GeForce 770 SLI?

[JaackPricee]

I already have 1 GeForce 770 2GB in my system, and I would like to buy another. Firstly, is it even worth it?! And secondly, would I need to buy another one with the same amount of VRAM? As 2GB is slowly going out of date.

 

Thank you

[H4X3R]

2GB is becoming a bottleneck. I suggest selling your 770 and buying a 970/980.

[vlkn´]

if you find a second cheap 770, buy one with 4gb and place it in the first pcie slot.

I think that should work, google if someone did that before.

[Lord Pantaloons]

if you find a second cheap 770, buy one with 4gb and place it in the first pcie slot.

I think that should work, google if someone did that before.

It will not, I ended up with 4GB 760 and a 2GB 760 during my RMA fiasco and there is a way to work but it's nothing but a problem.

 

@OP At 1080 2GB is still pretty much fine, if you are worried about it then a 970 would suit you better. However it will be slower than two 770's by a good margin.

[sgloux3470]

2GB is fine, you just have to lower texture settings or whatever a notch lower in some games. (I have yet to notice an appreciable difference in image quality when doing this.  (Example: http://www.pcgamer.com/spot-the-difference-shadow-of-mordor-ultra-hd-textures-barely-change-a-thing/ )  Lots of recent games are eating up a ton of VRAM with textures when you crank it to ultra, but the actual quality of the textures isn't visibly better. (The texture files are higher res, but it doesn't really change how the game looks.)  4K will  present issues for 2GB vram in most games past medium settings.  Also, less MSAA.

 

SLI 770's will give you excellent performance, much better than even a 980.  Whether it's worth it or not depends on what resolution you play games at.  1440p is a no brainer, but 1080p it comes down to how cheaply you can get the second card and whether or not you're opposed to waiting a few more months-a year to upgrade.  

 

Also,  Mixing/matching VRAM limits you to the card with the lowest VRAM.

 

This article explains the matter of vram quite well imo  

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphics-card-myths,3694-5.html

 

For 1080p, 2GB should be fine with the occasional reduction from "ultra" to "very high" or "4x MSAA" to "2x MSAA".  

[Lord Pantaloons]

 

Also,  Mixing/matching VRAM limits you to the card with the lowest VRAM.

Nvidia no longer supports SLI with different Vram amounts. It was semi-official to begin with now it's just flat out unsupported.

[sgloux3470]

Nvidia no longer supports SLI with different Vram amounts. It was semi-official to begin with now it's just flat out unsupported.

 

Ah okay, I knew crossfire supported it and a quick google search seemed to indicate Nvidia did too.  Thanks for clearing it up though. (I kind of figured Nvidia was stricter about matching exact cards.)

[Lord Pantaloons]

Ah okay, I knew crossfire supported it and a quick google search seemed to indicate Nvidia did too.  Thanks for clearing it up though. (I kind of figured Nvidia was stricter about matching exact cards.)

They are more strict and for good reason, it's buggy, broken and mismatching cards shouldn't be encouraged anyways.

[Faceman]

I would sell the $770 for around $180-200 and buy a 970. 2GB of VRAM just doesn't cut it anymore. I'm sitting here with 3GB at 1080p and it's being maxed in some games when I crank settings. I haven't even owned this GPU for 12 months and it's obsolete. I dunno about you, but I like playing at the highest settings. If you have enough money for a 2nd 770, then you have enough money to sell your current 770 and buy a 970. Takes more work, but worth it in the long run. Games being released are starting to require 4GB for Ultra Settings at 1080p, and I want a piece of that.

[sgloux3470]

They are more strict and for good reason, it's buggy, broken and mismatching cards shouldn't be encouraged anyways.

 

It works fine, the hell are you talking about?

 

Are you also going to argue that their PCiE limitations do anything other than sell $300 motherboards to people who want to quad sli?

[Lord Pantaloons]

It works fine, the hell are you talking about?

 

Are you also going to argue that their PCiE limitations do anything other than sell $300 motherboards to people who want to quad sli?

I was referring to mismatching vram amounts specifically but my OCD makes me hate the idea of mismatched cards of any type regardless. That being said Nvidia requires a licensing fee and a minimum of x8 because they can and people go for it. You can also run quad SLI on any board that supports two way if you use dual GPU cards like the Titan Z, 295x2, 690, 7990 etc etc.

[JaackPricee]

2GB is becoming a bottleneck. I suggest selling your 770 and buying a 970/980.

 

 

if you find a second cheap 770, buy one with 4gb and place it in the first pcie slot.

I think that should work, google if someone did that before.

 

 

It will not, I ended up with 4GB 760 and a 2GB 760 during my RMA fiasco and there is a way to work but it's nothing but a problem.

 

@OP At 1080 2GB is still pretty much fine, if you are worried about it then a 970 would suit you better. However it will be slower than two 770's by a good margin.

 

 

2GB is fine, you just have to lower texture settings or whatever a notch lower in some games. (I have yet to notice an appreciable difference in image quality when doing this.  (Example: http://www.pcgamer.com/spot-the-difference-shadow-of-mordor-ultra-hd-textures-barely-change-a-thing/ )  Lots of recent games are eating up a ton of VRAM with textures when you crank it to ultra, but the actual quality of the textures isn't visibly better. (The texture files are higher res, but it doesn't really change how the game looks.)  4K will  present issues for 2GB vram in most games past medium settings.  Also, less MSAA.

 

SLI 770's will give you excellent performance, much better than even a 980.  Whether it's worth it or not depends on what resolution you play games at.  1440p is a no brainer, but 1080p it comes down to how cheaply you can get the second card and whether or not you're opposed to waiting a few more months-a year to upgrade.  

 

Also,  Mixing/matching VRAM limits you to the card with the lowest VRAM.

 

This article explains the matter of vram quite well imo  

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphics-card-myths,3694-5.html

 

For 1080p, 2GB should be fine with the occasional reduction from "ultra" to "very high" or "4x MSAA" to "2x MSAA".  

 

 

Nvidia no longer supports SLI with different Vram amounts. It was semi-official to begin with now it's just flat out unsupported.

 

 

Too add on what sgloux3470 said, I would just choose which option is cheaper and go for it. I'd personally sell that 770 and buy a 970. Since games don't always like/supports two or more video cards. 970 is a great buy for the money, if you can, I would try and get a 980.

 

 

Ah okay, I knew crossfire supported it and a quick google search seemed to indicate Nvidia did too.  Thanks for clearing it up though. (I kind of figured Nvidia was stricter about matching exact cards.)

 

 

They are more strict and for good reason, it's buggy, broken and mismatching cards shouldn't be encouraged anyways.

 

 

I would sell the $770 for around $180-200 and buy a 970. 2GB of VRAM just doesn't cut it anymore. I'm sitting here with 3GB at 1080p and it's being maxed in some games when I crank settings. I haven't even owned this GPU for 12 months and it's obsolete. I dunno about you, but I like playing at the highest settings. If you have enough money for a 2nd 770, then you have enough money to sell your current 770 and buy a 970. Takes more work, but worth it in the long run. Games being released are starting to require 4GB for Ultra Settings at 1080p, and I want a piece of that.

 

 

It works fine, the hell are you talking about?

 

Are you also going to argue that their PCiE limitations do anything other than sell $300 motherboards to people who want to quad sli?

 

 

I was referring to mismatching vram amounts specifically but my OCD makes me hate the idea of mismatched cards of any type regardless. That being said Nvidia requires a licensing fee and a minimum of x8 because they can and people go for it. You can also run quad SLI on any board that supports two way if you use dual GPU cards like the Titan Z, 295x2, 690, 7990 etc etc.

Thank you all for your replies, I think I'm going to go with selling my 770 and buying a 970 as I don't really want to deal with the possible hassle of SLI and bottlenecks.