GTX 660TI SLI upgrade from GTX 680?

[nadim615]

Hi all

So uh, I was considering an "upgrade", if you can call it that. So I'm planning on getting two 600TI's (which according to benchmarks does a pretty good job, and is great for the value), and selling my GTX 680. Someone is offering to pay me a whopping $450 for it, and I only paid like $515 (with shipping and tax). So that's a pretty good deal, pretty much get all my cash back. But is it worth it? About $700 for two 660TI's ($300 each, +tax and shipping is about $700). So a net loss of about $250, which isn't bad.

But I was just wondering, when is the 700 series for Nvidia coming out? Is it this spring, or is it September? And regardless of that, would it be more worth the value to grab two 660TI's and sell off my 680 while the offer stands, or hold out for the 700 series and grab just one of those cards?

Any suggestions would be great

EDIT: Seems great controversy seems to be going on over my performance due to other factors (my system specs).

Here they are:
AMD FX-8350 @4.0GHz
Nvidia GTX 680
Mushkin 16GB DDR3 @1866MHz
Antec 1000W
ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z

And yes, I do have a front intake fan, a top exhaust fan, and a back exhaust fan. The temps of my CPU and motherboard are great, so I don't think case cooling is the issue.. Motherboard and CPU usually are at around 30C on idle, not bad imo. Mobo gets up to 35C tops under full load, and CPU at like 50C.

 

[djangoringo]

There's no announced date for the 700 series or 8000 series from amd, some reports said only in the fourth quarter it will be released.
There's the geforce titan which is going to be out by the end of this month, rumors said it is better than a 690 gtx with just a single gpu on the pcb and that it will have a price tag of ~700-900$.
Nothing official, just rumors.
I don't see much the point in getting two 660 ti, when you have a 680 gtx, but two 660 ti in sli are better than a single 680 gtx.

 

[ajl2011shooter]

The 660ti in SLI will perform about 25% better than a single 680. BUT.....from the 660ti in SLI you have basically hit the ceiling. If you stick with the 680 you can add another one down the road and be set for a few years.

 

[nadim615]

Hm.. Well I have some time to think about it anyways. And I'm just wondering, what makes the 680 so much faster anyways than the 660TI? Pretty much everything about them is exactly the same, its just that the 680 has a slightly faster clock speed.

680: 1006MHz
660TI: 915MHz

680: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121665
660TI: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121653

Does 100MHz really make that much of a difference performance wise? And then adding on a second for SLI should in theory make it relatively overkill? Just trying to understand

 

[djangoringo]

The 680 gtx has more cuda cores, more rops, texture units, a higher bit bus(256 bits) and consequently a higher memory bandwidth.

 

[nadim615]

Ah I see... So I would be better off in the long run grabbing another 680 rather than two 660TI's?

And also as a side-note, my current 680 (reference cooler) currently is getting throttled by the fact it tends to heat up (up to around 80C or so). Like I'll just random FPS drops and such. I pretty much blame it on the fact I didn't grab an aftermarket..

Anyways, I was to grab a decent 680 with an aftermarket cooler (like the one in the newegg link, copper heat pipes + dual fan) and put that as the primary card, and put the one with the reference cooler as my secondary, should this fix the throttling problem?

Cause even if it tends to heat up a bit, it's not doing the primary work (at least this is what I've been told).

Thanks for the help

 

[blazorthon]

Two 660Ti's are better than a single 680 in the short term, but a second 680 would be a more logical upgrade. Also, I suggest getting two 670s if you're already willing to sell the 680. They'd have similar performance to two 680s, but you could save money since they're much cheaper than a 680. Oh, and I'd put two 660 Tis as more like 50% faster than a single 680 on average, not a mere 25%, granted I still don't recommend going for them.

It would be better to get a non-reference card than to get an aftermarket cooler. Many card warranties get voided by aftermarket coolers and it's more hassle than it's worth when you can simply get a card with a decent non-reference cooler instead.

 

[nadim615]

It would be better to get a non-reference card than to get an aftermarket cooler. Many card warranties get voided by aftermarket coolers and it's more hassle than it's worth when you can simply get a card with a decent non-reference cooler instead.

Sorry ahah I'm getting my terminology mixed up. As in the sense yes, a non-reference card with like an aftermarket cooler already on it. Like the ASUS one or whatever.. I thought it was considered an aftermarket cooler, but I guess it just counts as a non-reference card..

ANYWAYS, a GTX 670 is about $80 more than a 660TI. So about $160 + tax --> $180 more than two 660TI's. Yet for $300 I could get another 680. So I'm not sure if its really worth it to grab two 670's..

 

[djangoringo]

Since you have a 680 gtx, it's not worth it, but if you want two 680 gtx, get a non reference like you said, like the gigabyte with windforce cooling, the asus dcii or msi with the twinfrozr cooling.

 

[iceclock]

1 680 is fine and more than enought like dj said.

 

[nadim615]

Since you have a 680 gtx, it's not worth it, but if you want two 680 gtx, get a non reference like you said, like the gigabyte with windforce cooling, the asus dcii or msi with the twinfrozr cooling.

Thanks

 

[blazorthon]

Sorry ahah I'm getting my terminology mixed up. As in the sense yes, a non-reference card with like an aftermarket cooler already on it. Like the ASUS one or whatever.. I thought it was considered an aftermarket cooler, but I guess it just counts as a non-reference card..

ANYWAYS, a GTX 670 is about $80 more than a 660TI. So about $160 + tax --> $180 more than two 660TI's. Yet for $300 I could get another 680. So I'm not sure if its really worth it to grab two 670's..

Actually, 670s often get discounted down to the low $300s each. Where are you getting a 680 for only $300?

Also, I'm kinda with icecock on that are you sure that you want to upgrade right now? Even a single GTX 680 is a beast of a card.

 

[nadim615]

And is this the windforce you were referring too?

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125422

 

[blazorthon]

And is this the windforce you were referring too?

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125422

Yes, that's a WindForce x3 cooler on that card.

 

[nadim615]

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127672

Actually I think I might go for this one, less noise, and cheaper. the MSI twinfrozr

 

[djangoringo]

Do you really need a second card ?
What's the resolution you're using ? 1440p?
But that's a good card, the msi 680 gtx twinfrozr.

 

[blazorthon]

I can't complain about cheaper, but it's my understanding that the WindForce x3 cooler is a little better than the TwinFrozr cooler.

 

[djangoringo]

I wouldn't say it's better, the twinfrozr 680 is superb in terms of cooling : http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_680_Twin_Frozr_III/32.html

 

[nadim615]

Do you really need a second card ?
What's the resolution you're using ? 1440p?
But that's a good card, the msi 680 gtx twinfrozr.

I'm using 1080p. But I keep getting goddam FPS drops.. :/ Like i.e. BF3 max ---> 60fps w/adaptive v/sync, but I get drops going down to 45ish all day. Annoying as hell.

Doubt its my CPU, I have an AMD FX-8350. And that things really doing its bang for its buck.. 16GB of RAM, 1000W PSU, so I don't really think its any of the other parts of my PC.. Thus I think its gotta be my GPU bottlenecking.

 

[nadim615]

I can't complain about cheaper, but it's my understanding that the WindForce x3 cooler is a little better than the TwinFrozr cooler.

Meh even if it is, 22C taken off from reference (that's what it says on the MSI one) is good enough for me And its also 10.2DB quieter than the reference, meaning I'll never hear it ahah. 3 fans is bound to get a bit noisy.

 

[blazorthon]

Meh even if it is, 22C taken off from reference (that's what it says on the MSI one) is good enough for me And its also 10.2DB quieter than the reference, meaning I'll never hear it ahah. 3 fans is bound to get a bit noisy.

Three fans means that each fan can spin more slowly than they'd need to if it was two fans to get a given amount of air flow. They should only get more noisy if you force them to spin closer to max RPM and there's no need for that in any game even if you overclock that card significantly since it's locked voltage stops you from overclocking too far.

 

[djangoringo]

A 680 gtx is suffice for 1080p, it gives 60 fps on BF3, maybe it's the throttling when it reaches certain temperature, did you try to setup a custom fan profile and raise if possible the fan level to more %.

 

[nadim615]

A 680 gtx is suffice for 1080p, it gives 60 fps on BF3, maybe it's the throttling when it reaches certain temperature, did you try to setup a custom fan profile and raise if possible the fan level to more %.

Starts throttling around 70C, but problem is that the only way to keep the temp down is to turn the fans up to like 90% speed. And its LOUD as hell. I cant even hear myself think, and well my dad pisses himself cause he doesn't wanna be listening to that all night ahahah

 

[djangoringo]

Well then sell the card, and get a new 680 gtx like the msi twinfrozr or gigabyte windforce, you can't go wrong with neither of those two.

 

[nadim615]

Well then sell the card, and get a new 680 gtx like the msi twinfrozr or gigabyte windforce, you can't go wrong with neither of those two.

Ah ok so I'd be better off taking my losses for that mistake, and grabbing a new card?