DirectX 12: Explicit Multi-GPU performance

Multi graphics card performance

One of the key factors for the new Ashes DX12 benchmark is for it to make use of the DX12 feature called Explicit Multi-GPU. You can now insert an additional video card into your PC and increase performance by up to 2x. Explicit Multi-GPU allows gamers to use an AMD card and an Nvidia card in the same system. On the next two pages, some simple testing. We'll stick to the HIGH quality mode and then thrown in a fourfold of combinations.

And yes .. it is weird to mix say a GTX 980 with a GTX 980 Ti, or a GTX 980 with a Radeon R9 Fury, or even a 380X with a R9 Fury. This is all possible in DX12 if the game supports it.
 

Yes that would be a GeForce GTX 980 and a Radeon R9 Fury - Both rendering the game simultaneously.

I do want you guys to realize that multi-GPU gaming this way might be possible, but whether or not it's recommended is another thing. I'll show you why I write this line with some FCAT results later on in this article. We'll stick at HIGH quality settings, below a GeForce GTX 980 with a Radeon R9 Fury.

So above the results for the Radeon R9 Fury, the GeForce GTX 980 and then the two combined. As you can see, performance is boosted significantly. The average FPS on the 980 is 53 FPS, on the Fury it is 70 FPS, combining workload helps it get towards a 94 FPS average. Not rather huge, but not bad either eh ?

For the second run we inserted a Radeon R9 380X and the R9 Fury. The results here are much more dim as we barely pass the Fury in performance all by itself. It should be noted that cards of the same class are recommended and preferred. But in that situation you probably want to enable Crossfire over Explicit Multi-GPU mode.