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SLI vs 1 Card - Advice please!

BJH
By BJH
in Graphics Cards
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Go to solution Solved by Godlygamer23,

With the 980, you're getting more than just VRAM. It's a better performer than the 770 on the GPU side as well. Even if your 770 had 4GB of VRAM, I would still suggest the 980 because you won't need to deal with SLI issues.

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Hey guys, I am looking to upgrade my gtx 770, as although it served me well, it just struggles now to run the latest games at ultra settings, and i am a sucker for nice graphics ;) Anyways, i was thinking about getting a gtx 980, because my 770 currently only has 2gb vram, and this hinders me on gta and newer games. Looking up benchmarks showed me however that a second 770 in SLI would give me way more frames than a single 980, and for half the cost, but that will mean im still stuck with 2gb vram. Would it be a smart idea to pay the extra now for the 4gb of vram due to the more demanding game being released? Or is the SLI a much better choice here, but 2gb vram will still limit me bumping up textures if i'm correct?

Money is not an issue here, im talking about sheer performance, vram or more raw power.

Thanks, sorry it's a long post :)

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With the 980, you're getting more than just VRAM. It's a better performer than the 770 on the GPU side as well. Even if your 770 had 4GB of VRAM, I would still suggest the 980 because you won't need to deal with SLI issues.

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In shear performance a 980 would probably be about the same if not better than two 770s regardless. I'd go for the 980, or save a bit of money (and lose a bit of performance) and go with an R9 390x.

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I would go for the 980 because some games won't support sli and the added vram is good and it consumes less power.

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Single powerful gpu is always more preferable, SLI and Crossfire are not always compatible.

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Hehe :D I upgraded from the GTX 770 4GB to my GTX 980 and I'm damn happy :)

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Money is not an issue here, im talking about sheer performance, vram or more raw power.

If that's the case then clearly get a 980Ti - it offers more performance, VRAM and power than either of the solutions you posted, and has none of the 770 SLI issues since it'd be a single card purchase.

That would give you the grunt to run an upgraded monitor - something at least in the 1440p range to take advantage of the new card (if you haven't already).

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http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/197327-the-sli-information-guide/

This is all I have to say.

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/334934-unofficial-ltt-beginners-guide/ (by Minibois) and a few things that will make our community interaction more pleasent:
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If that's the case then clearly get a 980Ti - it offers more performance, VRAM and power than either of the solutions you posted, and has none of the 770 SLI issues since it'd be a single card purchase.

That would give you the grunt to run an upgraded monitor - something at least in the 1440p range to take advantage of the new card (if you haven't already).

Why must you tempt me like this :( my wallet will be sad haha... I have a 1080p monitor currently but will definitely have to consider this, thank you :)

NZXT H440+ 2015 Edition (Black/White) || i7 6700k @ 4Ghz || NZXT Kraken X61 Liquid Cooler || EVGA GTX 980ti SC || 16GB Kingston HyperX 2666MHz DDR4 || MSI Krait Gaming Z170A Motherboard || EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Modular || Corsair M65 RGB Mouse || Kingston HyperX Cloud Gaming Headset (White) || Steelseries Apex Raw Keyboard ||  Acer XB240H 1080p 144hz 24'' GSYNC Display || Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

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Seems like the 980 is the clear winner here over sli, thanks for the responses people! :D

NZXT H440+ 2015 Edition (Black/White) || i7 6700k @ 4Ghz || NZXT Kraken X61 Liquid Cooler || EVGA GTX 980ti SC || 16GB Kingston HyperX 2666MHz DDR4 || MSI Krait Gaming Z170A Motherboard || EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Modular || Corsair M65 RGB Mouse || Kingston HyperX Cloud Gaming Headset (White) || Steelseries Apex Raw Keyboard ||  Acer XB240H 1080p 144hz 24'' GSYNC Display || Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

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Why must you tempt me like this :( my wallet will be sad haha... I have a 1080p monitor currently but will definitely have to consider this, thank you :)

Your wallet will be sad but your face will be melted.

Do eet.

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Your wallet will be sad but your face will be melted.

Do eet.

This is sadly too true :D I will look into it later tonight when I get some spare time :)

NZXT H440+ 2015 Edition (Black/White) || i7 6700k @ 4Ghz || NZXT Kraken X61 Liquid Cooler || EVGA GTX 980ti SC || 16GB Kingston HyperX 2666MHz DDR4 || MSI Krait Gaming Z170A Motherboard || EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Modular || Corsair M65 RGB Mouse || Kingston HyperX Cloud Gaming Headset (White) || Steelseries Apex Raw Keyboard ||  Acer XB240H 1080p 144hz 24'' GSYNC Display || Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

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