GTX 960 (4GB) VS GTX 970

[Boyborg690]

My idea of a good computer is either SLI some GTX960s or just run the bank dry with a GTX970. I am doing heavy retro gaming and a truckload of War Thunder, Call of Duty, Other random titles that are awesome and more. I've got all of the components laid out in my head besides the graphics card and SSD. What should I get guys? a GTX 960 with SLI bridging or a GTX 970? I really need help quickly

[Nacho Marco Segui]

970, Sli can have some issues

[Starelementpoke]

2 minutes ago, Boyborg690 said:

My idea of a good computer is either SLI some GTX960s or just run the bank dry with a GTX970. I am doing heavy retro gaming and a truckload of War Thunder, Call of Duty, Other random titles that are awesome and more. I've got all of the components laid out in my head besides the graphics card and SSD. What should I get guys? a GTX 960 with SLI bridging or a GTX 970? I really need help quickly

If your adamant on Nvidia, 970.

[Stardar1]

1 minute ago, Boyborg690 said:

My idea of a good computer is either SLI some GTX960s or just run the bank dry with a GTX970. I am doing heavy retro gaming and a truckload of War Thunder, Call of Duty, Other random titles that are awesome and more. I've got all of the components laid out in my head besides the graphics card and SSD. What should I get guys? a GTX 960 with SLI bridging or a GTX 970? I really need help quickly

2-way SLI gives about 170% of the one cards performance. 

 

Having said this, it is always better to go for a single card, especially because 2-way 4GB 960s costs almost as much as a 980. 

[Stardar1]

2 minutes ago, Boyborg690 said:

My idea of a good computer is either SLI some GTX960s or just run the bank dry with a GTX970. I am doing heavy retro gaming and a truckload of War Thunder, Call of Duty, Other random titles that are awesome and more. I've got all of the components laid out in my head besides the graphics card and SSD. What should I get guys? a GTX 960 with SLI bridging or a GTX 970? I really need help quickly

Also I can confirm the 970 doing well in War Thunder. 

 

Define: "Heavy retro gaming", because depending on your definition of retro that may not be possible. 

[manikyath]

always go single higher card over two lower cards if possible.

[Moonzy]

well in rare cases, sli two lower end card have more vram than one higher end card

 

gg 970 and its 3.5gb vram lool

 

still, go with 970

 

sli isnt going to be worth your hassle :3

 

better yet, R9 390

[GreezyJeezy]

Single 970

[typographie]

26 minutes ago, Stardar1 said:

2-way SLI gives about 170% of the one cards performance. 

Ehhhh, I'd caution to stay away from blanket statements about SLI scaling. It's too dependent on the game you're playing. Some will reach upwards of 190%+, and some don't support it at all. I guess you can make the argument that it may average out to 170%, but that doesn't really have any relationship with the experience someone can actually expect to get. Most games seem to hit one extreme or the other, rather than an average.

[Stardar1]

1 minute ago, typographie said:

Ehhhh, I'd caution to stay away from blanket statements about SLI scaling. It's too dependent on the game you're playing. Some will reach upwards of 190%+, and some don't support it at all. I guess you can make the argument that it may average out to 170%, but that doesn't really have any relationship with the experience someone can actually expect to get. Most games seem to hit one extreme or the other, rather than an average.

Either way, one card is always better at this price range, especially when 2x 4GB GTX 960s costs as much as a decent GTX 980

[Starelementpoke]

Just now, Stardar1 said:

Either way, one card is always better at this price range, especially when 2x 4GB GTX 960s costs as much as a decent GTX 980

Can't you get a nano at the 980's price anyway?

[Stardar1]

Just now, Starelementpoke said:

Can't you get a nano at the 980's price anyway?

You can, and even a Fury. 

 

Though I have heard controversial things about the Nano. 

[Starelementpoke]

Just now, Stardar1 said:

You can, and even a Fury. 

 

Though I have heard controversial things about the Nano. 

Same, though personally I've heard a little more good than bad.

[Stardar1]

Just now, Starelementpoke said:

Same, though personally I've heard a little more good than bad.

I have not looked into it thoroughly enough to form a conclusive opinion. 

[Stardar1]

1 hour ago, Moonzy said:

well in rare cases, sli two lower end card have more vram than one higher end card

 

gg 970 and its 3.5gb vram lool

 

still, go with 970

 

sli isnt going to be worth your hassle :3

 

better yet, R9 390

TRIGGERED

 

1. The GTX 970 has 4 FULL GB of GDDR5 RAM, the last half gigabyte is slower, and will only affect you in very intense games.

2. With a tiny ass 128 bit memory bus, the GTX 960 can barely utilize its 4GB

3. The R9 390 is a great card, don't get me wrong, but It is not better than the GTX 970, in actual use they seem to trade blows, especially with AMD's drivers being so... unreliable. 

[Moonzy]

1 minute ago, Stardar1 said:

3. The R9 390 is a great card, don't get me wrong, but It is not better than the GTX 970, in actual use they seem to trade blows, especially with AMD's drivers being so... unreliable. 

1 and 2 i can let it slide

but point 3 is just too false

 

AMD drivers are bad if your cpu isnt strong enough as it have a significant amount more cpu overhead than nvidia

but if thats not an issue

 

390 performs about 5~10% faster than 970 averagely in DX11 games

and 390 performs a lot better than a 970 in DX12 games, no absolute % due to small sample size but its around 30~50% now

[Stardar1]

3 hours ago, Moonzy said:

1 and 2 i can let it slide

but point 3 is just too false

 

AMD drivers are bad if your cpu isnt strong enough as it have a significant amount more cpu overhead than nvidia

but if thats not an issue

 

390 performs about 5~10% faster than 970 averagely in DX11 games

and 390 performs a lot better than a 970 in DX12 games, no absolute % due to small sample size but its around 30~50% now

I have an I5 4690k OC 4.5 GHz, so that is definitely not an issue.

 

It may be the specific games i play seem to favor NVidia (stranger things have happened), but i noticed generally smoother performance with the 970. 

 

Now I personally do not think there is a reason to get one over the other, but that is my opinion. 

[Zodiark1593]

Unless you are starting off at top end, it's usually against good practice to run SLI to begin with. Now, if you already have a 960, and it's a 4 GB model, in that case go nuts. Keep in mind, multi-GPU scaling varies Greatly across games, some netting nearly double the framerate, while others you have to outright disable a GPU, and a lot in between.