Primarily Gaming Purposes - GTX 970 vs GTX 980 - 2/3 Way SLI ?

[sidrockrulz]

Now that NVIDIA has launched the GTX 980 and the GTX970s, the GTX 700 series is dropping in price pretty radically.

The GTX900 series cards definitely have more technology and features and lower power consumption and temperatures! But i could always get a higher powered PSU and run older GPUs.

The 970s are 350$ and the 980s are 550$. GTX780Tis are about 400$.

I am definitely doing a Watercooling loop and SLI configuration, so..

Does dropping 1100$ in a 2Way 980 make more sense or 1050 in a 3 way 970 SLI? Which would perform better?

Or a 2/3 Way GTX780Ti ? Though i cant find any reference design blocks on these .. I will be watercooling, so i guess there's only waterblocks for reference design cards, are these even available anymore ?

 

Or does it make sense to get 2 way 980s and add one later on if I need to boost performance ?

My monitors would be a 3x1080p or a 3X1440p monitors...

[MegaDave91]

You'd only need 970 SLI for 5760 x 1080p

[othertomperson]

Why do you want SLI? If you only need one card and you can afford a 980 get that. If you want something that a single card can't really do, like 4k 60fps or the surround setup you mentioned, then 2 970s makes the most sense from a price to performance pov.

[mightytech]

Id say go 970 or 980 2X. 3X isn't worth it Price/Performance wise. You'd probably only need 2X 970's but if you really want go ahead and get 2X 980's

[TheRetiredSlave]

Generally speaking, games don't scale beyond 2-way SLI. Getting a third card is usually a complete waste of money. For the best performance, 2-way 980s is the best way to go.

 

Of course, 2-way 970s is substantially cheaper and should perform fairly close when overclocked, so that may be worth considering.

[Altecice]

go for one 980 for now, if its not enough buy another

[ObscureMammal]

 

Now that NVIDIA has launched the GTX 980 and the GTX970s, the GTX 700 series is dropping in price pretty radically.

The GTX900 series cards definitely have more technology and features and lower power consumption and temperatures! But i could always get a higher powered PSU and run older GPUs.

The 970s are 350$ and the 980s are 550$. GTX780Tis are about 400$.

I am definitely doing a Watercooling loop and SLI configuration, so..

Does dropping 1100$ in a 2Way 980 make more sense or 1050 in a 3 way 970 SLI? Which would perform better?

Or a 2/3 Way GTX780Ti ? Though i cant find any reference design blocks on these  .. I will be watercooling, so i guess there's only waterblocks for reference design cards, are these even available anymore ?

 

Or does it make sense to get 2 way 980s and add one later on if I need to boost performance ?

My monitors would be a 3x1080p or a 3X1440p monitors...

 

 

I'd recommend going with two 970's, it's enough power for what you need and saving money is always a good thing.

 

You can use the money you save to put towards your waterblocks, radiators, fittings, other components you may need, and of course more games.

[sidrockrulz]

Thank you for your replies everyone.. Now i also have 290X into the picture.. and looks like its going to perform as good at the 980GTX for 300$ !

 

Anyoen see any reason i shouldnt get the 290X over the 980GTX or the 970 ?