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970s vs 980s?

Ishenferi
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Hello All!

 

I'm getting closer to getting the money together for my build, and I expect on pulling the trigger around August, and I just had a few questions. First, most places I've seen suggest 970s SLI over considering 980s, especially sub-4k. However, I'd eventually like to have a three monitor setup at 1440p, and while I might not play games across all three screens, I'd like the option to for some games. Would either 970s or 980s be able to accomplish that at 40+ fps? 

 

Second, if considering playing usually on one 1440p screen, is 980 SLI overkill? I plan on playing the Witcher 3, Skyrim with tons of mods, and pretty much any interesting AAA game that comes out. I don't plan on anything like playing first-person shooters competitively, I'd just like smooth frame rates at or nearing 60fps. I also don't plan on upgrading much of my build anytime soon. Ideally, I'd like it to last me for the next 5 or so years, barring any major technological developments that would just crush anything available now.

 

And I guess third is just a general overview of my build. Are there any suggestions for better parts that would trim costs or increase performance? The only parts I'd say are concrete are the BenQs, as I already have one of them, and the Strixes, because I think they look badass and don't particularly care about achieving face-melting OCs. 

 

Thanks for reading this far, and for any input you guys can give me!

 

 



Motherboard: Asus Maximus VI Hero ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($138.89 @ OutletPC) 


Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($131.88 @ OutletPC) 


Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 980 4GB STRIX Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($538.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 980 4GB STRIX Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($538.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Case: NZXT H440 (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($108.99 @ SuperBiiz) 


Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill RNX-N150UBE 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter  ($12.98 @ OutletPC) 

Monitor: BenQ GW2765HT 60Hz 27.0" Monitor  ($389.99 @ NCIX US) 

Monitor: BenQ GW2765HT 60Hz 27.0" Monitor  ($389.99 @ NCIX US) 

Keyboard: Corsair Vengeance K70 Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($119.99 @ Best Buy) 

Mouse: Redragon Mammoth Wired Laser Mouse  ($27.99 @ Amazon) 

Other: MSI Interceptor ($30.00)

Total: $3052.08

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I'd always go overkill if I could. Two 980's would do triple 1440p displays I would THINK, but I'm not 100% sure.

 

If you're doing a single 1440p monitor, one 980 will do, especially if you're getting two more 1440p displays down the road; so you can have more money left over to get a different card setup entirely when you do get those monitors because I'm guessing something better will be out by then.

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980's. The 980ti will be out by August.

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Make this decision when you have the money. There are rumors that the 980 TI is coming out, a 390x, etc. 

 

I went with 980, because I know i will probably need another in the future for 3x monitor setup at high fps on new games. The higher res is going to be supported better by the higher video ram. 

 

Like Linus says in his videos, go with the best SINGLE graphics card you can, making it easier to upgrade if you need to. Graphics cards do not usually scale well in 3 or 4 gfx card set ups.  

 

However if you go 970x2 and cannot run 3x 1440, just switch res to run those monitors at 3x1080. Way less pixels than 1440x3. Some games you will be able to fully utilize 1440x3 and some you wont. 

I7 5820K, ASUS ROG Matrix GTX 980, 16 GB 2400 DDR4, 

 

Ask me phone questions. I teach people how to use them for a living.  

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7680x1440 = 11059200 pixels 

3240x2160 = 6998400 pixels

 

Triple 1440p is roughly 60% more pixels than 4K.

 

You'll struggle to run it well even on SLI 980's or 970's.

 

It doesn't matter what you're running, you will not have a decent gaming experience with surround 1440p without seriously sacrificing graphical quality in intense titles.

 

Here's a video with dual 780's, which in the tested games are about on par with 970's.

https://youtu.be/eY3Kn1fGGTI?t=325

4K // R5 3600 // RTX2080Ti

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I'm getting closer to getting the money together for my build, and I expect on pulling the trigger around August, and I just had a few questions. First, most places I've seen suggest 970s SLI over considering 980s, especially sub-4k. However, I'd eventually like to have a three monitor setup at 1440p, and while I might not play games across all three screens, I'd like the option to for some games. Would either 970s or 980s be able to accomplish that at 40+ fps? 

 
Second, if considering playing usually on one 1440p screen, is 980 SLI overkill? I plan on playing the Witcher 3, Skyrim with tons of mods, and pretty much any interesting AAA game that comes out. I don't plan on anything like playing first-person shooters competitively, I'd just like smooth frame rates at or nearing 60fps. I also don't plan on upgrading much of my build anytime soon. Ideally, I'd like it to last me for the next 5 or so years, barring any major technological developments that would just crush anything available now.
 
And I guess third is just a general overview of my build. Are there any suggestions for better parts that would trim costs or increase performance? The only parts I'd say are concrete are the BenQs, as I already have one of them, and the Strixes, because I think they look badass and don't particularly care about achieving face-melting OCs. 

3x 1440p? You need Titan X Sli for that, not 980 SLI.

 

For single 1440p, you'll be just fine with even a single 970. Maybe SLI it, cuz why not? A 980 is just stupid. Let alone 980 SLI.

 

Or, you could go with the r9 295x2. For 600$, it's almost a steal. Sure, you don't get the game codes, but still.... I guess that's something.

Want to help researchers improve the lives on millions of people with just your computer? Then join World Community Grid distributed computing, and start helping the world to solve it's most difficult problems!

 

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Here SLI 970's

 

 

and SLI 980's...

 

Cooler Master HAF XB EVO, ASUS Maximus VII Hero, i7-4790K @ 4.5GHz, Corsair H100i, EVGA GTX 980Ti SC, Corsair Vengeance Pro 2X8GB 1866Mhz CL9, 2X Crucial M500 960GB, EVGA SuperNOVA 1050 GS, ASUS ROG Swift PG278Q w/ nVidia 3D Vision 2

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Hello All!
 
I'm getting closer to getting the money together for my build, and I expect on pulling the trigger around August, and I just had a few questions. First, most places I've seen suggest 970s SLI over considering 980s, especially sub-4k. However, I'd eventually like to have a three monitor setup at 1440p, and while I might not play games across all three screens, I'd like the option to for some games. Would either 970s or 980s be able to accomplish that at 40+ fps? 
 
Second, if considering playing usually on one 1440p screen, is 980 SLI overkill? I plan on playing the Witcher 3, Skyrim with tons of mods, and pretty much any interesting AAA game that comes out. I don't plan on anything like playing first-person shooters competitively, I'd just like smooth frame rates at or nearing 60fps. I also don't plan on upgrading much of my build anytime soon. Ideally, I'd like it to last me for the next 5 or so years, barring any major technological developments that would just crush anything available now.
 
And I guess third is just a general overview of my build. Are there any suggestions for better parts that would trim costs or increase performance? The only parts I'd say are concrete are the BenQs, as I already have one of them, and the Strixes, because I think they look badass and don't particularly care about achieving face-melting OCs. 
 
Thanks for reading this far, and for any input you guys can give me!
 
 
Motherboard: Asus Maximus VI Hero ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($138.89 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($131.88 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 980 4GB STRIX Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($538.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 980 4GB STRIX Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($538.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case: NZXT H440 (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($108.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill RNX-N150UBE 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter  ($12.98 @ OutletPC) 
Monitor: BenQ GW2765HT 60Hz 27.0" Monitor  ($389.99 @ NCIX US) 
Monitor: BenQ GW2765HT 60Hz 27.0" Monitor  ($389.99 @ NCIX US) 
Keyboard: Corsair Vengeance K70 Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($119.99 @ Best Buy) 
Mouse: Redragon Mammoth Wired Laser Mouse  ($27.99 @ Amazon) 
Other: MSI Interceptor ($30.00)
Total: $3052.08

 

Linus Tech Tips just did a video showing sli Titan x's just hitting around 40-60 fps on 4K.

 

Pecking order from lowest to highest = 970-980-titan x

 

3 1440p monitors are almost double 4K for pixels. SLI Titan x would have trouble with 3x 1440p. 

 

NCIX tech tips did a video a couple days ago with 4 titan x's, and it took that to run 3x 1440p monitors at a steady frame rate. 

 

Wait for next gen and see what happens, or just accept you will not be able to run 3x 1440p monitors on newer games.

 

This doesnt mean you cannot use your current monitor in a 3 monitor set up. Use the 1440 in the middle of 2 1080's and them like they are all 1080. 

I7 5820K, ASUS ROG Matrix GTX 980, 16 GB 2400 DDR4, 

 

Ask me phone questions. I teach people how to use them for a living.  

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Hello All!
 
I'm getting closer to getting the money together for my build, and I expect on pulling the trigger around August, and I just had a few questions. First, most places I've seen suggest 970s SLI over considering 980s, especially sub-4k. However, I'd eventually like to have a three monitor setup at 1440p, and while I might not play games across all three screens, I'd like the option to for some games. Would either 970s or 980s be able to accomplish that at 40+ fps? 
 
Second, if considering playing usually on one 1440p screen, is 980 SLI overkill? I plan on playing the Witcher 3, Skyrim with tons of mods, and pretty much any interesting AAA game that comes out. I don't plan on anything like playing first-person shooters competitively, I'd just like smooth frame rates at or nearing 60fps. I also don't plan on upgrading much of my build anytime soon. Ideally, I'd like it to last me for the next 5 or so years, barring any major technological developments that would just crush anything available now.
 
And I guess third is just a general overview of my build. Are there any suggestions for better parts that would trim costs or increase performance? The only parts I'd say are concrete are the BenQs, as I already have one of them, and the Strixes, because I think they look badass and don't particularly care about achieving face-melting OCs. 
 
Thanks for reading this far, and for any input you guys can give me!
 
 
Motherboard: Asus Maximus VI Hero ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($138.89 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($131.88 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 980 4GB STRIX Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($538.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 980 4GB STRIX Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($538.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case: NZXT H440 (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($108.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill RNX-N150UBE 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter  ($12.98 @ OutletPC) 
Monitor: BenQ GW2765HT 60Hz 27.0" Monitor  ($389.99 @ NCIX US) 
Monitor: BenQ GW2765HT 60Hz 27.0" Monitor  ($389.99 @ NCIX US) 
Keyboard: Corsair Vengeance K70 Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($119.99 @ Best Buy) 
Mouse: Redragon Mammoth Wired Laser Mouse  ($27.99 @ Amazon) 
Other: MSI Interceptor ($30.00)
Total: $3052.08

 

I am running a ultra wide 3440x1440 monitor, and i do need sli 980's to make it work, one simply doesn't have the power needed to run it and still get everything maxed and 60fps. running the witcher 3 at this resolution with everything maxed/enabled except hairworks i get 60fps with dips in to the 50's. 1440p is not far off from this, so i would assume you would need sli 980's to run a single 1440p.

 

on a side note, you simply won't get a fps increase in skyrim because of your graphics card choice, as it is HIGHLY cpu bound. i have tweaked and tweaked my heavily modded skyrim, and finally found settings that make the game run at 60fps without enb, but with enb fps will crash down to the 30-40 fps range, even adding an enb without mods get fps below 60. save yourself the headache and the frustration and accept this, its just the way it is (i  wish someone would have told me this before i spent uncountable nights tweaking to no avail)

 

when it comes to skyrim the gpu only really counts when it comes to the vram on the card. As such, if you plan on putting buttloads of mods in skyrim, then you should wait for the 9800ti or go for the titan, but you don't have too, the 4 gb of the 980 or the 3.5 gb of the 970 will still give you a great experience.

 

if you want a list of settings and mods to make skyrim absolutely stunning, then give a pm and i will give you my tweaks ;)

Screen: AOC u3477Pqu 60Hz@3440x1440 CPU: Intel Core i7-4790k GPU: 2x sli MSI GTX 980 OCV1  Motherboard: Asus Z97-AR  Case: Define R5  SSD Storage: 840 EVO 500GB HDD Storage: Seagate Barracuda 4TB  PSU: EVGA supernova G2 850W  RAM: ​16GB hyperX 1866 (2x8GB) Cooling:Custom water loop with 2x280 radiators

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