GTX 760 sli vs GTX 780

[Balgruuf]

I have been hung up on what graphics card(s) to upgrade to recently. Right now I have a 7950 Ghz edition for my triple monitor setup. I want to upgrade, and am not sure if it would be better to get two 760's, or one 780 with a chance I might upgrade later (although I wouldn't mind spending the money on something else). What I'm really trying to say is: is two 760's better than one 780 for gaming on triple monitors.

[menendez1293]

Are you doing 3D Game surround? 

[dragoon20005]

single GTX780

[Oshino Shinobu]

On triple monitors, you'll be better off with 290s or 290Xs. The extra VRAM will help with the high resolution. 

 

Between just SLI 760 and a single 780, a single 780 is definitely better. However, neither solution is powerful enough to push 3x1080p with decent settings and goof FPS. 

[ColdSnap88]

On paper, the dual 760's will be more powerful, but at the cost of generating more heat and sucking more power from your PSU. I don't think all games will take advantage of the SLI, so my suggestion would be that a single GTX 780 wins. Yeah, you can also SLI the 780 down the line when things are more optimized.

[rambi36]

1) Not to be mean or anything but this should be in the graphics cards section.

2)I would take a single 780 over dual 760s. If you go sli out of the gate you won't be able to expand on your graphics performance without buying a whole new card. With a single 780 you can buy one in the future and destroy an sli 760 setup. Plus sli isn't always the best in all games and the 3gb vram will help a lot with triple monitors

[Lord Pantaloons]

Single 780

 

Reason:

 

Getting two mid range GPU's to run SLI right off the bat is a bad idea, doing so would limit your upgrade path in the future to expensive and not entirely practical 3/4 way SLI setups. While SLI 760's would be more powerful than a single 780 you would not be able to easily add more power without completely replacing both 760's or adding a third 760 which would require a very powerful PSU and a motherboard capable of utilizing 3 way SLI (all of which are very expensive high end boards). Having a single 780 means that while you have less power initially you can easily add another 780 later when you feel it's needed. The only time when you should SLI mid range GPU's is when you're on a budget when you build your PC and add another card later to boost power, that being said you should always buy the most powerful single GPU that you are able to maximize your performance later when/if you add another card.

 

Another thing to consider is the VRAM needed for running higher resolutions, a 760 comes standard with 2GB or f VRAM with the 4GB versions being quite a bit more expensive than the 2GB versions making them less cost effective. A 780 comes standard with 3GB and while I don't think 3GB is entirely enough for triple monitors you can get the more expensive 6GB version to remedy the problem.

[elan2468]

single 780 760 slit doesnt have alot of total vram and 1 card is better than one cause you dont need to completely replace them only one

[MegaTechPC]

SLI GTX 760's will outperform a single 780 in every game that fully supports SLI (which is ANY newer game).  Certainly older games and certain titles have SLI issues and of course the 780 will win in those (very few) scenarios.  Obviously a single 780 will be quieter and more efficient than dual 760's but otherwise there's really no downside to dual 760's other than having no real upgrade path (a red herring as most people don't ever actually get a second of the single cards they were going to SLI to upgrade; they typically just buy a new card).  I would ALWAYS prefer to have dual cards rather than a single one but that's just my preference.