670 or 660 Ti SLI?

[Smithers]

First I'd like to note TOTALLY THEORETICAL, I like to figure out what to do if I win some kind of sweepstakes. I have a 2GB 660 Ti and Asus P8Z77-V LX (Don't want to SLI a PCIe 2.0 x4!) right now, so I could either get another card and put 'em in SLI or grab a 670 and sell the Ti. I would have to replace the board for SLI, though. What would you recommend for a 1x1080p, 3x1080p, or 2560x1440 solution (I know I'd need a higher VRAM for higher resolutions)? P.S. this is my first post ever! (on any forum)

[Emkryan]

So you're asking if 2 660Ti's in SLI is more powerful than a single 670? SLI 660Ti's

as for the other question 1x1080 = 660Ti 3x1080 = 2x4GB 670's 2560x1440 = 1 4GB 680

[Smithers]

I know 2 660 Ti's would be more powerful, I'd just like to know how much better at each resolution.

[Emkryan]

I know 2 660 Ti's would be more powerful' date=' I'd just like to know how much better at each resolution. [/quote']

1x1080 = 660Ti 3x1080 = 2x4GB 670's 2560x1440 = 1x4GB 680. That's my recommendation for those resolutions

[MTROB]

Welcome the the forums! Your first post is very good most people are very non descriptive.

First what will you be doing with this computer? That will totally affect your choice. I don't think you will get anything for a used GPU or any computer part. Your mother board looks like it only supports crossfire. http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8Z77V_LX/ Is that it? So really you have three options, go with a AMD GPU like a Radeon HD 7950 or the fastest single GPU card the 7970. Or replace the mother board and GPU with a GTX670 and SLI it. And the last one is to replace the mobo and keep the GTX660 TI and SLI it. What it really comes down to is how much you would like to spend. Sorry if any of this does not make any sense. Please reply if you have any questions.

MTROB

[Smithers]

I know 2 660 Ti's would be more powerful' date=' I'd just like to know how much better at each resolution. [/quote'] 1x1080 = 660Ti 3x1080 = 2x4GB 670's 2560x1440 = 1x4GB 680. That's my recommendation for those resolutions

What kind of frames would a single 670 get at 5760x1080 in games like Civ 5? 2560x1440?

[MTROB]

Forgot to mention depending on how much you want to spend there are a few mobo combos and GPU that I would reccomend.

[MTROB]

Not your resolution but...

http://www.behardware.com/articles/866-14/review-nvidia-geforce-gtx-670.html

[Emkryan]

Not your resolution but... http://www.behardware.com/articles/866-14/review-nvidia-geforce-gtx-670.html

If you're getting high 80's on 1080 on a single 670 then I wouldn't expect anything above 30 on 3x1080p maxed out, maybe 40 on 2560x1440

[Smithers]

Welcome the the forums! Your first post is very good most people are very non descriptive. First what will you be doing with this computer? That will totally affect your choice. I don't think you will get anything for a used GPU or any computer part. Your mother board looks like it only supports crossfire. http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8Z77V_LX/ Is that it? So really you have three options' date=' go with a AMD GPU like a Radeon HD 7950 or the fastest single GPU card the 7970. Or replace the mother board and GPU with a GTX670 and SLI it. And the last one is to replace the mobo and keep the GTX660 TI and SLI it. What it really comes down to is how much you would like to spend. Sorry if any of this does not make any sense. Please reply if you have any questions. MTROB [/quote']

Mostly games, but I'm 14, so who knows what kind of programs I might use in the future. My card's been in use for less than a month, are you sure I wouldn't get that much for it? I saw REALLY new used(i.e. 1 day) 660 Ti's for upwards of $250 on ebay, and I'd probably sell mine for like $200. Since the idea is entirely based on me being optimistic about a $5000 (minus $1000-$3000 my family would use on various things) sweepstakes thing with best buy, I'd either majorly upgrade my current PC or get all the parts I can from BB and the profits of selling my PC. Overall, I'm just trying to get an idea of Monitor/GPU solutions (and compatible mobos, I didn't even know the LX doesn't even support SLI!). If I was going with a multi-monitor solution, a 7970would be my choice, but I'll probably stick with my 24" 1080p monitor for a while. Sorry if all these ideas are a little incoherent, I'm a noob at writing.

[Smithers]

Not your resolution but... http://www.behardware.com/articles/866-14/review-nvidia-geforce-gtx-670.html

If you're getting high 80's on 1080 on a single 670 then I wouldn't expect anything above 30 on 3x1080p maxed out' date=' maybe 40 on 2560x1440[/quote']

Ooh, sounds kind of bleak. How about 2GB 660 Ti's in SLI? Or the wildcard 7970?

[Opsilon]

Dude why not sell your 660ti and instead of sli or 670 buy a 680, or if you insist on a 670 buy the Asus geforce gtx 670 DC 2 TOP, and read the entire review:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_670_Direct_Cu_II/1.html

this should be the best 670, i have a Gainward 670 phantom and it is awesome, but not dead silent, asus should be

sli is worth on high end class cards, i don't see the point of buying a mid range card because the performance/price in the mid range is terrible, and not all games support sli to it's full potential, 1 higher card is better than 2 lower ones, and not to mention heat and power usage.

buy a mid ranged card every year/two years if you have cash to spare or buy 1 high end end every 2/3 years

the 670 i have is my 1st high end card and i love it, my friends still use high end older cards and they are still good enough now ( 1st uses 9800 gt+, 2nd HD 5850 ), but they owned in their time.

Oh and 660ti is bad over 1080p so 670 is a better choice anyway. Sli does not give you 2x vram, just 2 processors that use the memory of 1 card.

[h=1][/h]

[JujuShinobi]

If you want to go with two 660Ti in SLI, I think you would be better of getting only one GPU aka the GTX 680 since it would consume less power, make less noise and also have better over cooling. But other than that, I would suggest the GTX670 over 2 GTX 660Ti. This is just my personal opinion but the choice you make is yours =)

[star102]

Sell the ti and get a 4gb 7950 or 7970, if your doing 3x 1080 its the best even with 1x 1080p it in my opinion best choice

[Sauber-C10]

SLI configurations lose their performance boost more rapidly after you go over 1920x1080, so you'd be better off getting the faster card with more memory, however if your looking to run 4K then expect to be using 4GB 680's in quad SLI, the current GPU's absolutely tank (go slow) at 4K

[EChondo]

(Don't want to SLI a PCIe 2.0 x4!)

Why? If anything, you only lose 5%-15% of performance depending on the game. If you go over at least 75FPS, you won't see any difference in performance.

Also, I would go with the GTX 670, you can SLI later down the road.

[JujuShinobi]

Sell the ti and get a 4gb 7950 or 7970, if your doing 3x 1080 its the best even with 1x 1080p it in my opinion best choice

the 4GB VRAM would be severe overkill for a single monitor and is not even worth it at that rate.

[JujuShinobi]

SLI configurations lose their performance boost more rapidly after you go over 1920x1080, so you'd be better off getting the faster card with more memory, however if your looking to run 4K then expect to be using 4GB 680's in quad SLI, the current GPU's absolutely tank (go slow) at 4K

The weird thing is that during the Gigabyte CES showcase, they were using an iGPU to run Quad 4k displays. Which I find VERY hard to believe

[EChondo]

SLI configurations lose their performance boost more rapidly after you go over 1920x1080, so you'd be better off getting the faster card with more memory, however if your looking to run 4K then expect to be using 4GB 680's in quad SLI, the current GPU's absolutely tank (go slow) at 4K

But Juju, they weren't using it for gaming. It was only displaying a video(well, what I think is a video). Of course it probably wouldn't work in a gaming scenario, but if you wanted multiple monitors but don't want to game, then it would work.

[Smithers]

Ok, I think the consensus is clear--a single 670 or 680 would be the best option (I think the Asus DCII is the best for a single card short of water cooling). I probably won't be running 4k in the near future anyway, so a high vram won't be necessary. Thanks everybody for being so helpful!

[MooseParade]

Something else you have to consider and I'm surprised no one mentioned it, is the heat and power consumption.

A single, more powerful video card will use less power than an SLI / XFire setup putting less strain on your PSU. Which, if you don't have a quality PSU in your rig already, would be a really bad idea. The second thing is heat. Again, running two cards produces more heat inside the case which raises ambient temps and makes all your other components (SSD's, HDD's, RAM & CPU) run at higher temps.

Upgrading your case to allow for better airflow (and space) along with case fans is just as important as having the power to back them up.