[SOLVED] [9980XE vs 9900K] 16x/16x vs. 8x/8x 2080 Ti NVLink - which is better?

[weyerschristian]

Hey guys,


I took a 13 year break from PC gaming and building. I'm excited to get back into it and am currently planning my new build. Intel's 9900K immediately caught my eye - with a dual 2080 Ti setup (I know that not all games support SLI and the performance gains can vary). However, after reading about CPUs, GPUs and PCIe lanes I'm a little bit worried about the fact that I can only run SLI 8x/8x. I'm aware of Gamers Nexus review on this topic and the small performance difference (2-5%) when running 2080Tis 8x/8x compared to 16x/16x, but wouldn't it be more future proof/wiser to have a 16x/16x configuration? I will be playing all sorts of mainstream AAA titles 1440p widescreen, 4k and VR.



Now I'm currently using a iMac Pro for video editing, rendering (4k) and audio engineering plus my girlfriend uses the iMac for content creation. I was playing around with the idea of selling the iMac and reinvesting the money in a 9980XE setup with dual 2080Tis. It would kinda ease my mind regarding PCIe lanes and I'd appreciate the cleaner look of my workspace with only one machine.



Yes, either way this is going to be expensive, but I want to go all out for once and this investment won't ruin me financially - so money aside: what would be the better choice performance-wise in gaming: 9900K + 2080 T SLI (8x/8x) or 9980XE + 2080 Ti SLI (16x/16x)

 

[shknawe]

Sorry you were looking for an opinion, 9900k will always make you feel like you are being held back. If money is truly no object 9980xe lets you use all the horsepower at hand. If you are just going to game the 9900k is sufficient, but if you are working and gaming the 9980xe is your choice/workhorse.

 

[feelinfroggy777]

Running dual 2080ti's is a complete waste of money for gaming. Forget SLI support, the monitor will be your bottleneck because they dont make a monitor that can push that much graphics power. Get one 2080ti and a 4k/144hz monitor and you will be fine.

If you still want more GPU horsepower, get the new Titan. It will cost about as much as 2 2080ti's and you wont have to worry about SLI support.

As for the CPU, take a look at 2950x. It has 16 cores and 64 PCIe lanes and you can get one for under 1k. It will be great for gaming at 4k and is a great workstation CPU. While I understand it may not ruin you financially, there is still no point in spending money that you dont have to or that will give little to no benefit.

 

[weyerschristian]

Sorry you were looking for an opinion, 9900k will always make you feel like you are being held back. If money is truly no object 9980xe lets you use all the horsepower at hand. If you are just going to game the 9900k is sufficient, but if you are working and gaming the 9980xe is your choice/workhorse.

Thank you for the reply - I was a little bit confused about your initial response tbh. I'm currently leaning towards the 9980XE. I was just wondering if I will ever feel like the 9900K would have served me better gaming-wise. Obviously both have pros and cons, question for me is whether the superior gaming performance of the 9900K outweighs the PCIe lane limitation.

Running dual 2080ti's is a complete waste of money for gaming. Forget SLI support, the monitor will be your bottleneck because they dont make a monitor that can push that much graphics power. Get one 2080ti and a 4k/144hz monitor and you will be fine.

If you still want more GPU horsepower, get the new Titan. It will cost about as much as 2 2080ti's and you wont have to worry about SLI support.

As for the CPU, take a look at 2950x. It has 16 cores and 64 PCIe lanes and you can get one for under 1k. It will be great for gaming at 4k and is a great workstation CPU. While I understand it may not ruin you financially, there is still no point in spending money that you dont have to or that will give little to no benefit.

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I definitely don't want to just burn money, but from the benchmarks I've seen I was under the impression that the 2080 Ti with NVLink scales pretty well. Didn't even know about the RTX Titan yet, but from what little information is available the performance increase is expected to be less than 2x 2080 Ti, right? On the other hand I wouldn't have to worry about PCIe lanes.

Regarding CPU: didn't bother to look at AMD processors tbh, but I will read up on the 2950X. Thanks again.

 

[xxxlun4icexxx]

Sorry you were looking for an opinion, 9900k will always make you feel like you are being held back. If money is truly no object 9980xe lets you use all the horsepower at hand. If you are just going to game the 9900k is sufficient, but if you are working and gaming the 9980xe is your choice/workhorse.

Thank you for the reply - I was a little bit confused about your initial response tbh. I'm currently leaning towards the 9980XE. I was just wondering if I will ever feel like the 9900K would have served me better gaming-wise. Obviously both have pros and cons, question for me is whether the superior gaming performance of the 9900K outweighs the PCIe lane limitation.

Running dual 2080ti's is a complete waste of money for gaming. Forget SLI support, the monitor will be your bottleneck because they dont make a monitor that can push that much graphics power. Get one 2080ti and a 4k/144hz monitor and you will be fine.

If you still want more GPU horsepower, get the new Titan. It will cost about as much as 2 2080ti's and you wont have to worry about SLI support.

As for the CPU, take a look at 2950x. It has 16 cores and 64 PCIe lanes and you can get one for under 1k. It will be great for gaming at 4k and is a great workstation CPU. While I understand it may not ruin you financially, there is still no point in spending money that you dont have to or that will give little to no benefit.

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I definitely don't want to just burn money, but from the benchmarks I've seen I was under the impression that the 2080 Ti with NVLink scales pretty well. Didn't even know about the RTX Titan yet, but from what little information is available the performance increase is expected to be less than 2x 2080 Ti, right? On the other hand I wouldn't have to worry about PCIe lanes.

Regarding CPU: didn't bother to look at AMD processors tbh, but I will read up on the 2950X. Thanks again.

2x 2080tis would only make sense if you have a 4k 144hz monitor. 1 2080ti on a widscreen
(3440x1440) will push 144fps all day and on a 60hz 4k monitor probably 60-90fps depending on the game (not sacrificing eye candy).

The scaling all depends on the game. Games like BF and COD generally have pretty decent SLI scaling but some games have none at all so it's really up to what you are going to play.

As far as the cpus go, the 9900k is a beast and will push all your gaming needs along with some productivty. In gaming you won't see a difference between these 2 cpus unless you had like a 1080p monitor as the core speed of the 9900k would push a few extra fps. But if you really want all those cores and rendering power, you'll have to determine if all that extra money is worth it for the 9980xe. 9900k + 2 2080tis is currently the best possible gaming system you can have and will also run you the same price as a down payment for a car lol.

I wouldn't go for the titan. It's way more $$ for barely any performance gain. I don't think that card is intended for gamers.

 

[weyerschristian]

2x 2080tis would only make sense if you have a 4k 144hz monitor. 1 2080ti on a widscreen
(3440x1440) will push 144fps all day and on a 60hz 4k monitor probably 60-90fps depending on the game (not sacrificing eye candy).

The scaling all depends on the game. Games like BF and COD generally have pretty decent SLI scaling but some games have none at all so it's really up to what you are going to play.

As far as the cpus go, the 9900k is a beast and will push all your gaming needs along with some productivty. In gaming you won't see a difference between these 2 cpus unless you had like a 1080p monitor as the core speed of the 9900k would push a few extra fps. But if you really want all those cores and rendering power, you'll have to see if all that extra money is worth it for the 9980xe.

I wouldn't go for the titan. It's way more $$ for barely any performance gain. I don't think that card is for gamers.

Yeah, I'm not actually considering the RTX Titan, I was just amazed that there is an even better card than the Ti - didn't know about the Titan-Series at all.

Thanks for your input, I'm going to play pretty much most of the recent and upcoming AAA titles (Far Cry 5, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Anthem, Division 2 etc.).
Decision is definitely going to be between 9900K and 9980XE. Even if I pass on the second graphics card for now and upgrade later I'm worried about the 8x/8x limitation of the 9900K, which is why I leaning towards the 9980XE. At the moment the performance difference between 16x/16x and 8x/8x seems to be 2-5%, but who knows how upcoming games will perform. 9900K seems to be the obvious choice for gaming though.
I feel more "future-proof" (I know this term is somewhat misleading) with the 9980XE, but most people say that it's much worse for gaming than the 9900K. Don't want to end up with an extremely powerful CPU for my work and having issues with games (or in 1-2 years).

 

[weyerschristian]

I just came across this page: https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/2263?vs=2297

Apparently the performance difference reduces with increase in resolution. As I'm gaming on a 3440 x 1440 ultra-wide minimum I feel like the 9980XE would be the better choice. At those resolutions I expect the 16x/16x configuration to pay off also (compared to 8x/8x) which would leave me with a nearly identical performance as the 9900K, right?

 

[xxxlun4icexxx]

Yeah I mean your gaming performance will not see a difference. Like I said、 in an unbalanced setup is really the only time you'll see a benefit with the 9900k. But it saves you money. If you need the productivity power and have the money、 the 9980xe is for you. But you wont see a noticeable difference in sli scaling between the two platforms. Theres just so many other variables that youd have to deal with before you see the 8x/8x as your main issue.

Edit: and also just a side note、 if you're going 3440x1440 one 2080ti is sufficient. I'd honestly just get 1 and then upgrade when nvidia releases a newer card. It's not worth an extra 1400、 otherwise I'd have another lol

 

[weyerschristian]

Yeah I mean your gaming performance will not see a difference. Like I said、 in an unbalanced setup is really the only time you'll see a benefit with the 9900k. But it saves you money. If you need the productivity power and have the money、 the 9980xe is for you. But you wont see a noticeable difference in sli scaling between the two platforms. Theres just so many other variables that youd have to deal with before you see the 8x/8x as your main issue.

Edit: and also just a side note、 if you're going 3440x1440 one 2080ti is sufficient. I'd honestly just get 1 and then upgrade when nvidia releases a newer card. It's not worth an extra 1400、 otherwise I'd have another lol

Oh, games like Far Cry, Tom Raider, Destiny 2, Anthem etc. will definitely be played on 4k, but for online FPS I'm using the widescreen.

Thank you so much for your replies, I really appreciate it!

 

[feelinfroggy777]

Yeah I mean your gaming performance will not see a difference. Like I said、 in an unbalanced setup is really the only time you'll see a benefit with the 9900k. But it saves you money. If you need the productivity power and have the money、 the 9980xe is for you. But you wont see a noticeable difference in sli scaling between the two platforms. Theres just so many other variables that youd have to deal with before you see the 8x/8x as your main issue.

Edit: and also just a side note、 if you're going 3440x1440 one 2080ti is sufficient. I'd honestly just get 1 and then upgrade when nvidia releases a newer card. It's not worth an extra 1400、 otherwise I'd have another lol

Oh, games like Far Cry, Tom Raider, Destiny 2, Anthem etc. will definitely be played on 4k, but for online FPS I'm using the widescreen.

Thank you so much for your replies, I really appreciate it!

You should really read this before you spend 3k on a SLI setup.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/newresponse/3847302

Take note to the part that shows of the 23 games tested, 11 had negative or no scaling. So half of the AAA games wont scale with SLI. Considering you going to use a 3440x1440p for online fps, you will even limit the use of the second GPU even more.

Do what you want, but take it from someone that ran 1080ti in SLI, it is not worth it. I found that more often than not I had SLI turned off. I would forget which games supported it and which did not, so I would forget to enable it on games that could use it. It became a complete waste. So I threw my other card into a different system.

If you want the best, go with the Titan for $2500.

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/titan/titan-rtx/?nvid=nv-int-ndtnrx-66563

The Titan and a 9900k will run you about $3k. A 9980e and 2 2080ti will run you $4.5k. The Titan will be about 20-30% faster than the 2080ti. So in the handful of games that scale and that you will play at 4k/144hz, 2080ti SLI will 20% better fps. Is the 1.5k difference worth an extra 20% better fps in a handful of games?

 

[weyerschristian]

You should really read this before you spend 3k on a SLI setup.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/newresponse/3847302

Take note to the part that shows of the 23 games tested, 11 had negative or no scaling. So half of the AAA games wont scale with SLI. Considering you going to use a 3440x1440p for online fps, you will even limit the use of the second GPU even more.

Do what you want, but take it from someone that ran 1080ti in SLI, it is not worth it. I found that more often than not I had SLI turned off. I would forget which games supported it and which did not, so I would forget to enable it on games that could use it. It became a complete waste. So I threw my other card into a different system.

If you want the best, go with the Titan for $2500.

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/titan/titan-rtx/?nvid=nv-int-ndtnrx-66563

The Titan and a 9900k will run you about $3k. A 9980e and 2 2080ti will run you $4.5k. The Titan will be about 20-30% faster than the 2080ti. So in the handful of games that scale and that you will play at 4k/144hz, 2080ti SLI will 20% better fps. Is the 1.5k difference worth an extra 20% better fps in a handful of games?

Thanks for the input - unfortunately the first link only redirects me to this thread.

 

[feelinfroggy777]

You should really read this before you spend 3k on a SLI setup.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/newresponse/3847302

Take note to the part that shows of the 23 games tested, 11 had negative or no scaling. So half of the AAA games wont scale with SLI. Considering you going to use a 3440x1440p for online fps, you will even limit the use of the second GPU even more.

Do what you want, but take it from someone that ran 1080ti in SLI, it is not worth it. I found that more often than not I had SLI turned off. I would forget which games supported it and which did not, so I would forget to enable it on games that could use it. It became a complete waste. So I threw my other card into a different system.

If you want the best, go with the Titan for $2500.

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/titan/titan-rtx/?nvid=nv-int-ndtnrx-66563

The Titan and a 9900k will run you about $3k. A 9980e and 2 2080ti will run you $4.5k. The Titan will be about 20-30% faster than the 2080ti. So in the handful of games that scale and that you will play at 4k/144hz, 2080ti SLI will 20% better fps. Is the 1.5k difference worth an extra 20% better fps in a handful of games?

Thanks for the input - unfortunately the first link only redirects me to this thread.

Sorry about that, I copied the wrong link. Here you go.

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_RTX_2080_Ti_SLI_RTX_2080_SLI_NVLink/

 

[shknawe]

Sorry you were looking for an opinion, 9900k will always make you feel like you are being held back. If money is truly no object 9980xe lets you use all the horsepower at hand. If you are just going to game the 9900k is sufficient, but if you are working and gaming the 9980xe is your choice/workhorse.

Thank you for the reply - I was a little bit confused about your initial response tbh. I'm currently leaning towards the 9980XE. I was just wondering if I will ever feel like the 9900K would have served me better gaming-wise. Obviously both have pros and cons, question for me is whether the superior gaming performance of the 9900K outweighs the PCIe lane limitation.

Running dual 2080ti's is a complete waste of money for gaming. Forget SLI support, the monitor will be your bottleneck because they dont make a monitor that can push that much graphics power. Get one 2080ti and a 4k/144hz monitor and you will be fine.

If you still want more GPU horsepower, get the new Titan. It will cost about as much as 2 2080ti's and you wont have to worry about SLI support.

As for the CPU, take a look at 2950x. It has 16 cores and 64 PCIe lanes and you can get one for under 1k. It will be great for gaming at 4k and is a great workstation CPU. While I understand it may not ruin you financially, there is still no point in spending money that you dont have to or that will give little to no benefit.

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I definitely don't want to just burn money, but from the benchmarks I've seen I was under the impression that the 2080 Ti with NVLink scales pretty well. Didn't even know about the RTX Titan yet, but from what little information is available the performance increase is expected to be less than 2x 2080 Ti, right? On the other hand I wouldn't have to worry about PCIe lanes.

Regarding CPU: didn't bother to look at AMD processors tbh, but I will read up on the 2950X. Thanks again.

In gaming only the 9900k is even with the 9980xe. So neither one is the advantage. But the 9980xe allows you to run sli at 16x/16x and there is your advantage in gaming.

 

[weyerschristian]

In gaming only the 9900k is even with the 9980xe. So neither one is the advantage. But the 9980xe allows you to run sli at 16x/16x and there is your advantage in gaming.

If that was the case I would have absolutely no problem deciding which to go for. However benchmarks paint a different picture.

 

[xxxlun4icexxx]

In gaming only the 9900k is even with the 9980xe. So neither one is the advantage. But the 9980xe allows you to run sli at 16x/16x and there is your advantage in gaming.

If that was the case I would have absolutely no problem deciding which to go for. However benchmarks paint a different picture.

What benchmarks?

Neither are going to hold you back.

The maximum refresh rate you are looking to achieve is 144fps if you have a 144hz 4k monitor, or 120 if you have a 120hz ultra wide.

Both of these processors will be able to achieve those desired results above and beyond any other current cpu, so it makes no difference which you get. I mean I know you are looking at benchmarks but you really are not going to see a difference unless you play on a 1080p 300hz monitor. Your're splitting hairs. The SLI issue really makes minimal difference either.

The only thing you should really be thinking is about your needs outside of gaming. Do I need a 9980xe to do my rendering/other work, and is it worth the premium? Once you answer that question, there's what you should go with. I guarantee you're not going to pop in 2 2080tis in SLI and be upset you have a 9900k because of 8x/8x pci-e lanes.

You're going to:
#1 be mad because you bought 2 3rd party ones that take up 2.5 slots and wonder why there is only 1mm of space between them.

#2 get them plugged in and working and notice that the bottom card is running at 90C and throttling the other and start coming up with crazy solutions to get extra fans and get airflow in-between them.

#3 Wonder why you're not getting any fps benefits in most games.

#4 Wonder why you're getting micro-stuttering in a lot of games

#5 get fed up and sell 1 of the cards on ebay and regret buying it

lol, I have been down the sli road so many times (2 card, 3 card, 4 card) and each time I ended up with the same result.

Edit: Alternate Idea -
You could scrap the 9980xe idea, get your 2 2080tis or Titan or w/e and then get a 144hz 4k monitor with the $$ saved from not getting the 9980xe. That way at least your monitor isn't bottlenecking the monster build. A 60hz one would (unless of course you already have one).

 

[weyerschristian]

In gaming only the 9900k is even with the 9980xe. So neither one is the advantage. But the 9980xe allows you to run sli at 16x/16x and there is your advantage in gaming.

If that was the case I would have absolutely no problem deciding which to go for. However benchmarks paint a different picture.

What benchmarks?

Neither are going to hold you back.

The maximum refresh rate you are looking to achieve is 144fps if you have a 144hz 4k monitor, or 120 if you have a 120hz ultra wide.

Both of these processors will be able to achieve those desired results above and beyond any other current cpu, so it makes no difference which you get. I mean I know you are looking at benchmarks but you really are not going to see a difference unless you play on a 1080p 300hz monitor. Your're splitting hairs. The SLI issue really makes minimal difference either.

The only thing you should really be thinking is about your needs outside of gaming. Do I need a 9980xe to do my rendering/other work, and is it worth the premium? Once you answer that question, there's what you should go with. I guarantee you're not going to pop in 2 2080tis in SLI and be upset you have a 9900k because of 8x/8x pci-e lanes.

You're going to:
#1 be mad because you bought 2 3rd party ones that take up 2.5 slots and wonder why there is only 1mm of space between them.

#2 get them plugged in and working and notice that the bottom card is running at 90C and throttling the other and start coming up with crazy solutions to get extra fans and get airflow in-between them.

#3 Wonder why you're not getting any fps benefits in most games.

#4 Wonder why you're getting micro-stuttering in a lot of games

#5 get fed up and sell 1 of the cards on ebay and regret buying it

lol, I have been down the sli road so many times (2 card, 3 card, 4 card) and each time I ended up with the same result.

Edit: Alternate Idea -
You could scrap the 9980xe idea, get your 2 2080tis or Titan or w/e and then get a 144hz 4k monitor with the $$ saved from not getting the 9980xe. That way at least your monitor isn't bottlenecking the monster build. A 60hz one would (unless of course you already have one).

Thank you, I really appreciate this answer! You're right and I'm actually thinking about a custom loop including the GPUs - especially with the 9900K since it's just a 3 slot spacing and not 4 slots like x299. I do have capable monitors, but I could use the cash for the Asus PG35QV (if that thing ever releases...).

I guess I'll have to figure out whether the premium price is worth it to get the 9980XE for the ease of mind regarding my SLI 8x/8x fear and benefits when working or if I should trust those SLI PCie scaling benchmarks and go for the 9900K.