I'm torn between 980 and 2x 970. Advice?

[Aetharus]

So I'm building a new desktop on a roughly $1500 budget, and I'm torn as to what graphics card to get. My two options are a single GTX 980, or 2 SLI GTX 970s. Everything that I've read suggests that the 970s will vastly outperform the 980 for not much more, which is all well and good, but I'm mainly concerned about upradability. If I get two 970s, I don't really have much room for upgrading without replacing what I already have. But if I go with one 980, then I can upgrade by adding another 980 in the future. What are your thoughts on this? How much better are 2x 980s than 2x 970s?

[AlwaysFSX]

970s will last just as long as a 980 and you don't need to upgrade until newer things come out?

[j.dirona]

970s they are more powerful and will last the same time

[Brandogg255]

Go the GTX 970's

[EzioSan]

2x 970´s for sure 100%

[mlbguy4life]

While sli configs are fine and dandy, it is always recommended to have 1 more powerful gpu than 2 less powerful gpu's. Ive heard just about every "professional" tech person on the internet say that.

[thekeemo]

one 980 will allow you to upgrade later

[AlwaysFSX]

While sli configs are fine and dandy, it is always recommended to have 1 more powerful gpu than 2 less powerful gpu's. Ive heard just about every "professional" tech person on the internet say that.

Yeah that's more for when it comes to low end cards like x60 and below...

 

one 980 will allow you to upgrade later

For 10-15% more performance? Not worth the money.

[ThatAngryGnome]

Of course dual 970's!  

  

BTW, I had this build made for a friend for around 1500$ and dual 970's if you wanna take a look at it: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/ThatAngryGnome/saved/cFTj4D

[xAcid9]

2x 970 give u much better price/performance and a single 970 is just slightly slower than 980, unless Nvidia decide to tank 970 performance in future driver that is. 

[ThatAngryGnome]

2x 970 give u much better price/performance and a single 970 is just slightly slower than 980, unless Nvidia decide to tank 970 performance in future driver that is. 

DON'T. GIVE. ANYONE. IDEAS.  

  

Just kidding, Nvidia is one of the few companies that I can't see doing something like this.

[XiaoPineApple]

think about this,
what monitor u using? 1080p? 1440p? or 4k. u use surrond 3 1080p monitor?
if u only play 1 monitor on 1080p , even a single 970 is enough for u, (unless u want to play AC:U some terrible unoptimize crap)
like others say, 2 970 is price=performance. but only if the game support sli.
it depend the games u play,csgo, mmo or moba. i would suggest u to get a 980 then upgrade later.
 

[jkraghify]

If price concerns you: SLI 970s--$700

If price does not concern you: SLI 980s--$1250

 

if it were up to me, SLI 970s because you can put the extra money into a nicer monitor, tower, CPU, or SSD.