Should I SLI my gtx 970?

[Heffe_The_Boss]

I have a ryzen 2700x build, I used my old 970 because honestly it does everything I need it too. When browsing ebay, I saw that I can get a used 970 for 90-130USD...  

  

I'm kicking around the idea of future proofing this PC a bit for gaming, get a few more years of ultra gaming out of it....I strictly game in 1080p... But titles require more and more ponies these days...  

  

I found old videos saying that 970 in SLI perform similar to a 980ti.... but the cost wasn't worth the setup... but now that the cards are sooo cheap....  it seems to make sense just to SLI this puppy. 

  

I'm torn! Buy a 1070ish card... or just SLI the one I have? Thoughts? Need some knowledgeable opinions to help me make up my mind. 

[Fasauceome]

2 minutes ago, Heffe_The_Boss said:

future proofing

If only that were real

 

A 970 in SLI is not practical because of lack of compatibility in games. It just won't scale well. A 1070 is what you want.

[Heffe_The_Boss]

Just now, fasauceome said:

It just won't scale well.

Not sure I understand this, I know SLI doesn't double performance but in some titles it gets pretty close right? I should also mention that I game in 1080p, at 60fps... I unfortunately don't have a nice panel yet.  

  

 

 

[Fasauceome]

Just now, Heffe_The_Boss said:

Not sure I understand this, I know SLI doesn't double performance but in some titles it gets pretty close right? I should also mention that I game in 1080p, at 60fps... I unfortunately don't have a nice panel yet.  

  

 

 

Keyword being "some" games. Some, as in like 10, or maybe 5 games that you play, and that's if you have a library of 100+ popular games. You can check if specific games you play support SLI, but I'll take the odds that you won't get anything from SLI.

[Heffe_The_Boss]

Crazy, I didn't know this! Well thanks for costing me more money!  

  

No I really do appreciate it, I'm going to hold off for a bit then just do a serious upgrade to a 1080ti. I can toss this 970 back into my 4790k build... I'd like to get that thing into an ITX build, I see you recommend the Silverstone Sugo lol  

  

Thanks again for the help! 

  

 

[JoostinOnline]

10 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

Keyword being "some" games. Some, as in like 10, or maybe 5 games that you play, and that's if you have a library of 100+ popular games. You can check if specific games you play support SLI, but I'll take the odds that you won't get anything from SLI.

There not true lol. Compatibility isn't stellar, but it's way better than that.

 

Edit: Sorry if I wasn't clear before. A single card is better than SLI. It's just not as horrible as some people pretend.

[Heffe_The_Boss]

Just now, JoostinOnline said:

but it's way better than that.

Uh ohh... an opposing opinion... now I'm confused again lol. 

[Fasauceome]

Just now, JoostinOnline said:

There not true lol. Compatibility isn't stellar, but it's way better than that.

I don't mean 10 games total support SLI (however it's quite low) but there's a website that lists games that support SLI with a profile.

https://www.geforce.com/games-applications/technology/sli

Not very many here, but OP can browse and see if favorites are in there

@Heffe_The_Boss see for yourself if your library will benefit from SLI.

[JoostinOnline]

Just now, Heffe_The_Boss said:

Uh ohh... an opposing opinion... now I'm confused again lol. 

For the record, I also suolorr/suggest you get a single card. Full compatibility with everything is worth it, and you don't have to worry about things like power consumption. I was just saying they're exaggerating how bad SLI is.

[Ashiella]

3 minutes ago, JoostinOnline said:

There not true lol. Compatibility isn't stellar, but it's way better than that.

Dont forget, some 970's wont SLI with some others, even if they have the support. For example my Asus Strix 970 didnt want to SLI with my friends EVGA SC 970 (EVGA SC cards tend to have problems with SLI'ing)

[JoostinOnline]

Just now, fasauceome said:

I don't mean 10 games total support SLI (however it's quite low) but there's a website that lists games that support SLI with a profile.

https://www.geforce.com/games-applications/technology/sli

Not very many here, but OP can browse and see if favorites are in there

@Heffe_The_Boss see for yourself if your library will benefit from SLI.

Nvidia is super sloppy about ditching that kind of stuff. SLI works on most every quality game.  Again, I'm not recommending it as you're still getting a weaker product overall.

[Fasauceome]

Just now, JoostinOnline said:

Nvidia is super sloppy about ditching that kind of stuff. SLI works on most every quality game.  Again, I'm not recommending it as you're still getting a weaker product overall.

SLI "works" but when not developed with a proper SLI profile, it either delivers the same performance or worse. It's not very easy to procedurally assign tasks to two discrete computing devices, otherwise the multithreaded supremacy of CPUs would have reigned long ago.

[schwellmo92]

I always recommend against SLI/Crossfire, the cons outweigh the pros in my opinion and SLI scaling is extremely hit and miss.

[Heffe_The_Boss]

Does anyone have a way to check the performance per dollar or running in SLI vs buying a newer card? How does linus do that? 

[Ilumic]

As someone whos got 2 GTX 970s in sli I recommend against using sli its bad and hardly any games support it. Theres also constant bugs and issues