Is a 2x 1080ti SLI set up "worth it" ? - And - Best performing 1080ti available? Or do I go RTX 2080?

[hazeyez]

I am planning my next build and I'm seriously torn. I would love to have a sick custom-looped rig with dual 1080ti - SLI, who wouldn't? But I am reading so many articles, posts, blogs, threads stating that it's just really not worth it.

 

To be fair, a lot of the stuff I am reading is from 2014-2016, maybe earlier. I'd have to imagine that SLI has come a long way since then, no?

 

My main goal is to just game and stream AND ALSO GET GOOD FPS @ 1440 or 4K. I have read Geforce's SLI game-compatibility listing site - and to be honest, I'm quite surprised at how many current titles are missing - especially for games like PUBG and Fortnite.

 

I've also read all of the pros & cons (including the stickied thread on this forum) and if I had to guess, I would probably say I'm better off not even bothering with it?

 

BUT! - I am hear to just get your opinions... so please, do share!

 

You see my current rig in my signature - and I'm getting 100+ FPS on epic/ultra settings which is actually quite surprising. As for my GTX 1060 6gb, in turbo it claims to run at 1809 Mhz, and I do see it run at well over 1700+ Mhz most of the time.

 

That being said, what's the point really in upgrading? More VRAM? More CUDA cores? a regular GTX 1080 with just +2 VRAM I don't think is worth it.

 

As stated above, I would love to have a dual 1080ti - SLI - custom cooled loop, for the shear sexiness factor, right? Who wouldn't?

 

But if I don't go that route, then what? 

 

Single GTX 1080ti - is what I'm thinking, if people tell me SLI isn't really worth it. 

 

A 1080ti is much better than a 1060 6gb, no?

 

But then I wonder... what about the new RTX 2080 ? 2080ti ? - I've heard so many mixed reviews, and mostly bad reviews at that - My aim is to build a realy top of the line, current rig when the i9-9900k launches, in the new Phanteks Evolv X.... wouldn't I want to have the most current gpu with the RTX 2080/2080ti ? 

 

Or again, are they not "worth it" if most games dont even utilize ray-tracing and am I better off just sticking with the good ol' 1080ti ?

 

And which 1080ti? (I love ASUS)!!!!! 

[dizmo]

I haven't seen any 20 series reviews, so nothing you're reading is really relevant.

SLI hasn't really done much of anything, and it's falling out with most developers. You're better off getting a single card.

If you have the money, the 2080Ti is likely going to be the best card you can get.

[Frankenburger]

21 minutes ago, hazeyez said:

To be fair, a lot of the stuff I am reading is from 2014-2016, maybe earlier. I'd have to imagine that SLI has come a long way since then, no?

SLI has definitely come a long way since then. Most of the problem around the 2016 era is developers were putting out new engines with new rendering techniques that Nvidia was still trying to wrap their heads around. Fast forward to today, and you'll find that even things like TAA (which would destroy SLI scaling) is a non issue.

 

21 minutes ago, hazeyez said:

I've also read all of the pros & cons (including the stickied thread on this forum) and if I had to guess, I would probably say I'm better off not even bothering with it?

Depends on the games you play and if you're willing to tweak your drivers to get the most out of SLI.

 

21 minutes ago, hazeyez said:

and to be honest, I'm quite surprised at how many current titles are missing - especially for games like PUBG and Fortnite.

I can't vouch for Fortnite, but PUBG works flawlessly with SLI using the 0x080000F1 SLI bits.

 

21 minutes ago, hazeyez said:

That being said, what's the point really in upgrading? More VRAM? More CUDA cores? a regular GTX 1080 with just +2 VRAM I don't think is worth it.

SLI is more about pushing your resolution than your FPS. The thing many people tend to forget is the higher your FPS, the more likely you'll see a CPU bottleneck. If you play games below 4k with SLI 1080Ti's, you won't get good scaling. SLI starts scaling decently well with them at 4k or higher. IMHO, the optimal resolution for SLI 1080Ti's is 5k.

 

21 minutes ago, hazeyez said:

A 1080ti is much better than a 1060 6gb, no?

A 1080Ti is about double a 1060 6GB in raw FPS.

 

21 minutes ago, hazeyez said:

But then I wonder... what about the new RTX 2080 ? 2080ti ?

As always, wait for 3rd party reviews. However, Nvidia has released slides showing the 2080 being about 10-15% faster than a 1080Ti, and a 2080Ti being about 50% faster. If true, then SLI 1080Ti will be faster than a single 2080Ti given the game you're playing is SLI compatible.

 

21 minutes ago, hazeyez said:

Or again, are they not "worth it" if most games dont even utilize ray-tracing and am I better off just sticking with the good ol' 1080ti ?

 

Worth is subjective, regardless if you're looking at a 2080Ti or SLI 1080Ti. Both options are a terrible financial value IMO. The real question is how do you plan on leveraging such a high end system?

[Enderman]

Save up and buy a single powerful GPU.

Wait until 2080/ti benchmarks come out and then decide if you will get a current gen or old gen card.

 

 

16 minutes ago, Frankenburger said:

SLI has definitely come a long way since then. Most of the problem around the 2016 era is developers were putting out new engines with new rendering techniques that Nvidia was still trying to wrap their heads around. Fast forward to today, and you'll find that even things like TAA (which would destroy SLI scaling) is a non issue.

SLI is being phased out.

Not only have developers been dropping support on anything other than triple A titles, nvidia has also been removing it from their GPUs.

As Linus always says, it is better to buy a better single GPU.

[Frankenburger]

7 minutes ago, Enderman said:

SLI is being phased out.

Not only have developers been dropping support on anything other than triple A titles, nvidia has also been removing it from their GPUs.

Phased out in the sense of being evolved into NVLink with RTX

Also, you'd be wrong with your assumption. Shadow of the Tomb Raider and CoD BLOPS 4 both have day 1 compatibility. The most recent AAA game I can think of that isn't compatible is Monster Hunter World, and that's only because Nvidia didn't fully test MHW with their game ready drivers. Other than that, it's been pretty solid over the last year, especially if you utilize the resources available to you (which honestly, you should be doing for any enthusiast setup).

[Enderman]

2 minutes ago, Frankenburger said:

Phased out in the sense of being evolved into NVLink with RTX

Also, you'd be wrong with your assumption. Shadow of the Tomb Raider and CoD BLOPS 4 both have day 1 compatibility. The most recent AAA game I can think of that isn't compatible is Monster Hunter World, and that's only because Nvidia didn't fully test MHW with their game ready drivers. Other than that, it's been pretty solid over the last year, especially if you utilize the resources available to you (which honestly, you should be doing for any enthusiast setup).

In the past you could SLI almost every card.

On the 900 series only 960 and above.

On the 1000 series only 1070 and above.

On the new 2000 series only 2080 and 2080ti.

Nvidia also disabled any SLI/nvlink on the titan V.

[Frankenburger]

6 minutes ago, Enderman said:

In the past you could SLI almost every card.

On the 900 series only 960 and above.

On the 1000 series only 1070 and above.

On the new 2000 series only 2080 and 2080ti.

Nvidia also disabled any SLI/nvlink on the titan V.

There's a reason for all of that, and it's less of a conspiracy than you make it out to be. Nvidia is restricting SLI on gaming grade cards purely for maximizing profit margins. The Titan V didn't have NVLink because it was meant for deep learning, not rendering. Why do you think the Quadro RTX has NVLink?

[Enderman]

1 minute ago, Frankenburger said:

There's a reason for all of that, and it's less of a conspiracy than you make it out to be. Nvidia is restricting SLI on gaming grade cards purely for maximizing profit margins. The Titan V didn't have NVLink because it was meant for deep learning, not rendering. Why do you think the Quadro RTX has NVLink?

Nvlink is being developed mostly for server and workstation applications.

Multi-GPU is still an important thing for workstations and servers.

For gaming and consumer it is being phased out, until it eventually becomes what dual-CPU systems did, for workstations and servers only.

 

The 1060 and 1070 are just as "gaming grade" as a 1080.

They aren't maximizing profits, they are phasing it out because multi-GPU is pretty crap and only works on like 1% of games.

[Frankenburger]

3 minutes ago, Enderman said:

They aren't maximizing profits, they are phasing it out because multi-GPU is pretty crap and only works on like 1% of games.

You're welcome to your opinion, but you're wrong

You're literally trying to argue semantics with someone who's been using a SLI rig as their daily driver for over 4 years now. Also, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that Nvidia's marketing strategy is derived mostly from the fact there's no competition coming from AMD's camp.

 

Think about it for a minute. With the push for ray tracing, 4k 144hz, 5k, and 8k, there's a clearly defined need for multi GPU systems. Why would they axe SLI or NVLink from the consumer market if companies are releasing products that essentially require multi GPU systems to be viable?

[Enderman]

2 minutes ago, Frankenburger said:

You're welcome to your opinion, but you're wrong

You're literally trying to argue semantics with someone who's been using a SLI rig as their daily driver for over 4 years now. Also, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that Nvidia's marketing strategy is derived mostly from the fact there's no competition coming from AMD's camp.

 

Think about it for a minute. With the push for ray tracing, 4k 144hz, 5k, and 8k, there's a clearly defined need for multi GPU systems. Why would they axe SLI or NVLink from the consumer market if companies are releasing products that essentially require multi GPU systems to be viable?

First of all, nobody is gaming at 8k.

 

Second, the amount of people using 4k 144hz is like 1 in 10 million.

 

Third, even a person who wants to run 4k 144hz would not use low end GPUs like a 1070 or 1060 in SLI, they would buy a single better GPU. Nvidia is removing a useless feature from lower end cards.

 

Fourth, nvidia has not axed SLI, they are slowly phasing it out. You can literally look at the cards of each generation and see how they are reducing further and further the cards that support it, as I wrote in my previous post. You're basically arguing against facts that have already happened.

 

Fifth, since it is always better to buy a single GPU over two lower end ones, nvidia MIGHT stop at the xx80ti cards, which would make sense because at that point the only way to get higher performance is to add a second card since there isn't really a more powerful card (unless you start considering titans) however I would not be surprised if they eventually removed it from the 80 and 80ti too.

 

Sixth, claiming someone else's opinion is wrong just because you think yours is correct is a logical fallacy. I already proved to you that nvidia has removed multi-GPU slowly from all the lower end cards below the 80 and 80ti. This is a fact, not an opinion.

[Frankenburger]

Just now, Enderman said:

*snip*

You seem to have the impression that SLI is for the mainstream user. Pro tip, it's not. It exists for people looking to push boundaries, and is clearly a niche product. Just like with any niche product, it has issues. Just because SLI doesn't suit your needs doesn't mean it can't suit the needs of others.

[Enderman]

1 minute ago, Frankenburger said:

You seem to have the impression that SLI is for the mainstream user. Pro tip, it's not. It exists for people looking to push boundaries, and is clearly a niche product. Just like with any niche product, it has issues. Just because SLI doesn't suit your needs doesn't mean it can't suit the needs of others.

It doesn't matter what my "impression" is.

Who cares if it suits my needs or not.

My point is nvidia has been removing it from their cards, and that is a fact, which you seem to have trouble comprehending.

 

Try reading this again, maybe it will help you understand the pattern.

Quote

multi-GPU:

On the 900 series only 960 and above.

On the 1000 series only 1070 and above.

On the new 2000 series only 2080 and above.

No SLI/nvlink on the titan V (All older titans had SLI).

 

[Frankenburger]

1 minute ago, Enderman said:

My point is nvidia has been removing it from their cards

Which is a moot point that serves no purpose for the current topic at hand. Right now, OP is asking for advice, not conspiracy theories. If you want to discuss conspiracy theories about SLI, feel free to make a new thread rather than derailing this one.

[Enderman]

4 minutes ago, Frankenburger said:

Which is a moot point that serves no purpose for the current topic at hand. Right now, OP is asking for advice, not conspiracy theories. If you want to discuss conspiracy theories about SLI, feel free to make a new thread rather than derailing this one.

Doesn't change the fact that multi-GPU is crap, has a ton of down sides and problems, and it's always a better option to buy a single more powerful GPU (which in this case is definitely possible)

 

Wow!

It's almost like nvidia is phasing it out for a good reason!

[Frankenburger]

Just now, Enderman said:

Doesn't change the fact that multi-GPU is crap, has a ton of down sides and problems

Good luck getting a solid 4k 60 FPS experience at respectable settings in AAA games with a single GPU  

 

Like I mentioned before, every niche product has issues. 4k has issues. 144hz has issues. Ultrawide has issues. Surround video has issues. HDR has issues. VR has issues. All you're doing is parroting hearsay with no personal experience about the subject at hand. Who do you think has the more valuable insight - a non SLI user that goes by word of mouth, or a long time SLI user?

[Enderman]

2 minutes ago, Frankenburger said:

Good luck getting a solid 4k 60 FPS experience at respectable settings in AAA games with a single GPU  

 

Like I mentioned before, every niche product has issues. 4k has issues. 144hz has issues. Ultrawide has issues. Surround video has issues. HDR has issues. VR has issues. All you're doing is parroting hearsay with no personal experience about the subject at hand. Who do you think has the more valuable insight - a non SLI user that goes by word of mouth, or a long time SLI user?

 

 

 

 

[xg32]

Assuming OP isn't gonna get 2080 ti, stick with a single card, if you are gonna get 2 1080 ti, get 1 2080 ti instead, if you wanna get sli, it's only if you wanna push past 1 2080 ti, therefore, get 2 2080 tis. if that's out of budget, stick with single card instead. for 99% of people SLI is not worth, from someone who went from SLI back to single card.

1 hour ago, hazeyez said:

.

 

[airdeano]

ok, enough is enough.. put this arguement somewhere else, but not on this forum..

[TahoeDust]

I've done it all.

 

The best single card you can afford (ie, 2080ti), is always the best answer.