in the wings for later this
year instead, as a single-GPU setup will involve
much less stress.
Throughout testing, we encountered
compatibility problems, from visual artefacts
to games without SLI support, as well as
occasional stuttering and poor scaling. A lot of
these tests had to be run several times before
we could get reliable results. What’s more, you
may well have to spend a lot of time faffing
in Profile Inspector just to enable SLI in some
games, let alone optimising it to run faster.
If you have the money, time and patience, and
you want the best performance now, then go
ahead and build yourself a (water-cooled) RTX
SLI system. For anyone else, though, we advise
sticking to a single GPU and lowering your
graphics settings a bit. With dwindling dual-GPU
game support, AMD dropping CrossFire and
Nvidia only enabling SLI on four GPUs, it’s clear
that the concept of multi-GPU may also be on
the way out. We’d be surprised if Nvidia canned
SLI entirely any time soon, but don’t expect it to
still be here in a few years.
BENCHMARK RESULTS