To sli, or to not sli?

[CyberJesus88]

So I'm going to be upgrading my current rig and I want the smoothest available option for my new graphics card. So I'm thing gtx 780, but I'm questioning weather I should get two of them. Budget is a non issue

If I'm correct, both sli and crossfire have major problems with stuttering and frame rating, and although they can produce more frames they do not always mean a smoother experiance.

So can someone fill me in to what would be the best option for my upgrade...

[rustikles]

If money is a non-issue, just get 2 titans and be done with it  :P.

[pewpewmerica]

I have sli, and while I do like it, it does have lots of flaws: you need a better cooling, there are some drivers issues, and some more I cant think of right now lol

[Samdb]

Don't SLI, one card is better than two.

[Hunter259]

So I'm going to be upgrading my current rig and I want the smoothest available option for my new graphics card. So I'm thing gtx 780, but I'm questioning weather I should get two of them. Budget is a non issue

If I'm correct, both sli and crossfire have major problems with stuttering and frame rating, and although they can produce more frames they do not always mean a smoother experiance.

So can someone fill me in to what would be the best option for my upgrade...

Most games have sli and crossfire support from what ive seen and stuttering has been a non issue. If you really want to, get two 780s but make sure that you have a good airflow case and a mobo that supports it. Oh and a unlocked intel proccecor with a good cooler is nice. :rolleyes:

[Vitalius]

So I'm going to be upgrading my current rig and I want the smoothest available option for my new graphics card. So I'm thing gtx 780, but I'm questioning weather I should get two of them. Budget is a non issue

If I'm correct, both sli and crossfire have major problems with stuttering and frame rating, and although they can produce more frames they do not always mean a smoother experiance.

So can someone fill me in to what would be the best option for my upgrade...

Don't SLI, one card is better than two.

Do get SLI. Two cards are better than one. 

Yes, you will face driver issues from time to time, but mostly (85%+) Games that would actually need/use SLI can use it. 

From the review of 4K gaming, I saw that, almost universally in AAA games, both Crossfire and SLI had gains in FPS ranging from 70-110% per GPU added. Which is awesome.

However, the real issue with Crossfire/SLI is framerating. AMD has recently fixed that, while Nvidia has always been better at handling it. The only thing about Nvidia cards, that I've seen in my research of it, is that they tend to get higher FPS/lower frametimes than AMD.... until they are put under heavy load. Then their FPS drops and their frametimes spike. Whereas AMD cards are pretty consistent now with the new drivers. 

Not trying to talk you out of Nvidia, just letting you know what I've seen. SLI is worth it imo. More FPS and more cards to handle the heavy loads. The heavy load frametime spikes wouldn't matter much to you as you would have the GPU power to push through them mostly without incident.

TL;DR: Get SLI.

[lorekeeper]

Personally i believe that if you dont absolutely need sli you should not get it due to the aformentioned problems. Honestly i would only recommend it if you are planning to play recent games at 4k or in a surround set up. For a single 1080p or 1440p screen going from 100 fps to 160 will not outweigh the issues of sli.

[Anubikai]

Just get two 780s and the money you sve from not getting two titans put into a custom loop.....then put a 80 degrees celcius temp limit and watch those clock speeds skyrocket...

 

-Anubikai

[Hunter259]

As i said both crossfire and sli have no problems with stuttering and runts now that amd released thier new driver. Nvidia has had frame pacing built into the cards for years. Sli is a great choice and makes a system last so much longer. I mean i just upgraded to sli 460s lol

[Vitalius]

Personally i believe that if you dont absolutely need sli you should not get it due to the aformentioned problems. Honestly i would only recommend it if you are planning to play recent games at 4k or in a surround set up. For a single 1080p or 1440p screen going from 100 fps to 160 will not outweigh the issues of sli.

About that frametime thing for Nvidia involving heavy loads, from the graphs I've seen at Anandtech, the frametime spikes are still there even with single GPU configurations. They are just less severe. Basically going from 60 FPS to 30 FPS under load (for example, when in Crysis 3 that the exploding arrow destroys the turret). Whereas an AMD single GPU configurations of the same power running at 60 FPS would go to 40-45 FPS under load at the same place.

The frametimes spikes are gonna happen either way. I'd prefer SLI to push through the low points. 

[failwheeldrive]

Personally i believe that if you dont absolutely need sli you should not get it due to the aformentioned problems. Honestly i would only recommend it if you are planning to play recent games at 4k or in a surround set up. For a single 1080p or 1440p screen going from 100 fps to 160 will not outweigh the issues of sli.

 

At 1440+ SLI is absolutely needed if you want to be able max out current games at 60+fps.  A single Titan or 780 won't handle Crysis 3 or Metro Last Light at 1440p unless the card is heavily overclocked or AA disabled.  Two 780s are totally worth it for high res gaming.  

 

OP, go with non ref 780s unless you're planning to water cool them right off the bat.  You'll get better overclocks and temps than from a reference card.  My personal favorite is the dcu II 780.

[DyGr00339]

DONT DO IT MARTY

[Guest GRRigger]

780 will be enough for now. The only real upgrade from it would be titan or 9970 Volcanic islands that is(?) cuple months away

I definitly wouldnt go sli right of the bat. Even if you have loads of money, id stick to buy card-sell card-buy card approach. Get single best card for every series and you will be able to roll along. 

Asus 780 is definitly awesome choice. Titan is more for high res gaming with its 6gb vram. Thats why it costs so much.

[ViruZ_HUN]

If money is a non-issue, just get 2 titans and be done with it  :P.

-1 Not titans.

 

Get 2 780s. títan is justa  fue % better then 780 and much cheaper is 780

[YellowDragon]

-1 Not titans.

 

Get 2 780s. títan is justa  fue % better then 780 and much cheaper is 780

The opposite is true, the GTX 780 is actually faster then the Titan, Tom Logan from OC3D showed conclusive results that the GTX 780s are stomping on the Titans in almost every situation.(probably due to more driver optimizations)

[ComputerNoob]

So I'm going to be upgrading my current rig and I want the smoothest available option for my new graphics card. So I'm thing gtx 780, but I'm questioning weather I should get two of them. Budget is a non issue

If I'm correct, both sli and crossfire have major problems with stuttering and frame rating, and although they can produce more frames they do not always mean a smoother experiance.

So can someone fill me in to what would be the best option for my upgrade...

If you are going for 1080p get 1 780.

If you are going for 1440p get 2 780's.

If you are going for 4k then get like 2 titans.

[Vitalius]

780 will be enough for now. The only real upgrade from it would be titan or 9970 Volcanic islands that is(?) cuple months away

I definitly wouldnt go sli right of the bat. Even if you have loads of money, id stick to buy card-sell card-buy card approach. Get single best card for every series and you will be able to roll along. 

Asus 780 is definitly awesome choice. Titan is more for high res gaming with its 6gb vram. Thats why it costs so much.

The 9970's earliest release date claimed by insiders is the first week of September. The latest is the last week of October. 

Most tend to say mid-October.

[smjpl]

Firstly, what resolution are you going to be playing at? If you are still playing on a 1080p screen then there is definitely no point. A single 780 will be loads for the time being. i would suggest that you buy a PSU that is SLI capable (750W-850W) so that upgrading to sli/cfx in the future isn't a hassle. 

 

I would still only get a single 780 for the time being. It will cater for all your needs for at least another year. From there you can make an educated decision on whether to sli at that point in time or sell your 780 and look at some alternatives. 

 

If you can wait till October, the 9970 "should" be out around then so it might be worth you while to hang on and see how the competition fairs out. 

[virusal19]

Always get a single GPU when possible - That does not mean that you shouldn't get a SLI set-up. 

 

Always get 1 single powerful GPU over 2 less powerful GPU. When you have 1 powerful GPU you may get a second one if needed. Just don't get 4 less powerful SLI over 2 powerful GPU.

[Zeruel]

Get two gtx 780 DCUII and haveone of them for physx!!! Also Two gtx 780's in SLI perform better than two Titans in SLI.

[Guest GRRigger]

And ofcourse there is 780 lightning edition by MSI   cuple days left and we will see the monster.  my bet is that it will be neck to neck with asus card, or faster.