SLI Poll

[Coaxialgamer]

Just now, JJBtch4EXG said:

Good answer but I SLI 2 950's and is very satisfied but I did it because I wanted to see if Nvidia has improved any on this feature before I go spending bookoo's of cash of 2 top end cards and they haven't let me down yet.

Well , the problem is scaling and vram. Games that can't use the two 950's will only use one card. Not to mention you have about the power of a 970 , but with only 2gb's of vram.

[JJBtch4EXG]

Just now, Coaxialgamer said:

Well , the problem is scaling and vram. Games that can't use the two 950's will only use one card. Not to mention you have about the power of a 970 , but with only 2gb's of vram.

True only draw back is the vram but when I sit here next to my friends rig with a evga 970 ftw+ playing shadow of mordor  we getting around the same fps. Well I'm behind by around 5 frames.

[NumLock21]

3 minutes ago, JJBtch4EXG said:

? @ the fiddling around statement. All I did was enable it in NVCP and have had no issues.

After a long day of hard work, all you want to do is go home and play a game to relax. No time to figure out why SLI isn't working or some other crap. Able to enable SLI isn't called fiddling around, you've just turned on SLI. Nothing amazing about it.

[JJBtch4EXG]

Also I haven't gotten below a 90% scale on any games I play that support it.

[JJBtch4EXG]

Just now, NumLock21 said:

After a long day of hard work, all you want to do is go home and play a game to relax. No time to figure out why SLI isn't working or some other crap. Able to enable SLI isn't called fiddling around, you've just turned on SLI. Nothing amazing about it.

I get your point and can say I have only been running SLI now for maybe a good 2 - 3 weeks. When I run into the problem of troubleshooting it then that's a different story. What you said was fiddling around to get it to work. I took that as initially first time getting it to work. I said I just enabled it. Didn't have to fiddle with any settings I just enabled it and yes that's not that amazing but very convenient.

[JJBtch4EXG]

And whats the point of having something that you like to do and it messes up and you angry cause you gotta tinker with it to figure out whats going on. That's the whole point of being into computers. The knowledge. The convenience of coming home after a hard days work to relax and plays games comes from the knowledge of fiddling and troubleshooting to figure out whats wrong with something or the knowledge to just build a pc. With out that every time anything in your pc goes wrong you be running back and forth between the pc shop and wasting your hard earned cash or just buying a console and burying it 2 years later after the new console xstation 5 comes out in 2 years  

[Dash Lambda]

I would only do SLI if there wasn't a higher performance card to bump up to. This is, of course, different in the 980ti's case because the only one above it is absurdly expensive and offers very little difference...

 

So would I stick another 980ti in my machine? Hell yes. Would I do two 970's instead of one 980ti? Well, I did get the 980ti, didn't I?

[JJBtch4EXG]

Yes the Xstation LOL

[NumLock21]

11 minutes ago, JJBtch4EXG said:

I get your point and can say I have only been running SLI now for maybe a good 2 - 3 weeks. When I run into the problem of troubleshooting it then that's a different story. What you said was fiddling around to get it to work. I took that as initially first time getting it to work. I said I just enabled it. Didn't have to fiddle with any settings I just enabled it and yes that's not that amazing but very convenient.

Yes enabling SLI is nothing amazing. When it comes to troubleshooting, that's when most would want a single gpu setup. And the poll basically backs that up. I had to once, enable SLI on a pair of 6600GT.  It supports SLI, but the cards, won't let you install the SLI bridge, so it has to be done via software. Took me some time to get that thing working. Only to stopped working soon after.

[JJBtch4EXG]

Just now, Dash Lambda said:

I would only do SLI if there wasn't a higher performance card to bump up to. This is, of course, different in the 980ti's case because the only one above it is absurdly expensive and offers very little difference...

 

So would I stick another 980ti in my machine? Hell yes. Would I do two 970's instead of one 980ti? Well, I did get the 980ti, didn't I?

@ "Well, I did get the 980ti, didn't I?"

[JJBtch4EXG]

1 minute ago, NumLock21 said:

Yes enabling SLI is nothing amazing. When it comes to troubleshooting, that's when most would want a single gpu setup. And the poll basically backs that up. I had to once, enable SLI on a pair of 6600GT.  It supports SLI, but the cards, won't let you install the SLI bridge, so it has to be done via software. Took me some time to get that thing working. Only to stopped working soon after.

SLI I believe has came along way since then but awesome point. I'm sure its a head ache and I'm sure my patience will be gone when I have to troubleshoot it but what if something else messes up in your pc? You still have to troubleshoot it yes? Troubleshooting anything is a head ache in its self.

[Dash Lambda]

3 minutes ago, JJBtch4EXG said:

SLI I believe has came along way since then but awesome point. I'm sure its a head ache and I'm sure my patience will be gone when I have to troubleshoot it but what if something else messes up in your pc? You still have to troubleshoot it yes? Troubleshooting anything is a head ache in its self.

I think what makes troubleshooting SLI special is that you will have to at some point. It's a fault of the technology itself that it just won't work sometimes.

The fact that it's inherently unnecessary may also add to it. If one of the core components screws up, you generally view it as an unavoidable error that you have to resolve. If your SLI setup starts screwing up, you're probably going to think "Why did I do this in the first place?"

 

There's a similar thing with overclocking. People tend to view issues that result from their own decision to do something more as worse than other issues.

[JJBtch4EXG]

Just now, Dash Lambda said:

I think what makes troubleshooting SLI special is that you will have to at some point. It's a fault of the technology itself that it just won't work sometimes.

The fact that it's inherently unnecessary may also add to it. If one of the core components screws up, you generally view it as an unavoidable error that you have to resolve. If your SLI setup starts screwing up, you're probably going to think "Why did I do this in the first place?"

 

There's a similar thing with overclocking. People tend to view issues that result from their own decision to do something more as worse than other issues.

I like troubleshooting but I do ask WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! do I do these things all the time? LOL 

[Praesi]

A powerfull single GPU is the better Solution.

[Jumper118]

I have 2 gtx 970 not in sli.  When I bought them the 980ti wasn't a thing and the gtx580 £/performance sucked so 2 cards was the best solution. 

[DarkSmith2]

without a custom loop i wouldnt consider to go SLI anymore. I gave it a shot some years ago with dual gtx460's, it wasnt that great.

[FireFox]

I would and well did but I didn't take my case into consideration so once I get a bigger case I'll be installing the other card again

[DarkSmith2]

6 minutes ago, FireFox said:

I would and well did but I didn't take my case into consideration so once I get a bigger case I'll be installing the other card again

Well i had a CM Storm Sniper at that time, this is a full size mid tower. And it was really big and nice airflowed. And both Cards havnt reached above 60°C ever while using them as single cards. What happend was, that one of the cards reached 90°C really quickly while gaming where the other got to 75°C. I swapped places and the exact same thing happend to the other card each. That was really funny ^.^

 

I never had microstuttering or problems to find SLI profiles for my games, and scaling was mostly really good. But well it was low tier FERMI.

For nowdays it can even be hard to find a Card worth to SLI that stays below 70°C while singled.

I cant imagine any card i would want to SLI other then Hybrid GTX980ti's or something like that without a custom loop. (maybe that GTX950's though).

 

But well everyone has to gather his own experience ^.^ 

[JJBtch4EXG]

With my 2 cards and the gap between them rarely see 70 degrees. Only when I over clock them and not even then over 73. If you have to put them side by side a water loop is the only way to go but with a decent gap and if the cooler on the top card is adequate enough, or just plain worth a damn, then cooling an SLI setup isn't a problem. Also I feel that experience with SLI from years ago, when their were major issues with SLI, isn't really an excuse to say it isn't worth it today. Technology changes and advances forward everyday. Errors in certain features of hardware are always being worked out. Sure SLI might break and you have to work it to get it going again but that's the fun of being pc literate. You have the knowledge to fix your own problems and save cash while doing so. Some people don't want to have to go through this trouble and that is understandable. I have days like that when my system is acting like a biotch but hey its what I do and what I enjoy.

 

Thanks everyone for the replies and the opinions glad to be apart this community with all the different personalities and opinions and to the SLI haters.....

We love you too  LOL

[connorpiper]

I loved my SLI setup when I had it. Would do it again. 

[thekeemo]

What GPU

[Big-G]

If I had the choice between a single GPU and SLI setup of equivalent performance... I'd take the single GPU due to pathetic SLI support from game developers and also SLI scaling issues...

[Guest]

If money wasn't an issue, I'd SLI in a heartbeat. If I came across a game that didn't play well with SLI I'd just disable one of the cards via the Nvidia Control Panel and play it solo. Plus I'd be future-resistant in case I did want more displays or had a very demanding game and I don't want to sacrifice any settings. But I wouldn't go past 2-way since there really isn't a point except bragging rights. I got the PSU and the room, just not the money. But a second 980Ti would be pretty sweet. 

[i_build_nanosuits]

SLI is super trashy.