Buy a GTX 980 to SLI with or GTX 1080Ti?

[WhiteSkyMage]

Hey guys, I have been looking for options for upgrading, since Vega 64 failed to impress me. Volta isn't going to be with us any time soon, perhaps maybe it will next year, but until next year, I will need to drive that monitor I bought. And no it's not a G-Sync one, it's a FreeSync one (I refuse to pay for G-Sync) - the XR382CQK. Now I already have a GTX 980. I saw one on sale for about $180. Should I buy that and SLI until the next generation VOLTA comes?

 

I am not a fan of upgrading every generation, so I refuse to buy Pascal GPUs. I know that GTX 1080Ti would outperform 2 980s, but the Pascal generation is at is at a near-end.

 

Also, since this is an SLI of 1 reference and 1 non-reference card, how should I put them, so that there is enough airflow for both? I have fans on the side of my C70 Vengeance case. Should I put reference up and Gigabyte G1 Gaming down (3 fan design) or vice-versa?

[ArtoriaPendragon]

180 dollars for another 980 to SLI with is pretty good if you really want to wait until Volta. I'd go for it.

[WhiteSkyMage]

4 minutes ago, ArtoriaPendragon said:

180 dollars for another 980 to SLI with is pretty good if you really want to wait until Volta. I'd go for it.

Yeah i also think it's a good deal to traverse through 1 year. It's 4 GB VRAM which this days is not recommended, but perhaps for the next 6-8 months of Volta/Navi waiting, maybe... id go for it too...

[xsimplyjosh]

Yea if u can sli n get around its shortcomings it would be fine. I myself personally bought the 1080ti strix n im hoping that lasts me at least 7-8 years. (As u know i dont play the upgrade game too often) so is a good move u dun buy the new 1080ti n wait for newer tech...

 

[w1nger1]

4 hours ago, WhiteSkyMage said:

Hey guys, I have been looking for options for upgrading, since Vega 64 failed to impress me. Volta isn't going to be with us any time soon, perhaps maybe it will next year, but until next year, I will need to drive that monitor I bought. And no it's not a G-Sync one, it's a FreeSync one (I refuse to pay for G-Sync) - the XR382CQK. Now I already have a GTX 980. I saw one on sale for about $180. Should I buy that and SLI until the next generation VOLTA comes?

 

I am not a fan of upgrading every generation, so I refuse to buy Pascal GPUs. I know that GTX 1080Ti would outperform 2 980s, but the Pascal generation is at is at a near-end.

 

Also, since this is an SLI of 1 reference and 1 non-reference card, how should I put them, so that there is enough airflow for both? I have fans on the side of my C70 Vengeance case. Should I put reference up and Gigabyte G1 Gaming down (3 fan design) or vice-versa?

I recently upgraded my 980ti to 1080ti, not regretting it. I am not really into the idea of waiting for the next big thing, there will always be the next big thing. Of course unless there is a clear and within acceptable time period.

980@$180 sure is a good deal, but I will still not recommend it. The investment is worthwhile only if the applications you use can make a good use of SLI.
 

[Pixel5]

2 hours ago, xsimplyjosh said:

 I myself personally bought the 1080ti strix n im hoping that lasts me at least 7-8 years.

 

thats a common misconception meaning its not actually a good idea to do it this way, you are far better of to buy a middle class card which has a much better value for the money and replace it again after a few years with the latest techs middle class card.

 

you spend the same money in the end but you have a more consistent performance over the years as you upgrade to a newer generation.

[WhiteSkyMage]

A rule of thumb for me is, not to upgrade every generation. I was really hyped on Vega, for it was marketed as Volta competitor, and then it disappointed, to the point where both Jay2Cents, AdoredTV are not recommending it. On the other hand, Pascal is a good leap from the last gen, but I waited too long for Vega, and upgrading to Pascal, for me now, is TOO LATE. I remember that I got my 750W PSU just so that it enables me to go with 2 cards, if I need to. Now for that low cost of GTX 980, I have seen many of the benchmarks in which 2 of those compete well against a gtx1080. Why spend $600-800 for Pascal, when I could spend $180 and get the job done. Sure some games will run bad, but that is a drawback that sometimes you gotta live with. I am hoping that I will be able to catter with those 2 cards until Volta and Navi release. I will wait for Navi, because my monitor is a FreeSync afterall.

[jaysangwan32]

6 minutes ago, WhiteSkyMage said:

A rule of thumb for me is, not to upgrade every generation. I was really hyped on Vega, for it was marketed as Volta competitor, and then it disappointed, to the point where both Jay2Cents, AdoredTV are not recommending it. On the other hand, Pascal is a good leap from the last gen, but I waited too long for Vega, and upgrading to Pascal, for me now, is TOO LATE. I remember that I got my 750W PSU just so that it enables me to go with 2 cards, if I need to. Now for that low cost of GTX 980, I have seen many of the benchmarks in which 2 of those compete well against a gtx1080. Why spend $600-800 for Pascal, when I could spend $180 and get the job done. Sure some games will run bad, but that is a drawback that sometimes you gotta live with. I am hoping that I will be able to catter with those 2 cards until Volta and Navi release. I will wait for Navi, because my monitor is a FreeSync afterall.

The SLI 980 would be better if you intend to wait. Yes games and such will run a little slower but it's definitely a good deal and should serve your purpose for the time being.

However, for a competitive card against the 1080ti you may have to wait a little later than the initial releases. Based on the later release date of the 1080ti compared to other Pascal cards, unless you wish to go with the flagship or middle ground car, you might have to wait around 6 months after the first round of cards for the 2080ti(????).

As for Navi, I'm not informed regarding this release, but it may come much sooner due to the underwhelming Vega performance, but be prepared to buy fast because apparently Vega is selling out crazy!

 

Either way you're picking the better of two good options, so you're not really taking a hit whatever you do.

Hope this helps!

[WhiteSkyMage]

10 minutes ago, jaysangwan32 said:

The SLI 980 would be better if you intend to wait. Yes games and such will run a little slower but it's definitely a good deal and should serve your purpose for the time being.

However, for a competitive card against the 1080ti you may have to wait a little later than the initial releases. Based on the later release date of the 1080ti compared to other Pascal cards, unless you wish to go with the flagship or middle ground car, you might have to wait around 6 months after the first round of cards for the 2080ti(????).

As for Navi, I'm not informed regarding this release, but it may come much sooner due to the underwhelming Vega performance, but be prepared to buy fast because apparently Vega is selling out crazy!

 

Either way you're picking the better of two good options, so you're not really taking a hit whatever you do.

Hope this helps!

I was so convinced about Vega 64 and Ocing it till it reaches a GTX 1080Ti performance (at an enormous power draw and TDP which I don't care at all about, as long as it doesn't burn my PSU), but with those prices it's just not worth it. I also heard that Vram prices are rising, and with that, all the GTX 1080 cards seem to have raised price these days.

 

You are absolutely right about that - if I buy a Volta, then I will be buying a mid-range card at $600 which is not worth it, and I should at least wait 6 months till the high end beast. I am looking for a single card that would keep my FPS up from 75FPS on 3840x1600p, so I need 1 card that would really beat my 2 GTX 980s by a significant margin if I am to go with NVIDIA and decide to ignore FreeSync on my monitor.

If I am to wait for Navi, which is my plan on doing with my 2 980s, then hopefully it will come and offer some competition to Volta, which will be a good buy for me to use FreeSync.

[jaysangwan32]

3 minutes ago, WhiteSkyMage said:

I was so convinced about Vega 64 and Ocing it till it reaches a GTX 1080Ti performance (at an enormous power draw and TDP which I don't care at all about, as long as it doesn't burn my PSU), but with those prices it's just not worth it. I also heard that Vram prices are rising, and with that, all the GTX 1080 cards seem to have raised price these days.

 

You are absolutely right about that - if I buy a Volta, then I will be buying a mid-range card at $600 which is not worth it, and I should at least wait 6 months till the high end beast. I am looking for a single card that would keep my FPS up from 75FPS on 3840x1600p, so I need 1 card that would really beat my 2 GTX 980s by a significant margin if I am to go with NVIDIA and decide to ignore FreeSync on my monitor.

If I am to wait for Navi, which is my plan on doing with my 2 980s, then hopefully it will come and offer some competition to Volta, which will be a good buy for me to use FreeSync.

Unless AMD ignore their mistakes from this release, NaVi should compete against Volta to some degree. With that being said, prices will probably be around where Vega prices are now to be profitable unless HBM2 drops in price or they go with DDRx. 

The Vega 64 would probably beat your 980s by a significant margin (since performance ignoring power draw, TDP, and price is comparable to the 1080 and SLI support in most gaming applications isn't great), so the NaVi platform probably will as well.

 

But then again, we won't really know until the benchmarks

 

As for the original question, go with the 980 for $180 it's a good deal so you might even be able to break even if you decide to sell if for Volta or NaVi in the future.

 

 

[HisEvilness]

Went the other way around i need to find a monitor to go along with my new GPU, settles on a 1080ti since the prices here is exactly the same as a 980ti what is kinda weird.
Now i need to find a nice monitor but i have not decided on 144mhz ish @ 1080p or 1440p kinda need to find the right monitor the current monitors are just fine but the card is a bit OP for 1080p @ 75mhz.
If i could get a 980(ti) that would actually make sense and wait for the 2080ti or whatever it will be.

[WhiteSkyMage]

26 minutes ago, HisEvilness said:

Went the other way around i need to find a monitor to go along with my new GPU, settles on a 1080ti since the prices here is exactly the same as a 980ti what is kinda weird.
Now i need to find a nice monitor but i have not decided on 144mhz ish @ 1080p or 1440p kinda need to find the right monitor the current monitors are just fine but the card is a bit OP for 1080p @ 75mhz.
If i could get a 980(ti) that would actually make sense and wait for the 2080ti or whatever it will be.

You already have a GTX 1080Ti. Go with one of the Ultrawide monitors. If you want to pay for G-Sync however, you will be pretty much stuck with nVidia.

I went for Acer XR382CQK (IPS 75Hz 3840x1600, FreeSync<<<that I won't use for now>>>, Ultrawide 21:9 and curved.)

I have decided NOT to buy into G-Sync no matter what. What I will do is play with no Sync with 2 GTX 980s, which surely will not be enough to reach 75FPS and maintain them.

[Princess Luna]

yeah SLI 980 and exchange for a Volta card next year.

[HisEvilness]

3 minutes ago, WhiteSkyMage said:

You already have a GTX 1080Ti. Go with one of the Ultrawide monitors. If you want to pay for G-Sync however, you will be pretty much stuck with nVidia.

I went for Acer XR382CQK (IPS 75Hz 3840x1600, FreeSync<<<that I won't use for now>>>, Ultrawide 21:9 and curved.)

I have decided NOT to buy into G-Sync no matter what. What I will do is play with no Sync with 2 GTX 980s, which surely will not be enough to reach 75FPS and maintain them.

Going to buy one this/next week atm running a GTX970 so it will be an upgrade, looking at your idea of 2 x 980 in SLI i still will pay 800 euros per card. and a 1080ti is also 800 euros so there would be no point for me.
That 180 USD for a 980 is a sweet deal if i could let's say get 2 x 980 for 400/500 i would do it and wait for Volta but alas this is not the case.
Found some nice screens for 1080ti, Acer Predator XB240H  and an Asus MX299Q Silver i do not care much about G-Sync it would be nice but not the premium tbh.

[WhiteSkyMage]

4 hours ago, HisEvilness said:

Going to buy one this/next week atm running a GTX970 so it will be an upgrade, looking at your idea of 2 x 980 in SLI i still will pay 800 euros per card. and a 1080ti is also 800 euros so there would be no point for me.
That 180 USD for a 980 is a sweet deal if i could let's say get 2 x 980 for 400/500 i would do it and wait for Volta but alas this is not the case.
Found some nice screens for 1080ti, Acer Predator XB240H  and an Asus MX299Q Silver i do not care much about G-Sync it would be nice but not the premium tbh.

Look for a GTX 970 and SLI them. Don't buy a 1080Ti (unless of course you are playing games that are no good with SLI). I just had a 980 from Dec 2014. I bought it for $690. I have been running it since then on my 1080p monitor. That is why I will buy a 2nd one this or next week so that I will be able to drive my monitor.

4 hours ago, Princess Cadence said:

yeah SLI 980 and exchange for a Volta card next year.

I will wait for Navi before buying into Volta.

[Djxinator]

Nvidia have stated that Volta for gamers isn't coming in the forseeable future. It will likely be well into next year.

 

The 1080ti AIB cards have only been around for 5 or so months and with Vega being a failure Nvidia have no reason to sell Volta to consumers at all, seeing as the 1080 and 1080ti are far better buys.

I think we will be waiting 12 more months for Volta to trickle down to us normies. We may even see a Pascal refresh before Volta, by now the profit margins for Pascal must be massive due to manufacturing efficiency increasing.

 

I'm partly saying this objectively, but also partly saying this because I've dropped £799.99 on an 1080ti Lightning X, and need to justify it to myself.

[WhiteSkyMage]

11 hours ago, Djxinator said:

Nvidia have stated that Volta for gamers isn't coming in the forseeable future. It will likely be well into next year.

 

The 1080ti AIB cards have only been around for 5 or so months and with Vega being a failure Nvidia have no reason to sell Volta to consumers at all, seeing as the 1080 and 1080ti are far better buys.

I think we will be waiting 12 more months for Volta to trickle down to us normies. We may even see a Pascal refresh before Volta, by now the profit margins for Pascal must be massive due to manufacturing efficiency increasing.

 

I'm partly saying this objectively, but also partly saying this because I've dropped £799.99 on an 1080ti Lightning X, and need to justify it to myself.

Vega may be a failure, but it is selling like cup cakes. So we will see. As I said, I am not upgrading every generation, even if it completely rofflestomps the previous. With 2 GTX980s I can have GTX1080 performance on the cheap. I was going to buy Vega if the price didn't jump like that. Not only that, but prices of nvidia pascal cards jumped/will jump cuz of Vram shortages.