GTX 1080 SLI or RTX 2080 - 4K/60

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luci5r

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Sep 19, 2011
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I'm feeling a little like being caught between a rock & a hard place.

Currently I have a GTX 1080 in my Gaming rig, which I bought for $549 in 2016. It replaced an old GTX 760. All of my Gaming is on a 55" 4K TV (TCL 55R617) which supports both HDR & Dolby Vision. The machine has a 6-Core Intel & 16 GB DDR4, with an NVMe HDD & other HDDs.

When I built the system in 2016, I had built it with GTX 1080 SLI in mind. I was going to wait for a couple of years when GTX 1080 was around $350 to install a 2nd one. I already have the SLI Bridge which came with the ASUS ROG Strix GTX 1080.

With the announcement of RTX Series, the prices of GTX 1080 are coming down. Just a couple weeks ago, a fresh GTX 1080 could be had for $350 on eBay using a coupon. They are around $400 or so easily right now.

Two other strong points to note here:
- The entire 31 page list of Games listed as supporting SLI on Nvidia's page here (https://www.geforce.com/games-applications/technology/sli) is essentially my entire Gaming library. In other words. Over 90% of the games I play support SLI, and even with upcoming games, I don't believe that percentage will change.
- I've already spent an enormous amount of time deep rooted into the SLI discussions and communicated with people who actually have an SLI setup, have opted for one, or in some shape or form experienced SLI first hand; not hearsay, opinions or second hand information. I have yet to meet one individual who would trade it for a non-SLI setup, and am extremely convinced of SLI's benefits, at least in my given situation.

However, now enter RTX 2080.

The thing with GTX 1080 is, while it's an amazing GPU and was a big upgrade for me coming from GTX 760, it does fall short of excelling at full 4K. I'm not able to max out most of the AAA games. Some or the other setting has to be brought down for smooth game play. Secondly, frame rates hover between 30 fps & 60 fps. If you're standing in a closed up room with maybe one other AI, you'll get 60 fps. But if you go out into the streets with expansive world around you, frame rates drop to 30 fps.

I'm looking to max out Settings and achieve a higher frame rate during action scenes, open worlds and large number of moving objects on screen.

This has been achieved by almost everyone who has GTX 1080 SLI setup.

I don't know for sure if RTX 2080 will deliver the same (And I will be waiting for reviews before making my decision), but let's assume it does.

RTX 2080 sounds great, the thing is, economically I'm not sure of it's viability.

RTX 2080 is not the same leap from GTX 1080, as say, GTX 1080 from GTX 760.

I can get away with $350 - $420 for a GTX 1080; but around $700 at the very least for RTX 2080. From everything I've read, RTX 2080 doesn't appear to be DOUBLE the performance & benefits of GTX 1080, yet it's demanding DOUBLE the price.

The other issue with RTX 2080 is, then I'll need to sell my GTX 1080 as it becomes a $549 Coaster in the house. Selling on eBay, CL etc might come easier for some who sell online often - I don't. Which makes it a very cumbersome effort for me.

While all of this might favor GTX 1080 SLI in my head - I need opinions of others. Some people are more knowledgeable about GPU's then I am. I might be missing some great big advantage of RTX 2080. Or not looking at all points.

Would seriously like some serious advice.

One note, the "SLI is dead" proclaimers can stay away from this thread. You have no idea how wrong you are and I don't have the time to bother debating with you.

I'm not planning to purchase one way or another until after Sep 20th when real world RTX 2080 reviews come out, UNLESS, I'm totally convinced I won't be going with RTX 2080 and GTX 1080 SLI is a better deal.

Thanks all.
 
Solution
Yeah considering how long it has been since Pascal release, many of us were hoping the performance jump would be similar to Maxwell -> Pascal.

As you say though, the 2080 ti is clearly top card for now until either AMD bring out something great, or Nvidia release the full uncut TU102 GPU (more likely when they do a die shrink like what happened with Fermi 400->500 series).

On the other hand, you could look at the 2080 ti as a much much cheaper Titan V, which makes it good value for money.


I agree that new HB bridge works great. Now Nvlink with 10x the bandwidth for the future cards will be even better. I have seen so many SLI hate threads recently. If Nvlink gets the support for major title games it will share the VRAM and allow for the frame handoff to happen sooner. SLI bounces the frames right at the gate, small variances cause microstutter, which I do not get with my 1070's. In short, it has the potential to fix any issues people had before. CPU could be the biggest difference coming up, ray tracing may require more cores than four. I believe in getting rid of any issues first. I am upgrading from 6700k to 8700k, z370 motherboard, 1200w PSU. Then those two 2080's will not be hampered by my setup. The future for SLI/NVLINK could be really good.
 
Sli as is, is about dead. The future will be mgpu, pretty much what NvLink is,with its ability to share vram etc. And that's DX12, native in Win10. Older titles that don't have DX12 varient or support are going to suffer the same as always with SLI, newer titles that do have DX12 support will use mgpu instead. When gaming devs finally get around to seriously including more or full DX12 ability in the games, then you'll start seeing some serious advantages with some of the smaller cards over a single larger card, but that's still reliant on exactly how much support mgpu has and how effectively it scales. With 4k/144Hz monitors now available, mgpu is going to start being more relavent as a standard single card of anything less than a 2080ti is going to be next to useless. Mgpu 1080ti, 2080 will be more of a requirement for many titles.
 


Nvlink is not pretty much what dx12 mgpu is... In the RTX implementation its still SLI, just with much much higher bandwidth.
 
From everything I've understood & observed so far, I have definitely dropped the idea of 1080 SLI. It has nothing to do with SLI-hate or SLI-is-dead, it's just not suited to what I'm looking for.

I also don't believe the RTX 2080 is an entirely justified expense and would give enough of the boost to justify the expense and the whole merry-go-round of selling my current GTX 1080.

Right now I'm affixed on ascertaining the actual real-world performance, bench marks and user experiences of RTX 2080Ti, to make an informed decision. On paper, RTX 2080 Ti is looking like a winner for my particular situation. I think it will deliver the results I'm looking for. Ray Tracing and all are added bonuses which I never set out for and can do without, ultimately the goal is super-smooth 60fps minimum, possibly plus, 4K Gaming on my 55" 4K (HDR/Dolby Vision) TV.

The real question is if the $1100 cost is justified (I will obviously need to sell my GTX 1080). I have no qualms with spending that much if I can get the results, but unfortunately that answer isn't available yet so I have to hang tight for a while, possibly October-end, by when it should be pretty clear if the card is worth that much or not for my scenario.

Thanks.
 


Its not SLI hate. Its SLI facts...
 
Url: https://hothardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-rtx-performance-and-overclocking?page=6

The benchmarks & reviews posted on Page 6, 7 & 8, particularly for 'Shadow of War', 'Wildlands', 'Far Cry' & 'Tomb Raider' for RTX 2080 TI are very impressive for me, for a couple of reasons.

a. These are the kinds of games I play the most - they are my essential library.
b. The GTX 1080 (My current GPU) FPS numbers they have listed for 3840x2160 are exactly what I'm getting right now - very sub-par - 30fps - 50fps depending on scene complexity. That adds an aura of genuinety to their claims as what they are printing and what I'm seeing is exactly the same.
c. 72 FPS @ 3840x2160 is like mouth watering for me, who has been playing the same game at 30 FPS. Gives me goose-bumps.

I need to see a few more benchmarks before I pull the trigger, as a single review is not sufficient, and I don't have any personal experience with the above website or their status in the industry. I'd like to see some real user experience / home experience posted somewhere, which is still a couple weeks out at the very least for the RTX 2080 TI.

But an early look is definitely telling me I've found what I was looking for. Most likely RTX 2080 Ti is going to be the one.

Thanks.
 


Sure! I agree with that. I think everyone does - and almost every review coming hereafter is stating that as well.

However, the thing of it is - I'm not looking for a GPU with a certain percentage rise above Pascal, compared to Pascal above Maxwell. I'm also not looking to establish the Maxwell->Pascal Price/Performance vs Pascal->Turing Price/Performance. Those are all industry & market needs, and well deserved.

My need is simple. A GPU that can give me 60 FPS or more @ 3840 x 2160. An upgrade to my GTX 1080, which I've had since it's initial launch, which only provides 30 FPS - 50 FPS @ 3840 x 2160.

So my calculation would be, after I sell my GTX 1080 for around $350 or so (and I actually do have a buyer interested), and say I can get an RTX 2080 Ti (base, not Founder's Edition) for around $1,050 or so, when they pop-up in the market (Right now it's all FE only, above $1,199):

For somewhere around $700 - $800, does the RTX 2080 TI provide me with a sufficient upgrade which allows 60 FPS or more at max to almost max (maybe lower AA, which is not essential for 4K) settings @ 3840x 2160, with smooth HDR on HDR-enabled games (which has a growing figure, I already have about 10)?

I believe the answer so far is looking as Yes. I never heard of Ray Tracing, DLSS and all that before Turing announcement, didn't need it, didn't set out for it, but the above figure also provides that as a bonus.

I can't seem to find anything wrong with that decision. Unless there is a different option at a better price available?

Thanks!
 
Just as a said, the 2080 aint gonna be faster than the 1080 TI. So, 1080 TI owners should feel pretty good right now knowing it costs $1200 for the only GPU better than theirs, the 2080 TI. So in my opinion. The 1080 TI is still the king of gaming, and will continue to be for the next 3 years.
 


You have some good points but I'm not sure if I can agree with that completely.

a. This is subjective to GTX 1080 Ti owners. If you own a different card, then the above doesn't necessarily apply.
b. Your statement above is relying heavily on price point. Prices do change, and are not definitive of the hardware's actual performance.
c. I don't believe 'king' would be the correct statement as RTX 2080 Ti does clearly exceed 1080 Ti's performance.
d. 3 years is a very, very long time - I'm not sure how you came up with that, as neither of us have any idea what 2019 will bring, let alone the next 3 years.

The other issue is, one major criteria you've left out here is resolution, which has been the root cause for my upgrade. At 1080p or 1440p, I would be an extremely happy camper with my GTX 1080. No need to upgrade. GTX 1080 Ti does provide better performance then GTX 1080 at 3840 x 2160, but it's not at all close to the performance of RTX 2080 Ti.

Having said all of the above, GTX 1080 Ti does remain a very strong & healthy choice today. If it wasn't for wanting 60+ FPS at UHD HDR resolutions, and I had a GTX 1080 Ti, I don't believe I would be looking to upgrade to RTX 2080 or 2080 Ti. I don't believe the RT & DLSS alone would have been worth the upgrade, so I definitely can agree with some of your sentiment.

Edit:

There is also something that can be said about the price issue. If you're a current GTX owner looking to upgrade, it changes the price schema. I already have a buyer standing by to grab my GTX 1080 for $350, thereby reducing my overage to $700 or so for the RTX 2080 Ti (base / not founder's). A GTX 1080 Ti owner will fare even better then myself, as they can sell their's for closer to $500 or so, thereby reducing the cost further.

Again, resolution & need is a strong criteria in this issue.

In my honest opinion, the bigger failure at Nvidia's part has been that I can't imagine someone gaming at 1080p or 1440p picking up the RTX series for any real solid reason - as I don't believe RT & DLSS is reason enough. My case is different due to the UHD HDR needs, which today's benchmarks & reviews have proven well in favor of the Upgrade, but there are massive amounts of Non-UHD HDR gamers who would not be impressed.
 
Yeah considering how long it has been since Pascal release, many of us were hoping the performance jump would be similar to Maxwell -> Pascal.

As you say though, the 2080 ti is clearly top card for now until either AMD bring out something great, or Nvidia release the full uncut TU102 GPU (more likely when they do a die shrink like what happened with Fermi 400->500 series).

On the other hand, you could look at the 2080 ti as a much much cheaper Titan V, which makes it good value for money.
 
Solution


100%!! Actually I didn't think of that. Most benchmarks, and quite a few are out now across the board, are showing 2080 Ti ahead of Titan V. You're spot on!

And yes I completely agree with you - I'm included in that most of us who were expecting that leap.

Either way, I think given my situation - my decision is made. I'm definitely going to go with 2080 Ti. I believe it'll deliver what I'm looking for, and after my $350 GTX 1080 sale, the $700 - $800 price point is entirely worth it, plus I can begin to enjoy the RT, DLSS features as well.

Thank you very much for your advice, and for all who posted.

 
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_RTX_2080_Ti_SLI_RTX_2080_SLI_NVLink/
(NVIDIA SLI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and RTX 2080 with NVLink Review)

includes: (Single card too.)
GTX1080-Ti-SLI
RTX2080-SLI
RTX2080-Ti-SLI

read tenth paragraph of the Conclusion page ^^. Especially the final two sentences. But don't skip any reading. Beginning and Conclusion of the review covers all relevant SLI stuff that need be covered nowadays and ends arguments by know-it-alls.

i've concluded that RTX2080-SLI is the way to go. You don't need triple cooler fan setup either. Dual fans is enough. EVGA has GTX2080 Black editions for $749. The OCed versions are not helping performance much just costing too much additional, to an already expensive card. Only water-blocks will make RTX series performance terribly noticeable improved. And any 2080 is getting pretty fast already when SLIed. In SLI supported games they (RTX2080-SLI) beat-up on the 1080-Ti-SLI. AND u get the new DSLL and RT tech too. And i'm talking only 2nd version drivers out. GTX1080-Ti drivers fully matured already well over a year ago.

If u can't afford RTX2080-SLI for $1,499, then $1,149 for EVGA black RTX2080-Ti would be best pick. Just wait and wait is always the best advice. I'm just mostly talking if one needed to by new now.

GL
 
^ I would not SLI at all... why buy two 2080s when you can purchase a 2080ti with that amount of cash?

I wouldn't purchase the 1080ti or the 2080 as general benchmarks show the performance to be identical. Its not an upgrade unless you consider ray tracing to be a thing...

For the price and your needs. I'd recommend just saving up and getting the 2080ti and be done with it. No SLI will be needed.
 
my previous post concluded with:
"If u can't afford RTX2080-SLI for $1,499, then $1,149 for EVGA black RTX2080-Ti would be best pick. Just wait and wait is always the best advice. I'm just mostly talking if one needed to by new now."
 
I'm skipping this line not enough RTX games first 18 months. I have games mostly 2010 to 2018 and mostly 2015-2018 and i see big difference in games with sli
GTA5
DIVISION
TR 13 & 16
SLEEPING DOGS
BOTH METROS
ALL MY CODS about 5-7
Battlefield 3 1 v soon
I'm on 24 in 144hz/1ms monitor
2 1080gtx evga SC 2114 5508
32GB PC3000 DDR4
I7 EXTREME 6850K @4.5 LQ
ASUS STRIX X99
850 PS
SLI let's me skip next line
Never had a pc 5 yrs Im going this time atleast 4-5 yrs.
Next line RTx runs faster than 60 fps 1080p
 
3 time sli in a row
470 x2 680SC x2 1080SC x2
I with all 3 lines I have played sli 2010 on

I play alot of fps and 3rd person open world games where sli is very good

Sure sometimes game after out needs a fix needs to get better rare not all games.
Most of time I get my games 3 to 6 months old but my main online I play that's when I buy right away.
By the 6 month point most have it fixed or added and alot of hits 2014 on have added sli for money I see more games that now have and I go back to 2014 for a great games
Also alot dont build best pc to handle SLI and cause own issues blame game.

39 games 23 sli
1 no work
1series worse performance batman or same as 1 card fps but smoother
Plus get to skip 1-2 line before buying

Passing RTX sli next line I get
 
I agree with me.earl, so much hate! I'm currently using SLI and love it, and have proven gains to support it's use. The reason I was looking for a decent system was for 4K video editing, and maybe some gaming on the side. I recently bought an HP Omen X with an I7-7820X cpu, 16Gb ram, and HP's version of the GTX-1080. I'm using dual 32" 4k 10 bit monitors and running Davinci Resolve. The one game I own now is of course Witcher 3.
I found out real fast that a single 1080 wasn't going to cut it for either the editing or gaming. So I sold off the HP card and went with 2 EVGA GTX 1080 hybrid cards. The editing is still a bit laggy but usually tolerable. But Witcher 3 is fantastic even on max 4K settings.
First of all, if anyone here knows Davinci Resolve, they know they don't support SLI, but they do support up to 4 GPUs in parallel for rendering. Basically, the more cores, the better. Going with the second card was a great investment at the time, especially since I got it cheap. So even though I only play Witcher 3 on one monitor, going from a single card did basically double my framerate from about 34 with the single up to 60 plus on SLI.
After seeing the huge performance increase on the RTX 2080, and 2080 Ti blowing away even the Titan Xp (RT disabled), I'll be upgrading soon the new I9-9980 XE 18 core cpu and will be waiting on EVGA's watercooled 2080 Ti to run 2 way SLI, or maybe even 3 way if a bridge is made for it. Seems to me an overclocker's dream and something that will easily handle the most demanding 4K or higher jobs, or 4k gaming on multiple monitors.