A second GTX 960 (SLI) or a new GTX 970

[Jacktastic-Mofo]

So I have the opportunity to either get a new GTX 960 for SLI or, have a single GTX 970 and pass the 960 down to my little brother. What's the real performance difference between a 960 sli, and single 970?

[TheSLSAMG]

If you have a 4GB GTX 960, SLI would likely be worthwhile with a decent performance boost. The 2GB model would be the same to a lesser extent but I would just pass it down. I however would try to get something higher end like the GTX 980.

[PlayStation 2]

970

SLIing a 960 just isn't worth it compared to the headache to gain not exactly double the performance boost from a single card.

[dragoon20005]

960 Sli will be similar to a 980

 

or slightly better than the 980

 

 

but if your budget allows get the 980 or higher GPU

 

970 isnt really a step up IMO

[Jacktastic-Mofo]

960 Sli will be similar to a 980

 

or slightly better than the 980

 

 

but if your budget allows get the 980 or higher GPU

 

970 isnt really a step up IMO

Yeah, I'm looking at some benchmarks and in some titles SLI 960 beats a single 980 and with DX12 hopefully SLI scaling will improve even more.

[dragoon20005]

Yeah, I'm looking at some benchmarks and in some titles SLI 960 beats a single 980 and with DX12 hopefully SLI scaling will improve even more.

you still need to deal with some games hating SLi setups until the game gets a patch or nVidia updates drivers

[Warchylde]

IMO get the 980 or even the 980ti if you can afford it.

 

I would almost opt to sell the 960 and pick up a 980 or SLI two 970s, since you mentioned DX12 with VRAM stacking. With two 960s you would only reach 4gb of stacked vram compared to the 4 on the 980 itself or the 4* on the 970.

*really only 3.5gb "usable"

 

You'll never really get 100% use out of the second 960, and it will be a while until DX12 is supported by many games. Until DX12 gets more support you are still capped at 2gb of Vram for frame rendering. 

It really all depends I guess on what resolution you want to be gaming at. 1080p two 960s for games will probably be fine, but I wouldn't go to one 970, better off saving for a 980

[Jacktastic-Mofo]

IMO get the 980 or even the 980ti if you can afford it.

 

I would almost opt to sell the 960 and pick up a 980 or SLI two 970s, since you mentioned DX12 with VRAM stacking. With two 960s you would only reach 4gb of stacked vram compared to the 4 on the 980 itself or the 4* on the 970.

*really only 3.5gb "usable"

 

You'll never really get 100% use out of the second 960, and it will be a while until DX12 is supported by many games. Until DX12 gets more support you are still capped at 2gb of Vram for frame rendering. 

It really all depends I guess on what resolution you want to be gaming at. 1080p two 960s for games will probably be fine, but I wouldn't go to one 970, better off saving for a 980

I already have a 960, and the situation I'm in currently would allow me to get either another 960 or a single 970 nothing more.

[Warchylde]

In that case I would go with the 970. You wont have the Vram ceiling of 2gb and you wont be waiting on games with DX12 Vram stacking support.

 

Also, you could keep the 960 and dedicate it to physics while your 970 does everything else. Plus later down the road you could always SLI the 970 and get even more performance and take advantage of vram stacking once it has become more supported.

 

You also wont have issues with SLI in games so thats definitely a bonus too.

[KarateHottie93]

Might as well SLI the 960.

[Ostwind]

I have SLI 4GB 960's

 

If you have a 4GB model then another 960 would be a good upgrade but personally I would get something like a 980 and pass the 960 down. A 970 imo is not enough of an upgrade over the 960 to justify the price.