RTX 2080 TI SLI

[Susp8t]

Hi guys,

 

First of all I would like to apologise if this topic has been asked and answered several times before on this forum. It probably is.

 

I am considering buying a second RTX 2080 TI and put it in SLI. I can see that this forces my motherboard to put it in x8x8 instead of x16. Is it correct that the NVLink will cancel the downside of this decrease in bandwith?

 

Are there any other downsides I should take into account before going SLI? Any problems with my other components while using SLI?

Thanks alot guys.

 

My current rig:

MoBo: Asus Formula XI

CPU: i9 9900K

GPU: Asus RTX 2080 TI ROG Strix Adv.

PSU: be quiet! 1200W

[Eigenvektor]

3 minutes ago, Susp8t said:

Are there any other downsides I should take into account before going SLI? Any problems with my other components while using SLI?

Few games support it, it doesn't scale 100% and you may get micro stuttering. Imho, not worth it.

[MrSimplicity]

5 minutes ago, Susp8t said:

Is it correct that the NVLink will cancel the downside of this decrease in bandwith?

 

Are there any other downsides I should take into account before going SLI? Any problems with my other components while using SLI?

SLI is dead and just not worth the price. You won't be getting a big enough performance bump to justify another $1000+ I mean if you have the money just burning a hole in your pocket then just go for it.

[BrinkGG]

4 minutes ago, Susp8t said:

Hi guys,

 

First of all I would like to apologise if this topic has been asked and answered several times before on this forum. It probably is.

 

I am considering buying a second RTX 2080 TI and put it in SLI. I can see that this forces my motherboard to put it in x8x8 instead of x16. Is it correct that the NVLink will cancel the downside of this decrease in bandwith?

 

Are there any other downsides I should take into account before going SLI? Any problems with my other components while using SLI?

Thanks alot guys.

 

My current rig:

MoBo: Asus Formula XI

CPU: i9 9900K

GPU: Asus RTX 2080 TI ROG Strix Adv.

PSU: be quiet! 1200W

Though I really don't think using SLI on 2080 Ti's is a good idea, there aren't any more powerful single cards for gaming... 

Here's a benchmark for FPS scaling based on the PCIe bus speed the card is connected to: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/nvidia-geforce-rtx-2080-ti-pci-express-scaling/3.html

 

BUT, I still don't recommend it. The vast majority of game dev studios are focusing on single card systems nowadays. Check out this article from hot hardware about how the performance scaling of 2080 Ti SLI: https://hothardware.com/reviews/nvidia-nvlink-review-taking-sli-to-the-next-level

Synthetic loads like Firestrike and TimeSpy scale almost perfectly, but nobody actually plays those as games. Later games in their benchmark like Rainbow Six: Siege, Tomb Raider, and Far Cry 5 all have differing amounts of scaling increase when adding cards, but usually only in 4k or DX12 games where the "RTX" features of the card can be put to work. (You can see this specifically in Far Cry 5 where 1440p is EXACTLY the same with one or two cards, but at 4k has a 25% increase.) 

 

TL;DR, depends on the games you play and how much your money is worth to you. I don't really recommend it for the 50% (or less) increase you will see in most games. 

[Princess Luna]

Just wait for nVidia's 7nm coming next year and buy a 3080 Ti.

 

SLI ia dead, most games don't support it, few that do usually introduces stuttering for just a poor scale in performance.

 

[Kalm_Traveler]

If you want to do it, in some games it will help. 

 

That being said, I think Turing drivers have matured a lot over the last year. With my two Titan RTX rig I wasn't able to hold above 100fps in Witcher 3 with all settings max except Hairworks only at 4.

 

I tried tonight to heat up the graphics card loop and was getting anywhere from 119 to 163 fps with the same settings, same hardware, etc. 

 

Gpu 1 utilization was about 98%, while gpu 2 wavered between about 80 and 90% so not perfect but I didn't notice any stuttering while playing.