Is SLI worth it?

[Spev]

Okay so I have posted a few threads lately but I'm still confused about SLI and is why I'm holding off on doing it. So I understand that VRAM doesn't add up, so exactly how much of a performance increase would I get by going SLI 970s?  Basically the cards are just sharing the work, so will I just be able to bump up settings and have more FPS? I'm just wondering if it's worth spending $380-$400 dollars on a 2nd GPU or not, like is it really gonna be worth it or nah.

[EarthboundHero]

Okay so I have posted a few threads lately but I'm still confused about SLI and is why I'm holding off on doing it. So I understand that VRAM doesn't add up, so exactly how much of a performance increase would I get by going SLI 970s?  Basically the cards are just sharing the work, so will I just be able to bump up settings and have more FPS? I'm just wondering if it's worth spending $380-$400 dollars on a 2nd GPU or not, like is it really gonna be worth it or nah.

Watch this video. You can expect almost double in games that scale well. And none at all if games don't even support SLI.

[79wjd]

It depends on the games, but 50-80%~ increase from 1-2 GPUs. 

[Wtalk2]

Perfect video showing the performance increases of going with SLI 970's as opposed to a single one

 

[The Pizza Thief]

Don't quote me on this but someone in the forum told me that the performance increases by about 1.8x

[Spev]

Watch this video

Thank you! I honestly have been having a hard time finding SLI 970 benchmarks. Plus I love that guy.

 

Edit: Lol wow it came out today...

[79wjd]

Don't quote me on this but someone in the forum told me that the performance increases by about 1.8x

It depends on how well optimized the game is for multi gpu configs, but most games sit between a 50-80% increase (when getting a second card), and like 0-30% for a third card. 

[soaringchicken]

It really depends on preference. BUT HELL YES I WILL TAKE 2 970'S ANY DAY

[MountainDrew]

In most games you should see ~50-90% fps increase over a single GPU.  At least that's what I get with my two 970s in games optimized for SLI.

 

I'd say that it's worth it, but it all depends on your budget and if you're willing to spend the money to get the extra performance increase.

[Demorthus]

Is it worth it? That's subjective. It's kind of the only way to get better performance for things like 4K with lets say 70Hz+?

[ItsAFeature]

When you've already got a great GPU it's absolutely worth it. The only things to watch out for with SLI is that VRAM remains the same and that some games don't support it (especially at launch) so sometimes you don't get the benefit from it. But when you've already got a powerful GPU it's all cherries on top of your GPU sundae.

[connorpiper]

About 1.8-1.9x performance increase.

 

Better than a 980. 

 

Also, memory amount does not stack, but you get twice the bandwidth with SLI. 

[Spev]

Anyone have an accurate SLI supported game list? NVIDIA's website is so outdated it's sad.

[79wjd]

Anyone have an accurate SLI supported game list? NVIDIA's website is so outdated it's sad.

most 

 

(any game that would need more power than a single 970 will support SLI / or will support it soon)

[XiaoPineApple]

Why don't just look at games u play and see if they support sli profile.
Most AAA games support SLI/Crossfire,
i only know 1 MMO( Tera ) support SLI/crossfire
most other games that don't support SLI u should beable to run it over 100frames persec. Csgo, Dota 2, etc.

[IMPERIUS]

Well if youre a guy who has money and does spend a lot of his time playing games then yes, it is worth it. If youre just playing 6-10h a week then its not worth it. Then I would suggest just getting 980

[Yoinkerman]

I only went SLI because I got a discount on the second card and worked about 25 hours of OT right before I ordered the second one.

[Recon97]

You cant expect double performance in every game. If your are just gaming at 1080P,single 970 will get the job done. For 1440P,single 980 will do the job and for 4k, 980s

[The Pizza Thief]

You cant expect double performance in every game. If your are just gaming at 1080P,single 970 will get the job done. For 1440P,single 980 will do the job and for 4k, 980s

2 970's for 1440p, thats what Im doing because I didn' plan 1080 wouldn't be my thing.

[Recon97]

2 970's for 1440p, thats what Im doing because I didn' plan 1080 wouldn't be my thing.

Still not worth it imo. The performance gap is negligible if you look at the price you pay for it. Single 980 can easily run 1440P at 50 to 70 fps, depending on the game. This is why I am thinking to dumpy 1440P monitor and plan for 4K.But still if the price of 970sli is almost equal to 980, then you go can get it because of the price your are paying.

Tbh, not worth getting another GPU. You can go for single 980 and over clock it.