Is adding more videocards really worth it?

[itroitnyah]

This question is rhetorical, to be clear. 

 

I'm currently under the impression that if you had a massive budget to build a computer with, you'd get much better benchmarks in games if you went with two high end cards with water blocks on a custom loop over four videocards, even if all four were on a custom cooling loop as well. I've heard that most games don't really support 3-4 way SLI/x-fire very well, resulting in lower FPS or really small performance increases over 2-way. The only reason you'd really want a 4-way GPU system is for a workbench doing renders or such. 

 

But this seems to conflict with everybody. Some people say the more videocards the better, others say more than two isn't worth it performance wise. 

 

So which is it? Would you get better performance with two water cooled videocards over four in a majority of games, or would the performance difference between the setups make four cards worth it, price/performance ratio aside?

 

Sorry if this has already been answered before.

[Quest]

It depends.
Personally, I got SLI 770's because I had access to $60 off on each card the day after they released, from a friend working with a retailer. Otherwise I would have gotten a single 780.

If you're getting something like a 780ti, and that still is not cutting it for you, then SLI is the only option unless you want to wait for better cards.

[LancerBG]

When it comes to "worth it" its a matter of if you have the money for it or not. If money is tight and you need to save for something like that I would say its not worth it but if you are the type of person who likes to buy new toys when they come out and can do so with out giving it a second thought then sure its worth it. A wise person would take performance per dollar in to consideration but I am not wise so I really wouldn't be the guy to ask. 

 

It's not a black and white answer no matter what anyone says. 

[MattP123]

Ok... what would you want? 

 

2 Titan Blacks, or 4 Titan Blacks?

[Sernyhough]

Any more than two cards is not worth the extra cost

[Nathan]

3 and 4 way sli is more of a, "hey look what i did" more than "wow look at all them frames". Linus talks in MANY videos about how poorly sli / x-fire scales after 2 cards and ALWAYS recommends a single, more powerful card over a 2 way sli of lower tier cards

[Sernyhough]

Ok... what would you want? 

 

2 Titan Blacks, or 4 Titan Blacks?

4 Titans blacks would perform no better... That's 8 gpu's...

[Quest]

4 Titans blacks would perform no better... That's 8 gpu's...

You're thinking of the Titan Z.

[MattP123]

4 Titans blacks would perform no better... That's 8 gpu's...

That wasn't the question... and that's 4 GPU's. Titan Blacks are single GPU cards. 

[itroitnyah]

Thanks for the answers guys. Quest, this question is rhetorical, so the card chosen doesn't really matter. Let's just say for the sake of example, 780 Ti's are the card in question.

 

Lancer, since this is rhetorical, price/performance ratio doesn't matter, nor does the price, although those are all good things to take into consideration when buying a computer.

 

MattP123, to answer your question, neither. I'm not a huge fan of the Titan series since it really just seems like the Titan branding/naming has been worn out since the release of the original titans. They really seem more like a line of commercial-professional cards for people who would benefit from having more than 4gb of RAM on their videocards. 

 

Serny, thanks for the answers. It's a bit blunt, but it's an answer.

 

Nathan, that doesn't answer my question, but yes, I know.

 

Going back to the "this isn't a black and white issue", I'm trying to simplify this to a simple "Most games will either have lower FPS or increase performance by about a small X% with more than two cards in a system, so you'd get better performance in a majority of cases with just two cards", or flip side, whichever is more accurate.

[Nathan]

Nathan, that doesn't answer my question, but yes, I know.

 

Well, since the performance doesn't really scale, past 2 cards... price / performance wise, 4 cards isn't worth it

 

(sorry if im not getting your question quite right )

[itroitnyah]

You sort of answered the question in a nutshell, although it's not entirely what I'm looking for. There's probably just a slight miscommunication, although it's mostly answered.

 

What I'm trying to get answered is, in a rhetorical situation, let's say I have an unlimited budget. I'm planning on putting however many videocards I want into the computer that I have an unlimited budget for. My limit to when I stop putting in more videocards in when the performance would either decrease, or not increase past about 5-10% for a majority of games. Would I want to stop at two videocards, or would adding four be to my benefit?

 

Judging by many of the responses this thread has gotten, my suspicions have been confirmed that more than two cards is not worth it, and you'd be much better off getting a custom cooling setup with the money saved off of the third or fourth card, then either voltage hacking or letting GPU boost 2.0 increase clock speed.

[lunchboxdeluxe]

I wouldn't personally go over 2 cards anytime soon unless scaling gets better. The sweet spot for most games is 2, any more and it's too much heat and power draw for my tastes... with smaller gains in a lot of games.

 

If you are determined, ATI seems to do 3-4 cards a bit better than Nvidia at the moment if I remember correctly.

[I/O]

Yes it's defiantly worth it if you want high framerates and sexy sampling AA to make games look baller.

[itroitnyah]

Thanks for the input, although I'm not quite convinced about what you're saying, I/O. I'm not sure that having more cards would make AA any better.

[I/O]

Thanks for the input, although I'm not quite convinced about what you're saying, I/O. I'm not sure that having more cards would make AA any better.

When you use multiple cards you can use high level AA like Edge Detect sexy sample AA 24x and still maintain a nice framerate above 60fps.

[itroitnyah]

I don't think AA performance increases in a different way than other graphic settings in games, so I don't understand what you're trying to say. 

 

Since AA performance more than likely doesn't increase in a different manner than the other graphical settings in games, I'm assuming you're a troll, for the time being.

[I/O]

I don't think AA performance increases in a different way than other graphic settings in games, so I don't understand what you're trying to say. 

 

Since AA performance more than likely doesn't increase in a different manner than the other graphical settings in games, I'm assuming you're a troll, for the time being.

Holy shit you call me a troll because I am saying that more GPU power enables you to run higher levels of AA LOL GTFO please or apologizes.

[Sernyhough]

You're thinking of the Titan Z.

Only just noticed he wrote Titan Black

[Humbug]

I am currently using an R9 290, and i don't feel like adding more GPUs would increase my gaming enjoyment / immersion. Although raw numbers will increase.

 

But maybe I would feel differently if I was running either eyefinity or 4K resolutions.

[ijchan223]

When you throw out price per performance then yes, more is always better.

[I/O]

I am currently using an R9 290, and i don't feel like adding more GPUs would increase my gaming enjoyment / immersion. Although raw numbers will increase.

 

But maybe I would feel differently if I was running either eyefinity or 4K resolutions.

But with another GPU you could run allot more games and still maintain a minimum framerate of 60fps while enjoying maxed out visuals and high levels of AA.

[Humbug]

But with another GPU you could run allot more games and still maintain a minimum framerate of 60fps while enjoying maxed out visuals and high levels of AA.

I play at 1080p. At this resolution my R9 290 already allows me to max out with AA. I can even play Crysis 3 with 4 x MSAA. It may not always be 60fps but there are no bad drops either, it remains very smooth. Then of course there will always be a couple of games which are badly optimized that don't run well. e.g. I saw Total Biscuit struggling to run Watch Dogs on 2 x Geforce Titans, lots of stuttering. But those games are not the norm so there is no point planning for them, there will always be badly made games .

 

For me the GPU is a tool to enjoy my games and increase my immersion. That's why I stick to a single R9 290. I plan to use this for upto 3 years. I don't want to fall into the trap that a lot of people on this forum have fallen into where they have become graphics whores who keep running benchmarks, but they don't enjoy gaming anymore.

[Judist]

I'm a believer in 2 cards max and went with SLI Titan Blacks.

Anything more would be a waste.

1) My monitors are 144hz and 3 gazillion fps isn't going to improve anything.

2) Most humans cant distinguish rates above 90-120 fps anyways (if it's consistent).

[FloRolf]

Highest i would go with right now is 3. That's probably what i'll be going with in my next beast system.

Tri 20nm nvidias highest end for 4k. But IF they perform really really good, i'll only get two cause of price/performance and power consumption.