Dual GTX 980 or single?

[SBJackk]

Hi all,

I am debating whether or not to get dual GTX 980 or just a single. Or possibly dual 970 if that will be better than the single 980.

I don't know much about graphic cards so I am not to sure what to get. ps money is not much of a problem.

 

[niko24]

Dual 970 is the way to go for the money.

 

[Trenchcoat]

Hi all,

I am debating whether or not to get dual GTX 980 or just a single. Or possibly dual 970 if that will be better than the single 980.

I don't know much about graphic cards so I am not to sure what to get. ps money is not much of a problem.

Interesting. There's a bunch of info we need first:

Current hardware and peripherals
Display setup
Games you want to play
if you want to use the computer for anything else.

 

[SBJackk]

Hi all,

I am debating whether or not to get dual GTX 980 or just a single. Or possibly dual 970 if that will be better than the single 980.

I don't know much about graphic cards so I am not to sure what to get. ps money is not much of a problem.

Interesting. There's a bunch of info we need first:

Current hardware and peripherals
Display setup
Games you want to play
if you want to use the computer for anything else.

Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™i7-4790k Quad Core (4.00GHz @ upto 4.70GHz)

Motherboard
ASUS® Z97-A: ATX, USB3.0, SATA 6GB/S, SLi, XFIRE

Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)

1st Hard Disk
240GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)

2nd Hard Disk
2TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 64MB CACHE

Dual monitor setup 2x 1920 x 1080

Usually newest released games.
Possible streaming and minimal video editing

 

[geofelt]

A good set of parts.

The second monitor does not add any load to gaming on the primary monitor.
A single GTX980 would be more than enough, even a GTX970 would do.

SLI GTX970 will win you fps benchmarks, but dual cards always add complexity and the possibility of screen tearing or stuttering. You would also need a 700w psu. 500-550w would be fine for a single GTX980.

Assuming you can find one, I would go ahead and but the single GTX980.

 

[Trenchcoat]

Awesome stuff.

A single manually overclocked 970 will make up for the performance difference to a 980. Either of which is all you need for gaming at 1080p even on 3 monitors. A non overclocked 980 will get you the most performance with least reliability issues as price isn't the issue. You can always add another later.