Is upgrading gtx960 to SLI worth it?

[rkcmd]

I bought my rig a couple months back. My gpu is a gtx 960, and it's working pretty well. I'm just thinking about upgrading it when I buy gta v and Witcher 3. Is getting another 960 and running them on SLI worth it?

[Maslofski]

no

[Ostwind]

Considering you would need a new motherboard and you would have to spend a decent bit to get an SLI capable motherboard on top of the other GPU the upgrade might not be worth unless you really feel like you're hurting for performance. A 960 is about as fast as a 680/770 so you would have a good bit of grunt with two 960's.

[Xaring]

Nope, the 960s have low VRAM memory, you will run into memory shortage problems. 2 960s will have the horsepower to run a maxxed out Witcher 3, but it uses about 3GBs of vram... And you should only have 2.

 

The 960 is a failure of a product in the eyes of many of us, you can get a 280X for less that achieves the same performance or a 290 for about the same money which will achieve better framerates.

 

Im no NVidia hater by the way, Ive got a 970 myself and Im in love with it. Just being objective Sorry about your purchase.

[Stardar1]

Better off selling the first one and buying a 970 or 290x

[Mohenjo]

Better off selling the first one and buying a 970 or 290x

^this

 

sell for 150 buy a 970 with the spare 200 

or whatever the currency is in the Philippines 

[Stardar1]

OR, OR, OR

 

wait 3 weeks for the new Radeon cards and get the R9 380x

[Ostwind]

Nope, the 960s have low VRAM memory, you will run into memory shortage problems. 2 960s will have the horsepower to run a maxxed out Witcher 3, but it uses about 3GBs of vram... And you should only have 2.

 

The 960 is a failure of a product in the eyes of many of us, you can get a 280X for less that achieves the same performance or a 290 for about the same money which will achieve better framerates.

 

Im no NVidia hater by the way, Ive got a 970 myself and Im in love with it. Just being objective Sorry about your purchase.

3GB of VRAM at 1080p? no it doesn't, at 1080p ultra textures it uses around 1.8Gb of VRAM.

[Silyy097]

OR, OR, OR

 

wait 3 weeks for the new Radeon cards and get the R9 380x

Or you could straight up buy the 980Ti now.

[rkcmd]

I thought so as well... It was either I upgrade my rig right now, my first ever build BTW, or just make a new one from scratch. I guess after I finish all my old games, I'll be making a new one. Thanks for the replies!

[Stardar1]

Or you could straight up buy the 980Ti now.

Not for $300 you cant

[Mohenjo]

OR, OR, OR

 

wait 3 weeks for the new Radeon cards and get the R9 380x

They will probably be expensive as dicks because he lives in the Philippines. new stuff tends to cost way more in places like that  

[Silyy097]

3GB of VRAM at 1080p? no it doesn't, at 1080p ultra textures it uses around 1.8Gb of VRAM.

-snip-

However, you will still be hitting close to the 2GB VRAM. The card may not actually give you full use of the 2GB limit.

[rkcmd]

OR, OR, OR

wait 3 weeks for the new Radeon cards and get the R9 380x

Hmm.................... I don't know how I feel about switching sides.... Hehe. All my friends (2 guys) are green team. If I switch, I won't have any technical help.

[Xaring]

3GB of VRAM at 1080p? no it doesn't, at 1080p ultra textures it uses around 1.8Gb of VRAM.

Im sure ive seen 3~3.1GB of vram usage while playing... Maybe its due to my double screen (i might have been doing something hardcore at the same time )

 

OK, im retarded sorry, ive seen that in GTA5. Not actually checked Witcher's usage  (just remembered)

[rkcmd]

Nope, the 960s have low VRAM memory, you will run into memory shortage problems. 2 960s will have the horsepower to run a maxxed out Witcher 3, but it uses about 3GBs of vram... And you should only have 2.

The 960 is a failure of a product in the eyes of many of us, you can get a 280X for less that achieves the same performance or a 290 for about the same money which will achieve better framerates.

Im no NVidia hater by the way, Ive got a 970 myself and Im in love with it. Just being objective Sorry about your purchase.

I think it's a good purchase for a first build, and for the games that I currently have right now. Hehe. Thanks for the great advice. Was thinking about the vram issue too. Maybe I'll just keep the card and use it as a dedicated physx card or to run a second screen in the future. Waste not want not.

[Silyy097]

Hmm.................... I don't know how I feel about switching sides.... Hehe. All my friends (2 guys) are green team. If I switch, I won't have any technical help.

I think the best thing to do now is sell your 960. If you are looking to get more performance, the 2GB VRAM wont cut it. Most games are using more than 2GB VRAM. Even if you get 3x960s (Is this even possible?) in SLI, the 2GB Cap is still there. You will be bottlenecked by the VRAM Issue.

 

Baseline : Sell your 960.

After that: Your decision on which is more budget-friendly / which gives you more bragging rights ("Hey i have 3 980Tis in SLI" etc)

[rkcmd]

Better off selling the first one and buying a 970 or 290x

I never sell my stuff. I need all of them. I still got my Nokia 6110. [emoji28]

[Stardar1]

I never sell my stuff. I need all of them. I still got my Nokia 6110. [emoji28]

well, then you best get some more cash.

[rkcmd]

^this

sell for 150 buy a 970 with the spare 200

or whatever the currency is in the Philippines

2nd hand market here in the Philippines is not so good. I'd have to sell at 40% of price to get a bite. Plus, I don't sell. Haha. It goes in the hoard yard.

[rkcmd]

3GB of VRAM at 1080p? no it doesn't, at 1080p ultra textures it uses around 1.8Gb of VRAM.

For reals? Shadow of mordor uses crazy amount of vram, I had to set textures to low to get playable speeds...

[Ostwind]

However, you will still be hitting close to the 2GB VRAM. The card may not actually give you full use of the 2GB limit.

I wasn't arguing for the SLI 960's, I was just correcting misinformation.

 

 

 

For reals? Shadow of mordor uses crazy amount of vram, I had to set textures to low to get playable speeds...

 

Shadow of mordor is a different game

[rkcmd]

Or you could straight up buy the 980Ti now.

I'll have to sell my remaining kidney and starve for a month to get one, as they don't sell it here locally yet. So I'll have to import one. Oh, and I'm poor in 1st world standards. Hahaha. [emoji28]

[rkcmd]

Update: got a buyer for $160, but now I found out that the 970 will add 80w to my consumption. Will thoroughly think this through. Thanks for the advice everyone.