The SLI information guide

[D2ultima]

1 hour ago, opwinrcgpwoghva said:

I plan on using a two way gtx 750ti, and i have an i7 6700 3.4ghz. Will I have gpu limited?

750Ti cards cannot SLI without serious vBIOS and driver hacking.

[spartan_chaz]

so quick question...i currently have a 1070 and am wanting to get into 4K gaming. From my perspective, i may have a few options.

 

1. buy another 1070 and SLI them

2. buy a single 1080

3. buy two 1080s and SLI them

4. buy a titan xP

 

Which would be the best combination of cost effectiveness to performance? Is the titan xP worth forking the money out for? My current 1070, if replaced, would end up going into my Fiance's rig so no worries about that. 

[D2ultima]

1 minute ago, spartan_chaz said:

so quick question...i currently have a 1070 and am wanting to get into 4K gaming. From my perspective, i may have a few options.

 

1. buy another 1070 and SLI them

2. buy a single 1080

3. buy two 1080s and SLI them

4. buy a titan xP

 

Which would be the best combination of cost effectiveness to performance? Is the titan xP worth forking the money out for? My current 1070, if replaced, would end up going into my Fiance's rig so no worries about that. 

I'd buy a single Titan XP AND WATERCOOL IT. That's the important part. If you're absolutely certain that the games you want to play scale half-decently with SLI, and you're on an x99 rig with a 5930K/6850K or better (this is important so you can get PCI/e 3.0 x16/x16 for SLI) then you can grab the two 1080s, but make sure they're cooled well and overclocked.

 

Honestly, the Titan X Pascal isn't worth its asking price. It's a shitty card with crap VRMs and a crap cooler and nVidia in their infinite stupid pride (read: idiocy) didn't allow any AIB partners to touch the card for watercooling or better VRMs etc, but still have the gall to charge $1200. But with how SLI is going where many new games either scale badly or have problems or just don't use mGPU, I can't say openly that SLI is a good thing.

 

And now just me asking; why 4K 60Hz instead of 1440p 165Hz? This has no influence on your decision, I just want to know.

[spartan_chaz]

32 minutes ago, D2ultima said:

I'd buy a single Titan XP AND WATERCOOL IT. That's the important part. If you're absolutely certain that the games you want to play scale half-decently with SLI, and you're on an x99 rig with a 5930K/6850K or better (this is important so you can get PCI/e 3.0 x16/x16 for SLI) then you can grab the two 1080s, but make sure they're cooled well and overclocked.

 

Honestly, the Titan X Pascal isn't worth its asking price. It's a shitty card with crap VRMs and a crap cooler and nVidia in their infinite stupid pride (read: idiocy) didn't allow any AIB partners to touch the card for watercooling or better VRMs etc, but still have the gall to charge $1200. But with how SLI is going where many new games either scale badly or have problems or just don't use mGPU, I can't say openly that SLI is a good thing.

 

And now just me asking; why 4K 60Hz instead of 1440p 165Hz? This has no influence on your decision, I just want to know.

i have been told 4k is worth it if you want to pay for it so was kinda going off that lol. I currently have a 1080P 144Hz BenQ monitor and wanting to bump up. So real question is, Is 4K really that much better than 1440p? Also, are you saying not to get a titan X Pascal or to get it and water cool it? My budget im allowing myself wont have the extra for the water cooling for that. 

 

As for the SLI portion, are you saying it not worth it at all? Also, my setup is a 6700k on a z170a board so would sli not really be an option? The main games i play are Fallout 4, Doom, WoW, and Gears of war 4. With a few other games thrown around like overtwatch, starcraft 2 and whatever else im in the mood for lol. 

[D2ultima]

2 minutes ago, spartan_chaz said:

i have been told 4k is worth it if you want to pay for it so was kinda going off that lol. I currently have a 1080P 144Hz BenQ monitor and wanting to bump up. So real question is, Is 4K really that much better than 1440p? Also, are you saying not to get a titan X Pascal or to get it and water cool it? My budget im allowing myself wont have the extra for the water cooling for that. 

 

As for the SLI portion, are you saying it not worth it at all? The main games i play are Fallout 4, Doom, WoW, and Gears of war 4. With a few other games thrown around like overtwatch, starcraft 2 and whatever else im in the mood for lol.

Fallout 4 doesn't scale so well. Doom requires a hack via nVidia Profile Inspector, and you can't max it (Nightmare shadows requires too much bandwidth). Gears of War 4 I've heard uses SLI but I don't know how well it scales. WoW... I'm not sure. Starcraft 2 I don't know if it uses mGPU. Overwatch does and will take advantage.

 

As for 4K... it looks nice and crisp sure, but 144Hz is still better in my opinion. I'd grab the 165Hz 1440p for your desires, if you were to ask me. Maybe your fiancé can have your 1080p 144Hz eh? =D

 

I would say to get a single Titan X Pascal and watercool it over two 1080s. But if you don't have the budget for that, how can you afford two 1080s? The ones with good coolers are usually tending toward $700 USD rather than $600 USD, and a Titan X Pascal is $1200 and an AIO cooler block should not be over $200 on its own.

[spartan_chaz]

11 minutes ago, D2ultima said:

Fallout 4 doesn't scale so well. Doom requires a hack via nVidia Profile Inspector, and you can't max it (Nightmare shadows requires too much bandwidth). Gears of War 4 I've heard uses SLI but I don't know how well it scales. WoW... I'm not sure. Starcraft 2 I don't know if it uses mGPU. Overwatch does and will take advantage.

 

As for 4K... it looks nice and crisp sure, but 144Hz is still better in my opinion. I'd grab the 165Hz 1440p for your desires, if you were to ask me. Maybe your fiancé can have your 1080p 144Hz eh? =D

 

I would say to get a single Titan X Pascal and watercool it over two 1080s. But if you don't have the budget for that, how can you afford two 1080s? The ones with good coolers are usually tending toward $700 USD rather than $600 USD, and a Titan X Pascal is $1200 and an AIO cooler block should not be over $200 on its own.

so SLI isnt really worth it in my situation the i see.

 

Thats the whole plan, for her to take my current monitor set

 

the budget is a self set and is flexible >.< only other thing on the budget wise is if i do get the Titan X Pascal and water cool it, i may end up waiting a little bit before i get my new monitor. Dont wanna blow every inch of my money in one sitting lol 

 

What cooler would you recommend for that setup? I have always been partial to the NZXT line.

[D2ultima]

5 minutes ago, spartan_chaz said:

so SLI isnt really worth it in my situation the i see.

 

Thats the whole plan, for her to take my current monitor set

 

the budget is a self set and is flexible >.< only other thing on the budget wise is if i do get the Titan X Pascal and water cool it, i may end up waiting a little bit before i get my new monitor. Dont wanna blow every inch of my money in one sitting lol 

 

What cooler would you recommend for that setup? I have always been partial to the NZXT line.

SLI is not a guaranteed boost anymore. I see games coming out with bad scaling and stuff all the time. More of the AAA game market generally makes use of it than not, however the ones that do usually do so very badly and don't provide all that much benefit from the second cards. Devs are lazy and nVidia basically threw mGPU under the bus with Maxwell and even more with Pascal.

 

Hehe nice.

 

I see. Makes sense. But I just feel like 1080 SLI is the same price as Titan X Pascal + watercooling, so I don't get the statement.

 

Use whichever you find is best man.

[spartan_chaz]

3 minutes ago, D2ultima said:

SLI is not a guaranteed boost anymore. I see games coming out with bad scaling and stuff all the time. More of the AAA game market generally makes use of it than not, however the ones that do usually do so very badly and don't provide all that much benefit from the second cards. Devs are lazy and nVidia basically threw mGPU under the bus with Maxwell and even more with Pascal.

 

Hehe nice.

 

I see. Makes sense. But I just feel like 1080 SLI is the same price as Titan X Pascal + watercooling, so I don't get the statement.

 

Use whichever you find is best man.

The original plan at the beginning was to just get a 1080 but started thinking about treating myself to something bigger. Thats where the whole SLI discussion came from. I did make that last statement confusing so my bad lol 

 

Either way with the info i got from you ill end up getting a Titan X Pascal and water cool it. Maybe with a kraken G10 and X41 combo. Will end up using it with my current 1080p setup which will be really good until i get the 1440p or 4k monitor. Which im still on the fence with, wish i had someone near me with a 4k setup for me to check out >.< 

[D2ultima]

1 minute ago, spartan_chaz said:

The original plan at the beginning was to just get a 1080 but started thinking about treating myself to something bigger. Thats where the whole SLI discussion came from. I did make that last statement confusing so my bad lol 

 

Either way with the info i got from you ill end up getting a Titan X Pascal and water cool it. Maybe with a kraken G10 and X41 combo. Will end up using it with my current 1080p setup which will be really good until i get the 1440p or 4k monitor. Which im still on the fence with, wish i had someone near me with a 4k setup for me to check out >.< 

Not a problem. I still suggest 1440p 165Hz

[spartan_chaz]

3 minutes ago, D2ultima said:

Not a problem. I still suggest 1440p 165Hz

yeah i definitely look into it! thanks for all the info you gave me! Gunna go and order my titan x next week!

[spartan_chaz]

22 hours ago, D2ultima said:

Not a problem. I still suggest 1440p 165Hz

Here is another questions for ya. I was doing a good bit of research last night about coolers for the titan XP. And i came across details about the possible 1080Ti coming out in january. Would it be worth it to wait for the or just jump in and get the Titan?

[D2ultima]

2 hours ago, spartan_chaz said:

Here is another questions for ya. I was doing a good bit of research last night about coolers for the titan XP. And i came across details about the possible 1080Ti coming out in january. Would it be worth it to wait for the or just jump in and get the Titan?

Not worth waiting on rumors

[SonOfPerdition]

D2ultima, you make fantastic guides. I came across you like a week ago and I have to say I learned a lot.

 

I wanted to ask your opinion, and I will admit right now I probably won't take it because I love just the look of this thing but, worth it?

https://us-store.acer.com/predator-17-gaming-laptop-g9-793-72vf

 

 

[D2ultima]

4 hours ago, SonOfPerdition said:

D2ultima, you make fantastic guides. I came across you like a week ago and I have to say I learned a lot.

 

I wanted to ask your opinion, and I will admit right now I probably won't take it because I love just the look of this thing but, worth it?

https://us-store.acer.com/predator-17-gaming-laptop-g9-793-72vf

 

 

I judge overpriced, fully soldered, not worth it. A GT73VR from a reseller site where you can choose the config like XoticPC or P775DM2 (1070 model) (from HIDevolution.com or Eurocom.com if you're in the US/Canada respectively) would suit you better. I also feel 4K isn't much benefit unless you're really wanting the productivity, but that one's up to you.

[SonOfPerdition]

13 hours ago, D2ultima said:

I judge overpriced, fully soldered, not worth it. A GT73VR from a reseller site where you can choose the config like XoticPC or P775DM2 (1070 model) (from HIDevolution.com or Eurocom.com if you're in the US/Canada respectively) would suit you better. I also feel 4K isn't much benefit unless you're really wanting the productivity, but that one's up to you.

Well why thank you. I'm looking at your suggestions now.

[t3chnodragon]

Hoping I can get some help here. I am working with a Dell T7810 I have two Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming OC Edition and an SLI bridge. The Gigabyte Extreme gaming application does see the SLI bridge, but the Nividia control center doesn't give me the option to turn on SLI.

 

I can't find a bios setting to allow SLI and can't figure out how to get it to work. The drivers where updated today with a clean install.

[D2ultima]

5 hours ago, t3chnodragon said:

Hoping I can get some help here. I am working with a Dell T7810 I have two Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming OC Edition and an SLI bridge. The Gigabyte Extreme gaming application does see the SLI bridge, but the Nividia control center doesn't give me the option to turn on SLI.

 

I can't find a bios setting to allow SLI and can't figure out how to get it to work. The drivers where updated today with a clean install.

I got to you in PM, we'll work on it there.

[PiecuDotPL]

Hi, Im Wondering if i would be able to run 2 rx480`s dual from asus (4gb ones) with a amd FX 6300 cpu with a 600w evga psu?

 

Would I be fine on a 600w Powersupply? Even with the cpu being overclocked to 4.3 or 4.4Ghz? with out the need to get a bigger power supply?  

 

P.S Sorry If i posted this on the wrong section of the forum Im not really a forum person to be honest  

[D2ultima]

15 minutes ago, PiecuDotPL said:

Hi, Im Wondering if i would be able to run 2 rx480`s dual from asus (4gb ones) with a amd FX 6300 cpu with a 600w evga psu?

 

Would I be fine on a 600w Powersupply? Even with the cpu being overclocked to 4.3 or 4.4Ghz? with out the need to get a bigger power supply?  

 

P.S Sorry If i posted this on the wrong section of the forum Im not really a forum person to be honest  

You're in the wrong thread for that, however, I'd buy one 8GB RX 480 (Sapphire Nitro+ to be exact) and upgrade your CPU/Mobo with the rest of the cash. There is not only zero point Crossfiring any AMD cards right now, but RX 480s are also midranged AND your CPU is very weak and not nearly going to satisfy even one of those cards due to how AMD's DX11 scheduling is handled resulting in most games having large single-threaded loads.

[PiecuDotPL]

6 minutes ago, D2ultima said:

You're in the wrong thread for that, however, I'd buy one 8GB RX 480 (Sapphire Nitro+ to be exact) and upgrade your CPU/Mobo with the rest of the cash. There is not only zero point Crossfiring any AMD cards right now, but RX 480s are also midranged AND your CPU is very weak and not nearly going to satisfy even one of those cards due to how AMD's DX11 scheduling is handled resulting in most games having large single-threaded loads.

Okay well What cpu would you recommend then for an am3 socket? I have been thinking about upgrading to fx8350. 

[D2ultima]

6 minutes ago, PiecuDotPL said:

Okay well What cpu would you recommend then for an am3 socket? I have been thinking about upgrading to fx8350. 

Ditch the entire socket. Go Ryzen 5 if you want.

[MelonB]

Hey there,

can you use crossfire on a SLI motherboard??

eg. Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX Motherboard + Gigabyte Radeon Amd R9 270X OC Windforce 4GB Graphics Card

 

[D2ultima]

4 hours ago, MelonB said:

Hey there,

can you use crossfire on a SLI motherboard??

eg. Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX Motherboard + Gigabyte Radeon Amd R9 270X OC Windforce 4GB Graphics Card

 

You can crossfire on any SLI-certified motherboard but you cannot SLI on a crossfire-only motherboard.

 

SLI requires PCI/e x8/x8 at a minimum to work, Crossfire does not and can use x4 slots. A crossfire-capable motherboard could have x8/x4 (intel mainstream) or x16/x4 (Ryzen) and not allow x8/x8, and thus SLI will never work.

[D2ultima]

Bit of an overhaul. Removed some no-longer-applicable information, added a lot more, with some proof of the PCI/e bandwidth situation.

[AhmedElsisy]

hello i am a new here. and i was aking is it possible to do 4-way sli using GTX 1080Ti-s ??