So, I did a full analysis of the default SLI bits included with 1.4 (0x00000004 - Tiger Knight / Hu Bao Qi, FIFA 16, etc.)
Here is what I found.
First and foremost, insane shadow noise is just as prominent with these bits that WH has designated for official use. Proof below.
I also had to force AFR2 in control panel, as for whatever reason, selecting it in Inspector had no effect.
Settings:
Ultra High Preset
Vsync Disabled
AA Disabled
System Specs:
i7-5930k @ 3.50 GHz
ASUS Rampage V Extreme
32.0 GB DDR4 2133MHz
Titan X Maxwell (x2) mV +112, Power Limit 110%, Core Clock +175 MHz, Memory Clock +400 MHz, Watercooled
SLI Compatibility Bits: 0x00000004 with AFR2 Forced in Nvidia Control Panel
1080P
05-04-2018, 07:20:06 KingdomCome.exe benchmark completed, 2878 frames rendered in 37.391s
Average framerate : 76.9 FPS
Minimum framerate : 53.9 FPS
Maximum framerate : 95.1 FPS
Utilization Average: 49%
Average framerate percentage increase\decrease over single GPU: -7.68%
Average framerate percentage increase\decrease over SLI bits 0x080040F5: -0.64%
1440P
05-04-2018, 07:21:26 KingdomCome.exe benchmark completed, 3770 frames rendered in 45.719s
Average framerate : 82.4 FPS
Minimum framerate : 62.0 FPS
Maximum framerate : 111.8 FPS
Utilization Average: 89%
Average framerate percentage increase\decrease over single GPU: +36.65%
Average framerate percentage increase\decrease over SLI bits 0x080040F5: +8.85%
2160P
05-04-2018, 07:24:49 KingdomCome.exe benchmark completed, 2407 frames rendered in 52.407s
Average framerate : 45.9 FPS
Minimum framerate : 41.2 FPS
Maximum framerate : 49.7 FPS
Utilization Average: 99.5%
Average framerate percentage increase\decrease over single GPU: +42.10%
Average framerate percentage increase\decrease over SLI bits 0x080040F5: -14.52%
Overall, these official bits perform worse on 1080p than single GPU, but almost 9% better at 1440p. At 4k, we see a whopping -14.52% decrease in average framerate vs. 0x080040F5, though a decent 42% increase over single gpu mode. I’d stick with 0x080040F5 with rendering mode set to default in NV Control Panel, since I tend to prefer 2160p. Those with 1440p however, would probably want to go with 0x00000004, with AFR2 enabled.
Also, here are the benchmarks for 0x080040F5 with AFR set to autoselect in Inspector and NV Control Panel:
Settings:
Ultra High Preset
Vsync Disabled
AA Disabled
System Specs:
i7-5930k @ 3.50 GHz
ASUS Rampage V Extreme
32.0 GB DDR4 2133MHz
Titan X Maxwell (x2) mV +112, Power Limit 110%, Core Clock +175 MHz, Memory Clock +400 MHz, Watercooled
SLI Compatibility Bits: 0x080040F5
1080P
03-04-2018, 09:28:39 KingdomCome.exe benchmark completed, 2870 frames rendered in 37.047s
Average framerate : 77.4 FPS
Minimum framerate : 45.5 FPS
Maximum framerate : 102.4 FPS
Utilization Average: 52%
Average framerate percentage increase\decrease over no SLI: -9.12%
1440P
03-04-2018, 09:29:45 KingdomCome.exe benchmark completed, 3169 frames rendered in 41.812s
Average framerate : 75.7 FPS
Minimum framerate : 53.8 FPS
Maximum framerate : 97.9 FPS
Utilization Average: 70.5%
Average framerate percentage increase\decrease over no SLI: +25.53%
2160P
03-04-2018, 09:32:46 KingdomCome.exe benchmark completed, 1825 frames rendered in 33.984s
Average framerate : 53.7 FPS
Minimum framerate : 47.8 FPS
Maximum framerate : 59.5 FPS
Utilization Average: 98%
Average framerate percentage increase\decrease over no SLI: +66.25%
There are several interesting points to be taken from this data. The first is that we have only 50.2% utilization average at 1080p. The average framerate actually drops with SLI activated in 1080p - from 83.3 fps to 75.7 - a 9.12% decrease. At 1440p, there is a marginal improvement with 70.5% utilization. It isn’t until we hit 2160p that we get into the 90s with 98% utilization, however the framerate sample here was taken at Talmberg. I can guarantee that the framerate is much worse in Rattay. The other major issue is it introduces issues with shadows. It isn’t post processing - disabling AO has no effect, neither does changing the AA. Not to mention, the higher end TXAA almost always always conflicts with SLI. At 2160p, AA is largely irrelevant, but at 1440p, and most certainly 1080p it is a necessity. The shadows issue has been documented below: