Is SLI support declining?

[Macboi]

Hello people of the internet!

The mention of SLI seems to be ever declining and with Nvidia not (easily) allowing SLI with a 1060 or lower, it has left me wondering if SLI is going to continue being less supported by both Nvidia and game developers.  What do you think?

 

Part of the reason I'm curious is because buying a 1080ti straight was far to much for my budget especially because I was doing upgrades during the start of the mining craze.  I ended up getting a 1070 for ~$460 including tax which really wasn't a bad price imo.  However, I would like to upgrade from running 1080p@60Hz to 1440p@144ishHz and it will probably require something a fair bit more powerful than a 1070 to maintain that res and refresh rate.  Not sure if it would be better to get another 1070 when I can afford it or sell my current and try to pick up a 1080/1080ti.  All it really comes down to is how functional SLI will be going into the future.

 

Thank you for any input and have a nice day.

[Oshino Shinobu]

Nvidia has been pretty clear in their stance of reducing SLI support. They've almost completely removed 3 and 4 way SLI support and have removed 2 way from more of their cards than before. 

 

Game developers will follow suit really. It ends up being less work for them, or at least gives them more time to work on single-GPU performance. 

[Mick Naughty]

Would seem too sudden to say it’s gonna decline simply by one generation of cards not supporting it on the low tier. 

 

Given how games still support it during their release. 

 

Prolly is going with other stuff finally catching up. Seems like the cards are the slowest pieces now. As long as my two games keep supporting it, I’ll keep getting two cards. 

[NoRomanBatmansAllowed]

It has and will continue declining.

[Macboi]

42 minutes ago, Mick Naughty said:

Would seem too sudden to say it’s gonna decline simply by one generation of cards not supporting it on the low tier. 

 

Given how games still support it during their release. 

 

Prolly is going with other stuff finally catching up. Seems like the cards are the slowest pieces now. As long as my two games keep supporting it, I’ll keep getting two cards. 

What 2 games? Just curious, most people play more than that lol

[Zeitec]

1 hour ago, Macboi said:

Hello people of the internet!

The mention of SLI seems to be ever declining and with Nvidia not (easily) allowing SLI with a 1060 or lower, it has left me wondering if SLI is going to continue being less supported by both Nvidia and game developers.  What do you think?

 

Part of the reason I'm curious is because buying a 1080ti straight was far to much for my budget especially because I was doing upgrades during the start of the mining craze.  I ended up getting a 1070 for ~$460 including tax which really wasn't a bad price imo.  However, I would like to upgrade from running 1080p@60Hz to 1440p@144ishHz and it will probably require something a fair bit more powerful than a 1070 to maintain that res and refresh rate.  Not sure if it would be better to get another 1070 when I can afford it or sell my current and try to pick up a 1080/1080ti.  All it really comes down to is how functional SLI will be going into the future.

 

Thank you for any input and have a nice day.

I wouldn't say it's DECLINING per se....

 

 

 

 

it's dead. Absolutely dead. Do not run an SLI setup. 

[Macboi]

2 minutes ago, Zeitec said:

I wouldn't say it's DECLINING per se....

 

 

 

 

it's dead. Absolutely dead. Do not run an SLI setup. 

haha, i guess 1080/1080ti it is...

[Mio85]

It's too early to say that SLI support is declining.

The 10 series is the first time that a xx60 and below cards stopped supporting SLI.
 

But SLI has never been a good investment. It's always been an unstable, un-guaranteed, and power hungry solution to playing games.

The only time SLI is recommended is if you're pairing two of the highest tier'd cards together. So 2 GTX 1080Ti's, or 2 GTX 1080's (before the 1080Ti release.)

[Mick Naughty]

2 hours ago, Macboi said:

What 2 games? Just curious, most people play more than that lol

I play cod every year. Only started playing the bf series since bf4. I got pubg for free and it doesn't fully utilize the second card but it is helping. So I guess you can say 3 games last year.

[Macboi]

2 minutes ago, Mick Naughty said:

I play cod every year. Only started playing the bf series since bf4. I got pubg for free and it doesn't fully utilize the second card but it is helping. So I guess you can say 3 games last year.

nice

[Ithanul]

1 hour ago, Mio85 said:

It's too early to say that SLI support is declining.

The 10 series is the first time that a xx60 and below cards stopped supporting SLI.
 

But SLI has never been a good investment. It's always been an unstable, un-guaranteed, and power hungry solution to playing games.

The only time SLI is recommended is if you're pairing two of the highest tier'd cards together. So 2 GTX 1080Ti's, or 2 GTX 1080's (before the 1080Ti release.)

Agree.  Good chunk of the time with running such setups is troubleshooting or having to use Nvidia Inspector or other software to tweak it.

[andrewmp6]

With dx12 the support is left up to the game not the card drivers,Will sli and cf be around in 10 years maybe,Will most games and people really use thats a hard one to answer.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

Performance was often not much better if any compared to cards one step up. Plus SLI constantly required driver updates to get it properly running even outside of gaming loads. So it's no wonder both Nvidia are AMD are doing away with multi-GPU technologies. It was honestly more of a bragging point than actually being functional. 

[Kalm_Traveler]

There isn't any real information from Nvidia on this yet, but it is definitely not dead. 

 

The two newish games i play both support it well, which is why I was trying so hard to hack my pair of Titan V's into working, but it looks like for now if i really want Volta SLI I'll need to save a few more pennies for a pair of Quadro GV100's. 

 

Anyway, my advice is always to buy 1 better card rather than SLI two lesser cards for maximum compatibility. 

 

I have literally never had any issues with SLI on 780, 980, 1080, or Titan Xp cards but some people seem to run into problems for some reason, so keep that it in mind. 

 

Also, as an example my new mainstream build will just have a single Titan V to keep things simple. Hedt rig is swapping to SLI Titan Xp. 

[Pip313]

It seems less and less important the more powerful gpu’s become. When you were struggling to get ok graphics at ok resolution at ok refresh rates it made sense. 

 

But now even low performance cards like a 1050ti give you good graphics at good refresh rates at 1080p. Anything beyond that is served by more expensive cards.

 

running 2 monitors at 144hz 4K sounds cool but at some point the benefits don’t come close to the cost to do it. Nvidia and Amd know this. A couple thousand people buying 2 1080ti’s isn’t worth the extra work when one gives such great performance on its own.

[Lathlaer]

13 hours ago, Ithanul said:

Agree.  Good chunk of the time with running such setups is troubleshooting or having to use Nvidia Inspector or other software to tweak it.

That's what makes it an enthusiast thing ;-) If someone wants a plug-and-play kind of thing then SLI isn't for them. The rewards are there but sometimes you have to work for them.

 

The xx60-xx70ti SLI should be dead. As has been pointed out, instead of going for two mid-level cards, it's usually better to go for just a xx80/xx80ti. SLI should be reserved only for the highest tier cards because it only makes sense for those. Once you reached a ceiling with one card, you can entertain the idea of going for two.

[Jumper118]

47 minutes ago, Lathlaer said:

That's what makes it an enthusiast thing ;-) If someone wants a plug-and-play kind of thing then SLI isn't for them. The rewards are there but sometimes you have to work for them.

 

The xx60-xx70ti SLI should be dead. As has been pointed out, instead of going for two mid-level cards, it's usually better to go for just a xx80/xx80ti. SLI should be reserved only for the highest tier cards because it only makes sense for those. Once you reached a ceiling with one card, you can entertain the idea of going for two.

you should be able to sli any cards. choice is better than no choice. if i want to buy 2 slow cars instead of 1 fast car i can do that. nobody says you cant have 2 nissan micra's, you have to buy a wrx instead  i normally buy the 70 series cards in sli and the £/performance is the best. 

 

People need to stop making excuses for lazy game devs and lazy nvidia not wanting to bother supporting it. 

[Mick Naughty]

Haven’t noticed issues in the past 10 years.  Doesn’t sound like an nvidia problem. Sounds like user error or a game issues. If you already have the best card what are you supposed to do? Wait till something better comes out? That would make no sense. When cards come out that can actually handle more than old cards that would be a good concept, until then I’ll stick to what I’ve been doing. 

[O9B0666]

1 hour ago, Lathlaer said:

SLI should be reserved only for the highest tier cards because it only makes sense for those. Once you reached a ceiling with one card, you can entertain the idea of going for two.

a 1080ti can handle most anytrhing at high res and settings....people tend to sli because they cant afford x card at the time, so if they get one say 1060 now and down the line get another...their's really not much of a point sli'ing a 1080ti compared to a 1050 or 1060 which aren't as good as a single 1080ti. 

[Lathlaer]

1 hour ago, Jumper118 said:

you should be able to sli any cards.

Yes, you should and that would be ideal. But we don't live in an SLI-Utopia so if we can at least cut down all those "should I go 1070 SLI or go for a 1080/1080ti" threads by 90% (where the most common answer is "SLI is dead, don't do it") that would be ideal.

 

The problem is that people going for 1060-1070 are rarely on the same enthusiast level as people who buy into the HEDT platforms with dual GPU's. So they are less inclined to troubleshoot and are more often disappointed with the results. It's a generalisation, I know, but I feel like I'm right on this one.

 

Then again, it would be magnificent if SLI was more accesible with every card - maybe if people could SLI even a 1050, developers would have more incentive to optimize it. So yeah, I give you that. More choice is better, I just wish all those thread were not popping out one after another. 

 

In the end I think many enthusiasts with SLI setups are either slowly getting tired of discussing the issue or are already past that point and they just flat out refuse to fight with metaphorical windmills. Leaving only people claiming that SLI has died long time ago to respond.

 

25 minutes ago, O9B0666 said:

a 1080ti can handle most anytrhing at high res and settings

Depends on the game and the resolution. The AAA games I'm playing at 3440x1440 are getting quite nice scaling and thanks to that I can max out everything and still get close to my 120Hz refresh rate. With the introduction of the new high refresh rate 4k monitors people will want to go above mere 60fps in 4k, so there is a market for that.

 

40 minutes ago, Mick Naughty said:

Haven’t noticed issues in the past 10 years.  Doesn’t sound like an nvidia problem. Sounds like user error or a game issues. If you already have the best card what are you supposed to do? Wait till something better comes out? That would make no sense. When cards come out that can actually handle more than old cards that would be a good concept, until then I’ll stick to what I’ve been doing. 

This guy gets it ;-)

[Loadent]

I try not to weigh in on such threads as the usually become heated and very opinionated. And name calling or judging just happens.

 

From the enthusiast point of view, (mine) we like to tinker and make thinks work. Like SLI. Over 300+ games in my steam, origin, GOG, etc.

And many support SLI, official or not.

 

My first crossfire were space heaters (ATI 4870's) and the power draw was so high through the pcie slot, it melted my 24 pin connector to my motherboard.

I have since, ran CF AMD 280's, SLI GTX 680'x, 970's, 980'x, 1080's and now 1080ti's.

(btw I also have 2 teenagers that game).

 

Our house has 5960x, 5930k, 980x, 4790k, Q9550 and a few apple products. 2-PG278Qs 2560x1440p 144hz, 1 Omen X 35 3440x1440 100hz, 1 32" 4K. and a HTC Vive. 3 - 24" Samsung on a racing rig.

 

A lot of money dumped into hardware over the years just to get the best experience I can. I will have more fun in an evening tinkering and trying to beat my benchmark scores then playing games. Just the way I am. But our family's hobby is ours, and nobody can say it is wrong.

 

All of my friends and family come to us for suggestions on what hardware of this or that, video cards, hard drives, repairs etc.

 

AND NONE OF THEM RUN HARDWARE LIKE OURS. They end up buying the i3s, i5s,1050/1050ti/1060. Or even lesser of cards. Because that's all they need.

 

Will nvidia continue SLI, damn straight. Why? To keep people like us on these forums interested and engaged. They sell more cards through our (me and all of you) recommendations. And none of us recommend SLI to those who don't need it or will have any fun with it.

 

Last year the 1080 was all that was needed to max out 1080p but as displays are growing and get more pixels. The standard will change, in 5 more years, more and more people will have 4k displays, higher refresh rates. ummmmmm 65" 4K HDR 144HZ. Couch gaming like that is going to be awesome.

 

 The 1080ti can't do it alone. Nor can 2. SLI has always been a small market, always will be. IF a single card works for you great, but for may it does not. As DX12 develops, we all hope they can get multi gpu working, not SLI, but guess what, still means two cards.

 

Last point, there us a few you tube videos out there to watch which support my point (and experience).

This does not apply to all games, but a good many that support SLI.

 

If you SLI 2 cards and run 1080p to try to get 200+fps, you get a damn mess and a ton of micro stutters.

SLI 2 cards at 4K (or more with DSR) for 60-100+fps, works great, butter smooth and limited stutters or jitters that can happen on single cards.

 

Marketing alone wont sell more cards. Nvidia doesn't advertise on TV, Radio or even the super bowl. Its the experience that sells.

 

Just my opinion.

 

Just wanted to add, I haven't purchased NEW hardware since I built my 2008 Q9550 rig. All has been purchased used and 30-50% new price. (including my monitors and vive)

 So it can be DEFIENTLY worth going SLI. I wouldn't purchase 2 new 1070's for SLI. But used is a very different price to performance ratio.

[Ithanul]

12 hours ago, Lathlaer said:

That's what makes it an enthusiast thing ;-) If someone wants a plug-and-play kind of thing then SLI isn't for them. The rewards are there but sometimes you have to work for them.

 

The xx60-xx70ti SLI should be dead. As has been pointed out, instead of going for two mid-level cards, it's usually better to go for just a xx80/xx80ti. SLI should be reserved only for the highest tier cards because it only makes sense for those. Once you reached a ceiling with one card, you can entertain the idea of going for two.

Depends on one's viewpoint.  I have two cards but don't SLI much.  Though, I don't mind tweaking SLI on occasions, as I find it a bit interesting to fool around with it.

 

Though for when I just want to fire up and play a game for fun.  I just turn it off and let one card do the job while the 2nd card can be busy doing something else.  Usually just boils down to what a person wants to put up with or if they want to tinker.