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SLI or New GPU?

flukey

Hi guys, came here to ask this question since none of Linus' videos answered it really - Hope its not been asked too many times before!

 

I built my rig about 2 years ago now (my first one too - check my profile or attached image for the lowdown) and since I'm a keen gamer I kept my options open and gave myself SLI capability. I was never sure if in the future it would be more economical to simply buy another GTX 670 for say £80 off ebay in a few years and strap them together in SLI, or to forget that and go for a whole new GPU. 

 

Running costs aren't much of a concern and I'm not planning to do this for a little while - just can't seem to find anywhere with a straight answer :)

 

Thanks in advance!

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Nice color scheme, I would go for a second GTX 670. If you want to change your setup later for a single card you can do it whenever you want but getting a second GTX 670 it's a chance you won't have soon.

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670's are so cheap atm its ridiculous, id get a second one unless there is really something new in the 8xx and 9xx series you want 

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Single card, less stuttering.  And you'll need the extra video memory to drive higher resolutions like 1440p.  I recommend getting a 8GB 980 or 970 when they launch in November/December.

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Heck yeah why not? Unless you want to save some money for a 970/980 then go for it. By the way your pc is pretty :wub: , can i has its number?

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Single card, less stuttering.  And you'll need the extra video memory to drive higher resolutions like 1440p.  I recommend getting a 8GB 980 or 970 when they launch in November/December.

I acknowledge your suggestion, but since its a stupid ass suggestion, i will ignore it :P

Nick_Fury_(Earth-199999)_from_Captain_Am

OP i take it youre playing at 1080p? get a second 670. it will last you atleast 2 more years. if youre planning on >1080p gaming, get a regular 970, even 4k doenst require >4G of ram. only 4K surround would.

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I acknowledge your suggestion, but since its a stupid ass suggestion, i will ignore it :P

 

OP i take it youre playing at 1080p? get a second 670. it will last you atleast 2 more years. if youre planning on >1080p gaming, get a regular 970, even 4k doenst require >4G of ram. only 4K surround would.

 

I believe a single, more powerful, card is better than two less powerful ones.  But, OP has an awesome white color scheme and there are benefits to having your computer look the way you want.

 

  I gave an opinion.  I enjoy playing at 1440p, and more video memory will be beneficial in the future.  Sure, 6GB VM claims are bogus now, but how long before they are not?

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I believe a single, more powerful, card is better than two less powerful ones.  But, OP has an awesome white color scheme and there are benefits to having your computer look the way you want.

 

  I gave an opinion.  I enjoy playing at 1440p, and more video memory will be beneficial in the future.  Sure, 6GB VM claims are bogus now, but how long before they are not?

what you believe is correct, but only applicable when buying a new rig. if you are upgrading, SLI is much better. especially since 670 sli is damn powerful

 

From my experience (by being a game dev) with proper optimisation on the engine side, 6GB will be virtually unreachable, until we get to 8K texture sizes (which wont happen in the forseeable future)

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what you believe is correct, but only applicable when buying a new rig. if you are upgrading, SLI is much better. especially since 670 sli is damn powerful.

Haven't seen any benchmarks, but I'll take your word for it.

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Haven't seen any benchmarks, but I'll take your word for it.

well ill give you one controvesial example. WD on release required what, a 4 gig card to run on high no? and that was with the downgrade. 

 

well a modder fixed it, and it ran perfectly fine on high with 2 gigs. and it got the original textures back :) see, its all in the way you utilise the space you have

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 WD on release required what, a 4 gig card to run on high

 

[Off Topic]

 

I ran it on high w/ AA off on a 650ti OCed.  I got 40(ish) frames on 1080p, w/ dips to 25(ish), and on 720p I got 50s w/ dips to high 30s

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[Off Topic]

 

I ran it on high w/ AA off on a 650ti OCed.  I got 40(ish) frames on 1080p, w/ dips to 25(ish), and on 720p I got 50s w/ dips to high 30s

interesting, i ran it on high 0xaa as well, on a 770 and got 35ish average, with dips to 0 for like 5 seconds a time when near a car...

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Game developer, AI researcher, Developing the UOLTT mobile apps


G SIX [My Mac Pro G5 CaseMod Thread]

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ran it on high 0xaa as well, on a 770 and got 35ish

 

un-balanced  as all hell

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un-balanced  as all hell

unoptimised id say. well with the mod (which removed duplicate texture loading, and added more effects and better textures) i ran it on ultra with 8x TXAA on 60+ all the time,..

"Unofficially Official" Leading Scientific Research and Development Officer of the Official Star Citizen LTT Conglomerate | Reaper Squad, Idris Captain | 1x Aurora LN


Game developer, AI researcher, Developing the UOLTT mobile apps


G SIX [My Mac Pro G5 CaseMod Thread]

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Unless you are gonna for a high end GPU like a GTX980 I'd just chuck another card in for SLI, those cards are so cheap these days.

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670's are so cheap atm its ridiculous, id get a second one unless there is really something new in the 8xx and 9xx series you want 

 

Umm lol there are no 800 series desktop GPUs.

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Hi everyone thanks for the replies (and comments on the colour scheme haha) I hope you can all agree with me that people are pretty divided by the options on hand!

I think I might go for the SLI option given my overkill power supply lol, however I'm a little concerned about the negatives of SLI (stuttering, poor support in some games, bad scaling and more).

I'm currently playing at 1080p but was looking at getting a wider form factor screen with a slightly higher resolution. I didn't realise my vram might be an issue?

Thanks for all your help already, I'll make sure to + rep everyone :)

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Oh and here's a pic of the exterior for the fans ;)

Thanks again, you're a great community.

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