Dual GTX 970 SLI or Single GTX 980

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rleulink

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2 x GTX 970 = 1 GTX 980 + a little. Should I pay a little extra cash to get dual GTX 970 or stick with single GTX 980? Assume power consumption is not my concern.
 

sla70r

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rleulink

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Thank all - I will either go with GTX970 or Dual GTX970 SLI.
@sla70r - thank for the SLI benchmark. I could not find any comparison between GTX 970 SLI vs others. They are only single card reviews.
 

solomyn

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I'm in the same boat. Since I purchased my 780 (which at the time I thought was going to be overkill), I have found the wonders of 3D gaming. I'm still just playing at 1080, but the extra FPS can certainly be used in getting the games closer to the magic 60 FPS (and possibly with settings on high!) in 3D.

Gotta love the new options from NVidia...
 

Daniel Combs

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.... Um.... Nuh ugh... Gtx 970 sli is very close to the r9 295x2... The 980 is a very good single card.... But only about 5-10% more "powerful" than a 780 ti
 

tuvok

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in theory yes, however SLI on 970s are unstable right now at stock voltage and very unstable with even minor over clocking due to massive bug. I know, its what I roll and im about the put the 970s cards on ebay if I cannot get a refund. Sadly even setting manual voltages boost dosn't always work either and once you get a driver crash, a restart is needed to manually set the voltage again. Very annoying.
BTW each card is 100% stable with boost clock of 1400mhz and in SLI, so I know I have 2 good cards. The voltage dip is 0.1-0.12volts, this is more than you can boost in the software, so perfect stability is impossible.

Gone back to my 660ti SLI for now, while I consider which single 980 card to go far.

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/777448/-major-issue-sli-gtx-970-cards-one-card-runs-way-lower-voltage-than-the-other-driver-bug-/




 

sla70r

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My Sli 970`s work fine on every game that allows SLI.
 

Borge80

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SLI sucks on watch dogs. Crazy amounts of stutter especially when driving fast and FPS dips into the 40's and 50's same with one gtx 970. I notice that when I'm in a smoother spot I can see the fps difference but once you start driving and running/shooting it really isn't a difference, it's actually worse. One 970 ends up being a better experience.

Just remember if you buy SLI that not all games will support or benefit from it. Then again as time goes on I'm sure more software will be SLI compatible with these high end cards. Future proofing :)
 

Blastoise24

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I'd prob. go with Dual SLI with the 970s'
 

Borge80

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rleulink said:
2 x GTX 970 = 1 GTX 980 + a little. Should I pay a little extra cash to get dual GTX 970 or stick with single GTX 980? Assume power consumption is not my concern.


2x gtx 970 is much more than 1 980 + a little. One overclocked 970 in the 1500mhz range rivals the 980's stock speed. 2x overclocked 970's in the 1500mhz range blows the 980 out of the water. All console ported games will suck ass with SLI or not be supported at all (The Evil Within, Watch Dogs, etc) Games that are very optimized will give you 80-85% more power almost doubling your frame rate, but this is rare. On the heaven 4.0 extreme benchmark with one 970 there's one spot I get 47 fps with one card and 85-90 with sli in the same spot. Another spot I get 117 with one, and then 170-180 with 2. Last spot 138 with 1, then 212 with 2.

The problem with SLI is that to get the most out of it you need to play a well optimized and SLI supported PC game, which are becoming more limited.
 

chenw

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I have SLI'ed 970, the way I worked around the GPU voltage discrepancy was OC the card with higher voltage by 30MHz higher than the card with lower Voltage (nVidia inspector lets you OC each card individually, I could only get Afterburner to OC the cards together). the voltage difference closes from about 0.1 to 0.02v, and runs pretty stable for the most part.
 

shadowdios

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The OP last reply was sept 22. He probably already brought the gtx 970 sli. This topic should have been mark solved.

But for those who still hasn't decide between 970 sli or 980, the things to consider before you buy this product isn't just performance issue.

970 sli easily beat 980 in terms of performance, but depending on your current PC configurations, there is a huge difference in price.

Aside from the price between the gpus, you might have to consider buying a better psu and cooling system. Better performance also means high temperature and power consumption. You need to put those considerations in your mind before making your decisions.
 

StylicAU

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chenw

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Old post, but here is why this is not a good idea: New generation cards, by the time 980's prices have come down for one to SLI it, chances are there are better cards out there that are better and it would be better to NOT go SLI.

Also, a single 980 is just a little under 2 970s at the moment, your second 980 would essentially have to be at half price of what it is now to match the cost to performance ratio of 970's. When is that going to happen? Probably in a year or two, plenty of time for a better GPU to come along and blow that plan out of the water.

Lastly, SLI cannot solve 1 problem: VRAM, if VRAM ever becomes an issue, SLI upgrade path is no longer possible, and one would have to buy a higher VRAM card to alleviate that problem (although the chance of this happening is completely debatable).

My own recommendation for SLI is: either go for SLI ASAP, or don't go SLI at all.
 

stormflakes

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let's make sure this post never dies!

i'dd say get the 980.
sli causes to much frustration with too many games. If you have time and a peacefull mind you might benefit from sli. But the second something doesnt behave on my pc i start slapping my girl around and ... where i come from it's frowned upon ( in Texas for example I heard it's just good sport ).

If somehow all new titles support sli you can add a second 980 in a year or so.
For a 'small' premium you get 20% ( i'm guessing here ) better FPS then the sli 970 config.

I just ordered a 980 and that's ma plan homey's.
 

chenw

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In a year or so 980 wouldn't be worth SLI'ing, because a better card would have come out that would beat 980 SLI to death.

While it ultimately depends on what resolution and games you play, I honestly cannot justify how much more 980 costs over a 970. If SLI causes issues, you can simply switch it off.

When SLI works, SLI 970's beats 980 to death, when it doesn't work, switch it to single GPU mode, difference between a 970 and 980 is mostly unnoticeable (very rarely it will be the difference between playable and unplayable).

I find 980 extremely hard to justify under all circumstances, even taking the worst of SLI issues into account.
 
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