960 SLI or 970 with Dx12?

[Blackler]

Hey Guys,

 

With the release of DirectX 12 looming ever closer along with Windows 10,

 

I can't help but bring us back to the debate over 2 x 960's or 1 x 970.

 

I know. Please don't flame at me immediatley over this post because there has been many posts about this prior to Dx12 BUT.

 

With DirectX 12 now allowing the VRAM to be added up to 4GB (in the case of having 2 960's in SLI) with Dx12 It makes me wonder whether it is beneficial for that extra 512mb of dedicated VRAM.

 

Also, having EVGA announce the release of a SSC and FTW 960 with 4GB of VRAM, I can't help but wonder

 

I know 4GB of VRAM is a lot, and so would 8gb of VRAM, but I'm just curious on your thoughts.

 

Running at 1080p the 8gb combo would be overkill, I'm sure some of you would agree,

 

But for more money conservative builders looking to build a 4k Gaming rig and want to be more conservative on costs,

would this be a better alternative?

 

Cheers,

Blackler

[themaniac]

970

[yannickverc]

They always told me:

 

Single higher end GPU > double lower end GPU

[Nup]

I'd go for the single 970. 

[Oshino Shinobu]

They always told me:

 

Single higher end GPU > double lower end GPU

For the most part, yes. In this case, yes. 

 

Pretty much the only exception right now is 970 SLI vs a single 980. 

[Oshino Shinobu]

Also, just to point out, the stacking of vRAM hasn't been confirmed. (at least I don't think) so don't base your decision off that yet. 

[david cassar]

A 970 will be cheaper and perform the same if not better in most cases. Also you don't get any issues like scaling.

[Maslofski]

only for DX12 games, every game that is out now wont benefit of the DX12, just regular SLI

[Not_Sean]

the 970 Wins hands down. 

 

Its a special kind of card since its the first time in SLI it beats the Top tier card. I've spe'd my PC for a second 970 at a later date when they a bit cheaper for a second. and thats all the Performance I could ever need. 

[alienvx0]

Ever since the absolute nightmare of a time I had when I owned SLI GTX 460s, I swore never to go for SLI ever again. Single 970 gets my vote. 

[typographie]

With DirectX 12 now allowing the VRAM to be added up to 4GB (in the case of having 2 960's in SLI) with Dx12 It makes me wonder whether it is beneficial for that extra 512mb of dedicated VRAM.

From what I can tell there's still an awful lot of specifics missing from that announcement. SLI support is often unreliable as it is, DirectX 12 could take years after launch to finally ramp up adoption, and those two combined might mean that you're often stuck with a single GTX 960 and/or DX11.

 

I'd personally go with a single high-end card unless you're aiming for a resolution and/or framerate that no single card can reliably handle.

[Tim Drake]

Extra 512MB?

 

WHY DO PEOPLE THINK THE 970 IS 3.5GB IT'S STILL 4GB

[Blackler]

Extra 512MB?

 

WHY DO PEOPLE THINK THE 970 IS 3.5GB IT'S STILL 4GB

I did say extra 512mb of "Dedicated" Memory, didn't say it wasn't 4gb

 

But I appreciate everyone's input on this subject as it was out of pure curiosity.