SLI GTX 980

[AdmnPower]

I'll start by mentioning that I haven't really ever done anything with SLI before. I had one of those awful dual GPU crossfire cards (HD3870 x 2) way back when and have sworn off of dual video card setups until now due to all the problems. I currently have this card.

 

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-4gb-gddr5-pci-express-3-0-graphics-card-silver-black/9855141.p?id=1219441205886&skuId=9855141

 

I have the opportunity to purchase one of these second hand at a very low cost.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487079

 

I'm wondering if these two would work together in SLI and what problems I might run into by trying to do so. I always thought that the cards needed to be identical in order to have the best experience but I'm not sure if that's actually accurate. The EVGA card is the superclocked edition so it definitely has different GPU and Memory Clock speeds than my current card. Even though it's cheap I'm just not sure it's worth the potential stability issues to add the extra card or if it would even work in the first place. 

[Ophidio]

They will work in SLI and the only problems you're really going to run into are going to be some games not supporting SLI. But the 980 is still powerful enough to not even have to really worry about those games. I'd say go for it if you're getting the second card for a really decent price. 

[mikat]

if the very low cost is around 250$ then yes, otherwise, no

[GER_T4IGA]

What prices are we talking about. What PSU do you have? and what motherboard?

 

[Senzelian]

I use two GTX 980s myself and I'm fairly happy with them, apart from the problem that they're very power hungry and put a massive amount of heat out into my room...

[AdmnPower]

7 minutes ago, mikat said:

if the very low cost is around 250$ then yes, otherwise, no

The cost is indeed right around $250 possibly even a little less. The negotiation is still in progress. 

[AdmnPower]

7 minutes ago, GER_T4IGA said:

What prices are we talking about. What PSU do you have? and what motherboard?

 

My PSU should be fine power wise 900 watt I think is probably sufficient. The board is an Asus gaming series that supports SLI. I'll have to look later and see what the exact model is as I'm not sure off the top of my head. 

[AdmnPower]

11 minutes ago, Ophidio said:

They will work in SLI and the only problems you're really going to run into are going to be some games not supporting SLI. But the 980 is still powerful enough to not even have to really worry about those games. I'd say go for it if you're getting the second card for a really decent price. 

Yeah, this is another reason I'm a little hesitant because I'm not sure for the few games that I have that support it that it's worth the money. The main concern I had was the fact that they aren't an exact match. 

[Ophidio]

It doesn't matter if they're the exact same 980, as long as they're both the 980 chip and not one 980 one 980ti. If they are both the GTX 980 then they will work in SLI at the slowest cards clock speed.

[AdmnPower]

1 minute ago, Ophidio said:

It doesn't matter if they're the exact same 980, as long as they're both the 980 chip and not one 980 one 980ti. If they are both the GTX 980 then they will work in SLI at the slowest cards clock speed.

Gotcha, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the input. 

[Imakuni]

1 hour ago, AdmnPower said:

The cost is indeed right around $250 possibly even a little less. The negotiation is still in progress. 

Personally, I'd try and sell your current 980 while it's still worth something. If the 1060 turns out to be as good as I think it'll be, the 980's value is just going to drop even more.

 

Sell your 980 now and, with the money you'd spend on a second one, just get a single Gtx 1070. It's not going to have the raw horsepower of 2 980s, sure, but you are going to avoid the many issues of a dual GPU setup. I'd say it's worth it.

[GER_T4IGA]

1 hour ago, AdmnPower said:

My PSU should be fine power wise 900 watt I think is probably sufficient. The board is an Asus gaming series that supports SLI. I'll have to look later and see what the exact model is as I'm not sure off the top of my head. 

I don't mean the amount of watt on the box, I was asking for the model.

[adnank77]

I'm having Tri-SLI of 980s .. Quite happy with that .. Works well in all games .. 

 

The only games had SLI issues were the Assassin Creed's games (Unity and Syndicate) .. slight issues not serious .. and you can always disable SLI as single card is enough in many cases .. 

 

Bottom line: If you find a good deal and your existing PSU is good for that .. Go for it ..