2 GTX 950s vs 1 970. Which wins?

[rcald2000]

2 x 950 in SLI versus a single GTX 970.

 

[ak47jar3d]

Gtx 970 wins easily.

 

[renz496]

970....most of the time.

 

[rcald2000]

Anyone have any numbers to support that argument? I've been Googling performance reviews, etc, but so far I haven't found anything that compares the FPS of 2 x 950's in SLI versus 1 GTX 970.

 

[sammy sung]

I'd imagine the configurations would trade blows depending on how well each individual game scales. That's at 1080p of course.

 

[gokitty199]

for long term/less heat/support for titles that dont support sli, grab a single card so 970. also the 950's can be limited depending on the amount of vram the game uses

 

[Quixit]

Anyone have any numbers to support that argument? I've been Googling performance reviews, etc, but so far I haven't found anything that compares the FPS of 2 x 950's in SLI versus 1 GTX 970.

That's because it's a bad idea. There is no reason to buy 2x 950s instead of 1 970.

 

[rcald2000]

Ah, but there is my friend. I setup my personal workstation (signature below) with two virtual machines inside of it. Both VMs are connected to two independent monitors, keyboards and mice. But they share the CPU, RAM, and storage. I am setting up something similar for my mom's place, so that two people can game simultaneously. Since GPU's apparently can't be abstracted, I need to have two separate cards. So the machine will be dual boot. One will be Windows running off the physical box with both 950's in SLI, the other will be both VM's running with two independent 950's running. So the physical box will have two 950's and the two VMs will have one 950 each

 

[icsta]

Interesting video. In some cases the 950's are even with the 970 and in others the 950's beat the 970 by 10-15%.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRRet4Yh-Jg

 

[renz496]

I haven't seen the result for 950 SLI but 960 sli is actually can be faster than 970. But the thing is SLI depends a lot on scaling. And in some games there is SLI specific issue. So if you wan less hassle experience 970 is the way to go. Then we see as of late multi gpu support are late even for triple A games. Other games they simply did not support multi gpu be it because of developer decision (like batman AK) or because of the game engine itself (like what happen in just cause 3).

 

[SkyMembrane]

Having cards in SLI means more trouble in general. It generates more heat, as there is less space for air to circulate in the case, it requires specific drivers to be used in games, poor compatibility can create unwanted artifacts and other annoying things on your display. Considering that if you're lucky with the silicon lottery, an overclocked GTX970 can have performances that almost match those of a stock GTX980 and that you would pay a very similar price for both, I'd go for a 970 without hesitation.

 

[SkyMembrane]

If you want numbers, I tested my OC'd EVGA GTX 970 SC ACX2.0 on the userbenchmark test and I got 96.4% of the performance from the reference stock 980 that they used for the comparison. If someone else has a 970 and wants to compare, here's the link :

http://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/678838

 

[wh3resmycar]

if you can get 2 950's for less than a single gtx970 then go ahead. 2 950's boosting to 1500mhz core should overtake a single gtx970 @ 1080p.

 

[gokitty199]

if you can get 2 950's for less than a single gtx970 then go ahead. 2 950's boosting to 1500mhz core should overtake a single gtx970 @ 1080p.

im not sure you realize all the other drawbacks of running with 2 cards instead of 1. thats a bad idea, definitely since he can afford a single 970

 

[Gam3r01]

Anyone have any numbers to support that argument? I've been Googling performance reviews, etc, but so far I haven't found anything that compares the FPS of 2 x 950's in SLI versus 1 GTX 970.

This is the closest I have, 960SLI (Given the 950 is about 15% less powerful than a 960) vs 970, even then the 970 is a better choice: https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_960_SLI/23.html
I know im a few days late here, but I figure it needs to be said.

 

[Vellinious]

Here ya go. The highest score available from 2 x 950s in Firestrike, vs, my single 970 score. This, in firestrike, that has nearly PERFECT SLI scaling. In games? This wouldn't even be a contest.

http://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/7259929/fs/6557355

 

[wh3resmycar]

if you can get 2 950's for less than a single gtx970 then go ahead. 2 950's boosting to 1500mhz core should overtake a single gtx970 @ 1080p.

im not sure you realize all the other drawbacks of running with 2 cards instead of 1. thats a bad idea, definitely since he can afford a single 970

its not all cons you know. there are benefits to it as well. adaptive vsync solves most of the microstuttering issued.

 

[gokitty199]

if you can get 2 950's for less than a single gtx970 then go ahead. 2 950's boosting to 1500mhz core should overtake a single gtx970 @ 1080p.

im not sure you realize all the other drawbacks of running with 2 cards instead of 1. thats a bad idea, definitely since he can afford a single 970

its not all cons you know. there are benefits to it as well. adaptive vsync solves most of the microstuttering issued.

and its not all better you know. you have the issues in games that dont use SLI, or have very poor SLI scaling which is hit and miss with alot of games including older titles that cant use multiple gpu's. the cards trade blows at 1080p, not to mention that the 950's are limited to 2gb of vram while the 970 has 4 so he wont be limited with high res textures while using a single 970. really there is just no point to going with 2 950's over a 970 period.