660ti vs SLI

[Dubesta11]

Hello, I was wondering how much the improvement would be from one 660ti to 2 in SLI, and if it would be worth it (130 for one card, 290 for 2 cards). I would be running one monitor at 1080p and would like to run everything maxed out at 60fps. Parts I own is a 750w PSU, i5, 8gb ram, large case with adequate cooling.

[Osmium]

Just buy a GTX 770. None of the SLI issues or scaling issues with dual.

[Altecice]

Always go for one strong card over two weaker ones. 

[werto165]

I'd get 660ti sli. Most older games you can play at their highest settings(Assuming you're playing at 1080p). But you would have to wait with newer games for your sli setup to get optimised. 

[Lord Pantaloons]

Just buy a GTX 770. None of the SLI issues or scaling issues with dual.

I ran 660 Ti SLI for quite awhile and never had issues, unless you have used SLI recently in the 6xx or 7xx series you shouldn't give advice as there are pretty much no problems at this point. I had no scaling issues in any game that I played and most games scaled 70% or more(Borderlands 2 scaled 100% after the drivers matured some) and the games that didn't scale well didn't need the extra power anyways, the same can be said for games that didn't support SLI(which was only one) it didn't require more than one 660 Ti to play smoothly at high settings. Ideally if you can get a more powerful single card you should but the OP would get a more powerful setup for less than the price of a 770 because SLI 660 Ti's will shit all over a single 770.

 

@OP I would say to go for it as your rig can easily support SLI and SLI 660 Ti's are overkill for pretty much anything on 1080p, the only games that I couldn't max 100% were Metro 2033/Last Light and Crysis 3 and even then it wasn't by much as I had to run AA at x4 to maintain a smooth 55-60FPS experience.

[Dubesta11]

Just buy a GTX 770. None of the SLI issues or scaling issues with dual.

 

Well considering a 660ti is almost as good as a 770, and I can get 2 of them for less than the cost of a 770, and I already have the setup for them, why should I get a 770? I know there may be problems with SLI, but I am willing to have a few games not compatible with it since a single card is powerful enough.

 

 

I'd get 660ti sli. Most older games you can play at their highest settings(Assuming you're playing at 1080p). But you would have to wait with newer games for your sli setup to get optimised. 

 

I don't usually buy games at release anyways, so the optimisation is not a problem

[Xquisite]

It would be worth it, yes there are some games which are not optimized and not as much scaled, but most do. And they do give you a worthwhile performance boost. If you really want consistent performance go for a powerful single card. But if you go for a SLI you will also get performance which is worthwhile but not across all games. Ultimately, the decision is yours to make. 

• If you have already have a single card, which you do, it is cheaper to just grab another card for cheap and get a substantial performance boost. It will give you a boost in most games, but will not guarantee a boost in all games. 
• If you wanna go with one single powerful card, then its likely you will need to spend more in order to get that card. But, in my eyes its not that worthwhile to get just 10-15 FPS increase with buying a new $300+ card instead of just getting that same performance increase with just $160+.

You do also have adequate power for that SLI.

As I said it's your decision to make. If I were you I would go for SLI and when I need to upgrade once again, presumable next year I would buy the new maxwell cards. Possible the 870. So.. yeah

[Osmium]

I ran 660 Ti SLI for quite awhile and never had issues, unless you have used SLI recently in the 6xx or 7xx series you shouldn't give advice as there are pretty much no problems at this point. I had no scaling issues in any game that I played and most games scaled 70% or more(Borderlands 2 scaled 100% after the drivers matured some) and the games that didn't scale well didn't need the extra power anyways, the same can be said for games that didn't support SLI(which was only one) it didn't require more than one 660 Ti to play smoothly at high settings. Ideally if you can get a more powerful single card you should but the OP would get a more powerful setup for less than the price of a 770 because SLI 660 Ti's will shit all over a single 770.

 

@OP I would say to go for it as your rig can easily support SLI and SLI 660 Ti's are overkill for pretty much anything on 1080p, the only games that I couldn't max 100% were Metro 2033/Last Light and Crysis 3 and even then it wasn't by much as I had to run AA at x4 to maintain a smooth 55-60FPS experience.

 

Well not all games support Dual GPU solutions. Yeah most of the old driver issues are gone but not every game even supports multiple GPUs (DayZ for instance). And being stuck with a single 660ti when you are used to max settings everything is not fun.

[Dubesta11]

I ran 660 Ti SLI for quite awhile and never had issues, unless you have used SLI recently in the 6xx or 7xx series you shouldn't give advice as there are pretty much no problems at this point. I had no scaling issues in any game that I played and most games scaled 70% or more(Borderlands 2 scaled 100% after the drivers matured some) and the games that didn't scale well didn't need the extra power anyways, the same can be said for games that didn't support SLI(which was only one) it didn't require more than one 660 Ti to play smoothly at high settings. Ideally if you can get a more powerful single card you should but the OP would get a more powerful setup for less than the price of a 770 because SLI 660 Ti's will shit all over a single 770.

 

@OP I would say to go for it as your rig can easily support SLI and SLI 660 Ti's are overkill for pretty much anything on 1080p, the only games that I couldn't max 100% were Metro 2033/Last Light and Crysis 3 and even then it wasn't by much as I had to run AA at x4 to maintain a smooth 55-60FPS experience.

 

That sounds great, I would rather have a slightly lower resolution (1080p at least though) with full detail and maxium FPS compared to a higher resolution monitor that struggles to run. What were your operating temperatures?

[Lord Pantaloons]

Well not all games support Dual GPU solutions. Yeah most of the old driver issues are gone but not every game even supports multiple GPUs (DayZ for instance). And being stuck with a single 660ti when you are used to max settings everything is not fun.

The ratio of games that support SLI compared to the games that don't is silly, why would you avoid going SLI because a few games don't support it while the vast majority does support it and supports it very well.

[Dubesta11]

Well not all games support Dual GPU solutions. Yeah most of the old driver issues are gone but not every game even supports multiple GPUs (DayZ for instance). And being stuck with a single 660ti when you are used to max settings everything is not fun.

 

That sounds about right, after going from a wii to pc, then trying to play a wii game, its just unplayable

[Osmium]

That sounds about right, after going from a wii to pc, then trying to play a wii game, its just unplayable

 

But I like Nintendo games

[Lord Pantaloons]

That sounds great, I would rather have a slightly lower resolution (1080p at least though) with full detail and maxium FPS compared to a higher resolution monitor that struggles to run. What were your operating temperatures?

Like I said 660 Ti SLI is more than enough for 1080p so you won't have to lower your resolution, with the cards I had I never saw more than 70c with my setup.

 

I had these, EVGA 660 Ti Signature 2 FTW 2GB

 

[Dubesta11]

But I like Nintendo games

 

On an older 720p or less screen it would be great, but not on a 50 inch 1080p

[Dubesta11]

Like I said 660 Ti SLI is more than enough for 1080p so you won't have to lower your resolution, with the cards I had I never saw more than 70c with my setup.

 

I had these, EVGA 660 Ti Signature 2 FTW 2GB

 

Thats a great looking setup, what CPU cooler are you using? Those corsair fans look sweet like that.

[Lord Pantaloons]

Thats a great looking setup, what CPU cooler are you using? Those corsair fans look sweet like that.

It was a Noctua NH-L9i with the included fan acting as a spacer, a nexus 80/92mm to 120mm adapter topped with the SP120. If you check the build log in my signature you can see what I did.

[Dubesta11]

It was a Noctua NH-L9i with the included fan acting as a spacer, a nexus 80/92mm to 120mm adapter topped with the SP120. If you check the build log in my signature you can see what I did.

 

Thats actually quite funny, looks better than a noctua at least

[Osmium]

The ratio of games that support SLI compared to the games that don't is silly, why would you avoid going SLI because a few games don't support it while the vast majority does support it and supports it very well.

 

That is a fair point. You have sold me on 660ti SLI for 1080p.

[i_build_nanosuits]

If you already have a 660ti then going SLI if you can find a cheap card is the way to go, if you're going to get 2 of these, you want a single stronger card, like a 770 for example, why:

Because you will be able to get another 770 for cheap down the road and have the power of something like a GTX 880...

[jarryy]

Me personally i use 660ti SLI for the past year or so and its great, had no issues at all

however the games i play are more or less FPS games such as BF4, CSGO, CSS

I've experienced no issues what so ever and you seem to be have a setup that can easily support so i'd say definitely purchase another 660ti