Is SLI worth it?

[ivanteng880]

Hi, I'm thinking about doing an Nvidia SLI for my new PC build, but I heard people say that most games today doesn't even use SLI, is that true?  I mostly do Full HD gaming and I'm going to upgrade to 4K soon, is one gtx 1070 8GB strix OC edition enough, or should i spent 700 dollar more on a sli motherboard, PSU, and another GTX 1070 strix OC edition. 

 

questions:

1. Do most games today support SLI?

2.what are some pro and cons of SLI?

3. Is Gtx 1070 future proof ?

4. how well do gtx 1070 do in 4K gaming? 

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

I'd say no. Sell your 1070 and get a single 1080 ti.

[ivanteng880]

2 minutes ago, orbitalbuzzsaw said:

I'd say no. Sell your 1070 and get a single 1080 ti.

I heavn't bought it yet, just asking for recommendations?

[saif96]

and i aslo say no keep your 1070 wait for the 1180 and game on 60-80fps 4k or better yet the 1180ti and game on 100+fps on 4k! 

 

edit

 

no i dont think the 1070 is future proof i think that its more aimed at 2k not 4k

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

Just now, ivanteng880 said:

I heavn't bought it yet, just asking for recommendations?

1070 SLI is dumb when you could get a single 1080 Ti instead.

[ZcanKal]

Instead of 2 1070's, get a 1080 ti.

[ZcanKal]

14 minutes ago, saif96 said:

and i aslo say no keep your 1070 wait for the 1180 and game on 60-80fps 4k or better yet the 1180ti and game on 100+fps on 4k! 

 

edit

 

no i dont think the 1070 is future proof i think that its more aimed at 2k not 4k

1440p

[MedievalMatt]

13 minutes ago, ZcanKal said:

Instead of 2 1070's, get a 1080 ti.

the general wisdom is that you shouldnt buy 2 cards to do what spending more money on a better single card will accomplish.

 

the reality is you will NEVER acheive 100% scaling (or even 90%).  more like -25% to 80% depending on the game.  and yes that was a negative 25%.... as in a 25% performance hit from using SLI...some games just suck at SLI.

 

a 1080ti will more than match 2 1070s across 90% of the situations you might face.

[Carbide X]

SLI doesnt mean double the performance... SLI could be worth it in a few games that are well optimised for SLI but mostly you will get like a +10fps boost with a second card. Get the 1080ti if you can

[Kalm_Traveler]

Not sure why this is asked weekly, and the same wrong answers are given as far as SLI being effective... 

 

If you Google your exact question and read articles within the last 12 months you will find several websites that did tests with a bunch of current games, and several SLI configs at various resolutions. 

 

The results are that it does help with the majority of games. Some games see no benefit, and some actually see a performance hit or refuse to run. 

 

So it really comes down to the games you're going to play, resolution your monitor is, and fps you want to maintain. 

 

That being said, the 'play it safe' option if you absolutely can't save up for 2 top-end cards is that 1 top end card will always give great performance in any game, whereas two mid-level cards in SLI will beat it in some games (by varying fps amounts), equal it in some, and be worse in a few because you'll have to disable SLI to play them and will then be gaming using only 1 mid-range card instead of the top-end card you would have otherwise purchased. 

 

Tldr;

If you can save up for two of the best, SLI is great, but if you absolutely can't save up, a single 1080Ti is a smarter option than a pair of 1070 in SLI. 

[Mick Naughty]

Given the games I play, a 1080ti would work fine at 1440. But for surround 1080p, I’d rather use two 1080’s or 1080ti’s. 

 

Id only base it off what you want compared to what you can have soft/hardware wise. 

 

Over the past 10 years, two has always been better than one for me. But that’s only for the games I play which have always supported sli. 

 

Most just parrot what someone else says and have never actually ran sli them self’s. 

 

Get a 1080ti or wait for the supposed new “better” cards.  If that doesn’t work, get a second card assuming the games support it. 

[TopHatProductions115]

It depends on what you play, and how good you are at dealing with the quirks and oddities of mGPU setups. If you're new to SLI and won't wanna tinker when things go bad, don't bother. There will always be that one situation that screws everything over for beginners. It's a part of the learning curve. Otherwise, feel free to - and also feel free to deal with any situations where SLI either:

• doesn't improve the experience any (due to lack of optimization/support)
• causes performance degradation/errors (due to lack of support)

In short, don't use SLI unless you're committed. In both wallet, and in troubleshooting/overall learning. Also, SLI isn't a magic bullet to solve all performance needs. Just be ready for whatever baggage comes with stringing together multiple GPUs. Otherwise, just get a single, better card (if you're not up to the task).

 

Also, PSU needs to be able to power all devices adequately. SLI does NOT combine VRAM - only cores...

[O9B0666]

3 hours ago, orbitalbuzzsaw said:

1070 SLI is dumb when you could get a single 1080 Ti instead.

its actually not dumb, you can take two older cards, if you own one already and found another cheap, and make your gpu faster then a 1080. Also, having 2 gpu's lets each one process things slower, one does vertical pixels, the other horizontal which make for smoother scenes.

ive noticed this site has a flaw, gtx 1080 is the answer to all

[alphaproject]

SLI used to be great.... now it's trash. It's good at benchmarks... that's about it.

 

Even with AMD the last time I remember it being decent was around the 6870 cards or the 7850 cards.

 

AND.... even back then if the game didn't support it you lost FPS big time.... even more than -25%. I got about -50% frames in Darksiders 2 so I had to play it disabled. But Far Cry 3 worked GREAT in SLI/Xfire once I fixed the micro-stutter.

[Zodiark1593]

Unless you already have a top-tier card (1080 TI), then SLI shouldn't be considered unless price on two lesser cards is especially good. If you already have a top-tier card on hand, then by all means, grab a second. 

 

At launch, SLI 1080 TIs probably would have been worthwhile tbh, due to just how long this gen has been stretched.