Gtx 980 vs 970 sli

[sugalumps]

My gtx 980 msi gaming has an electrical buzzing/grinding sound so it is getting rmad and I have the option to switch for a different brand, though all the prices of the other brands are £30-£50 more expensive hence why I went with the msi in the first place.

 

So I can either send it back and put £30 and get the gigabyte G1 gaming version or grab two 970's in sli for just a little bit more. I was rather underwelmed by the 980 if I am being honest, coming from a 780 I was still having to turn alot of settings down at 1440p in big boy games.

 

 

If I am going with sli which version would be the best for temps, also are the sli struggles I hear about that bad. Is micro stutter easily noticable or is it just people blowing it out of proportion? Micro stuttering, the thought of having to wait for drivers to be able to actualy use both cards in a game or some times not at all are what is holding me back from trying sli.

 

 

Gigabyte g1 980 = £475

Another msi gaming £455(went up £15 since I bought it)

gigabyte g1 970 = 285

g1 970 sli = £570

 

Conflicted!

[Oshino Shinobu]

970 SLI is the better price/performance. Most of the time, a single, more powerful card is better, but with the 980 and 970 SLI, the 970s are the better option. 

[smallfat]

SLI 970s for sure. Just make sure you have enough wattage in your power supply.

[dragoon20005]

dual 290 even for the G1 gaming draws 290 watts at stock

 

but of course when OC, it will consume up to 400+watts

[sugalumps]

SLI 970s for sure. Just make sure you have enough wattage in your power supply.

 

Corsair TX850m, it's only a bronze rated I had no idea at the time that the txm corsair series was sub par at best. Is that enough?

[dragoon20005]

Corsair TX850m, it's only a bronze rated I had no idea at the time that the txm corsair series was sub par at best. Is that enough?

should still be enough

 

but if you are concern, swap over to a better PSU like the EVGA SuperNova 650 or 750 watt model

[smallfat]

Corsair TX850m, it's only a bronze rated I had no idea at the time that the txm corsair series was sub par at best. Is that enough?

Yeah that's enough. I'm running a single 970 off a bronze rated 550 watt power supply, so your setup should be fine

[NicekillBG]

970 but 4k gaming will be beast with the sli

[sugalumps]

I think space and temps may be an issue, I removed the hdd cage and ordered the best noctua fans but still how hot and loud will they be in sli. I am all about trying to keep my build as quiet as I can now. What kinda temps are we looking at in sli, my single 980 sits at 30-32 idle with 40 fan speed(silent) on one fan(the only fan you can control on these cards now) and 70 max temps with fan speed 70(still quiet).

 

 

 

[Zolon]

I went with a single 980, since I got mine for ~500€ while the 970 was ~ 400€ (hurray for everyone buying only 970s...)

But for that price, 970 SLI will be the best bet

[Najuno]

IDK what you expected from the 980 tbh. I come from a GTX780Ti 2way SLI and bought a GTX980 2way SLI and I am happy with it. I destroyed my old benchmark results by far in 3D Mark and 1440p gaming is awesome with these cards.

 

In your case for you want it super silent I'd just go with a single GTX980 unless you run more resolution than 1080p or a multi monitor setup. I'd put the money down for a Gigabyte G1, because these cards run very cool and OC usually beastly.

It seems like you are prejudiced about SLI anyhow... micro stuttering... have you tried modern SLI lately?

 

BTW 4K gaming with a GTX980 2way SLI is not the best experience (neither is it with any highend chip in 2way SLI/Crossfire) and people recommend 970s for 4K? I downgraded from 4K back to 1440p because neither my GTX980s do that with a constant 60FPS+ experience nor the the 780Tis could do so... they were worse because of the 3GB VRAM... once the RAM was full fun was over.

[sugalumps]

IDK what you expected from the 980 tbh. I come from a GTX780Ti 2way SLI and bought a GTX980 2way SLI and I am happy with it. I destroyed my old benchmark results by far in 3D Mark and 1440p gaming is awesome with these cards.

 

In your case for you want it super silent I'd just go with a single GTX980 unless you run more resolution than 1080p or a multi monitor setup. I'd put the money down for a Gigabyte G1, because these cards run very cool and OC usually beastly.

It seems like you are prejudiced about SLI anyhow... micro stuttering... have you tried modern SLI lately?

 

BTW 4K gaming with a GTX980 2way SLI is not the best experience (neither is it with any highend chip in 2way SLI/Crossfire) and people recommend 970s for 4K? I downgraded from 4K back to 1440p because neither my GTX980s do that with a constant 60FPS+ experience nor the the 780Tis could do so... they were worse because of the 3GB VRAM... once the RAM was full fun was over.

 

First of all I already said I am above 1080p(1440p).....

 

Second of all their is no perjudice here, if you had taken time to read it porperly instead of instant knee jerk reaction I ASKED if there was any micro stutter not said there was. I have never tried sli, which should be obvious from what I posted. I wanted to know if what some others were saying about micro stutter was true.

[Najuno]

First of all I already said I am above 1080p(1440p).....

 

Second of all their is no perjudice here, if you had taken time to read it porperly instead of instant knee jerk reaction I ASKED if there was any micro stutter not said there was. I have never tried sli, which should be obvious from what I posted. I wanted to know if what some others were saying about micro stutter was true.

Okay then you're at 1440p... still the GTX980 is a lot faster than the 780 you came from but expecting to max out 1440p with a single highend GPU, sorry you could have seen that coming. And I wasn't agressive or anything it's just that I've heared the "micro stuttering" story too many times. I if appeared like a jerk I'm sorry.

 

There's really not much to say anymore as long as you run your cards linked (and other than in benchmarks it's always better to run them linked). I'm super sensitive to MS and the 7990 back then almost made me throw up. It got already a lot better with the GTX780Tis that I had, but now with the 980s I can't see it anymore. So for me this makes the SLI experience so much more better .

[sugalumps]

Okay then you're at 1440p... still the GTX980 is a lot faster than the 780 you came from but expecting to max out 1440p with a single highend GPU, sorry you could have seen that coming. And I wasn't agressive or anything it's just that I've heared the "micro stuttering" story too many times. I if appeared like a jerk I'm sorry.

 

There's really not much to say anymore as long as you run your cards linked (and other than in benchmarks it's always better to run them linked). I'm super sensitive to MS and the 7990 back then almost made me throw up. It got already a lot better with the GTX780Tis that I had, but now with the 980s I can't see it anymore. So for me this makes the SLI experience so much more better .

 

Thank you, sorry I knee jerked the knee jerk I am having trouble with scan.co.uk and rma'ing so I am really pissed off today.

 

I will go with the 970 sli it's the better option.

[Najuno]

Thank you, sorry I knee jerked the knee jerk I am having trouble with scan.co.uk and rma'ing so I am really pissed off today.

 

I will go with the 970 sli it's the better option.

One of my friends runs a GTX970 way SLI with a triple 1080p screen setup which is actually more pixels than the single 1440p I run, and he's able to max out many games without problems.

 

Right now he plays the latest Call of Duty and DeadSpace3 all maxed out. I think you will see that these cards really pull it out in 1440p .