Gaming System Upgrade - SLI or GSync Monitor

[IkSak]

Hi.

I live outside the US and I will travel there late May. I want to take advantage of the travel and buy an upgrade for my gaming system, since where I live everything is about 40% more expensive than the US.

Currently my gaming system has:

Core i5 3570k OC to 4.2GHz
Geforce GTX 980Ti
16GB DDR3 1600MHz
256SSD + 2TB
27in QHD monitor.
PSU EVGA 850W Bronze

I would like to request the buying advice.

I have approx US$ 800 to spend and I'm between getting a 27in GSync monitor or buying a second GTX 980Ti (I got a Z77 MB).

I'm not concerned about benchmarks but about gaming experience. I've read that GSync provides an improved in gaming experience, though I have not seen a GSync monitor because they are not sold here. I've been thinking to buy a Acer XB271HU or an ASUS PG279Q, depending on price and availability.

On the other hand, if I understand correctly, getting a second 980Ti would make the system more futureproof, although I think the 850W would be the bare minimum for the systems.

What are your thoughts? As I said, my priority is gaming experience.

Thanks in advance.

 

[17seconds]

It's a good question. I think I would have to go for the G-Sync monitor between the two choices. Apparently, you can experience smoother gameplay at lower FPS levels with G-Sync, thereby providing the same end result as adding a second 980 Ti.

The other issue is the timing of it all. You would be making your purchase just about a month or so before the new Pascal cards are released (NVIDIA partners halt GeForce GTX 970, 980, 980Ti production and GPU Pascal codenames surface). So a new monitor would serve you well regardless of what decisions you may make with respect to the new generation of cards.

Would you be looking to change out your GTX 980 Ti for its Pascal equivalent? I don't know, but the monitor would work in either situation, whereas both GTX 980 Ti's would need to be swapped out, if you decided on that upgrade route.

 

[IkSak]

Hi. Thanks for your advice. In the moment I'm not planning to get a Pascal GPU.

 

[17seconds]

I still think the single GTX 980 Ti is probably serving you very well at present. Hard to say how much better your experience would be with two of them. I would think the G-Sync monitor would offer a more consistent upgrade to your gaming experience. With SLI, you may run into the occasional non-supported game or driver issue, not to mention the power usage, heat, and noise factors.

What's your current monitor and resolution?

 

[ben001]

Yes. As 17 seconds already explained about it. A G-Sync monitor would a be a sensible upgrade from your current monitor over dual 980 ti.