Gtx 690 Quad SLI?

[StefanStgs]

Hello there!
I was curious if getting 2 690s in SLI would be worth it. I already own one and it s still capable. I can get the other one for around 100 bucks, so is quad sli with 690s worth it or should I sell my 690 and spend the money for a 1070 (around 500 bucks)
I am using a 1080 p ultra wide monitor, so vram is somewhat enough on a 690. (4gb)

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

Maybe just for fun if you've never used SLI/Crossfire before. Most games don't even take advantage of multi-GPUs. It's not as good for gaming as a single faster GPU.

It better be a top of the line 1070 for 500 bucks, you can sometimes find a 1080 for 500 bucks. That's what I would do, go for the 1080.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB WINDFORCE OC 8G Video Card ($514.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $514.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-08-04 22:32 EDT-0400

*I just remembered you're gaming at 1080p. A bit overkill for 1080p but if you're spending close to 500 bucks on a 1070, if it's not much more might as well spend a little more on a 1080. Will be that much faster in a few years.

 

[k1114]

Vram doesn't stack in sli. You have 2gb which really isn't enough for 1080p let alone 1080 ultrawide. Quad sli also doesn't scale well, at all. Skip it and get a better single gpu.

 

[StefanStgs]

What I was trying to say is that a SINGLE 690 has 4Gb. Usable memory.

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

I guess i'm just now wrapping my head around one GTX 690 already being dual GPUs in SLI. But I see each of the dual-GPUs has 2GB, so if vram doesn't scale then you still only have 2GB of usable vram.

 

[k1114]

The 690 is a dual gpu card, each gpu has 2gb each. So while a 690 does have 4gb in total, you have 2gb usable in sli.

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

The 690 is a dual gpu card, each gpu has 2gb each. So while a 690 does have 4gb in total, you have 2gb usable in sli.

This is true. I know some games like GTAV will show the total amount of VRAM. But you aren't able to actually use that. The VRAM counter in GTAV's settings will double your VRAM usage if running SLI/Crossfire. For instance, with a single GTX 1070 will show 8GB available VRAM and max settings will count around 3.4GB VRAM used, but with crossfire RX 480 4GB will show 8GB available VRAM and max settings will count 6.8GB VRAM used. So both GPUs are having their VRAM's filled with the exact same data, as in they mirror each other and they're only using 4GB worth data in their memory. I know this because I tried it with both the 1070 and crossfire RX 480 4GB.

I hope that made sense.. :/

 

[StefanStgs]

The this is that the 690 can use the V Ram from both of the cards. It s made so, that s why I bought it instead of something like a 980. It has 4Gb, usable vram.

 

[k1114]

Yes it can use 4gb but sli only has 2gb mirrored because that's how sli works. Unfortunately it's just wishful thinking for it to be able to have 4gb in sli. It's no different than any other dual gpu card/config and it's impossible with current tech and how sli works to have a single pool of 2 differently wired gpus' vram. It's just 2x 680 on a single pcb.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5805/nvidia-geforce-gtx-690-review-ultra-expensive-ultra-rare-ultra-fast
http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/evga-geforce-gtx-690-review,1.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-690-benchmark,3193.html
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_690/
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/53901-nvidia-geforce-gtx-690-review.html
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/graphics-cards/evga-geforce-gtx-690-1079940/review
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS727US727&q=can+690+use+4+gb+vram+in+sli
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3303293/nvidia-gtx-690-4gb-tells-2gb.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1753377/vram-gtx-690.html
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/542307/gtx-690-real-vram-question-4gb-or-2gb-

 

[StefanStgs]

Yes it can use 4gb but sli only has 2gb mirrored because that's how sli works. Unfortunately it's just wishful thinking for it to be able to have 4gb in sli. It's no different than any other dual gpu card/config and it's impossible with current tech and how sli works to have a single pool of 2 differently wired gpus' vram. It's just 2x 680 on a single pcb.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5805/nvidia-geforce-gtx-690-review-ultra-expensive-ultra-rare-ultra-fast
http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/evga-geforce-gtx-690-review,1.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-690-benchmark,3193.html
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_690/
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/53901-nvidia-geforce-gtx-690-review.html
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/graphics-cards/evga-geforce-gtx-690-1079940/review
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS727US727&q=can+690+use+4+gb+vram+in+sli
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3303293/nvidia-gtx-690-4gb-tells-2gb.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1753377/vram-gtx-690.html
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/542307/gtx-690-real-vram-question-4gb-or-2gb-

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Yeah, I thought this would be true because when I run GTA V it estimates over 5GB of Vram usage, and the little guy has no problem running it without being bottlenecked by memory. I m talking about over 5GB of Vram here 😛
I think it s the memmory bus or bandwith which makes it capable of doing that. Also, I overclocked the memory to almost 4Ghz, so that must be helping too

 

[k1114]

Gta V vram counter has always been an issue to support. It's not right and will give a higher amount with a gpu with more vram on the same settings which makes no sense. It also does add all gpus' vram in cf/sli. We also see plenty of times where the amount is double/triple than what a gpu has and yet plays without stuttering, drop frames or issues of any kind. In short, it's useless and inaccurate. You can easily just look at your actual vram usage in msi ab or similar and see that it does not in fact go up higher than 2gb.