GTX 760 Sli vs 970

[TheGamingKiwi]

I am tossing up ideas for a new PC, and i though of the possibility of possibly doing a budget Sli build. I can either buy a 760 now, a Sli mobo and a 4690k or I could wait a couple of months and get a 970 BUT I would probably have to go with amd because of budget. If I was to go the 760 route then I could get the initial parts upgrade my psu (which I currently have) and then get another 760. But like I said with the 970 route I would have to wait a couple more months and probably go Amd. Opinions?

 

[Infall]

2016 is a great year for both gpus and cpus with hbm memory and 14 nm.
If you want to upgrade now go for 970. Sli as crossfire may have problems some tims + they draw a lot more power and the heating will make them throttle too losing some of the potential power. 970 is a lot cleaner solution is newer more vram is faster than the sli has full directx 12 support for games to come and draw a lot less power (and less heating in your system) Amd is pretty fine so don't sweat over it I have both system one with fx 8320 and one with i5 and my r9 390 loses around 5 fps when I am on amd in the same game so don't sweat over that kinda stuff.

 

[StarChief]

Is it a 4g 760 SLI?

In general a single 970 would be much better for games.

But a 4690k kicks the crap out of any AMD chip currently.

Ideally you want a 4690k with a 970 (it's what I have and I love it 😀 )

But if you must sacrifice because of budget, get the twin 760s and a 4690k. Just beware that most games aren't optimized real well for SLI so getting a second 760 isn't going to double your performance, not even close. But it should be pretty close to what a single 970 can do.

 

[Hammer_MAN]

two 760s are going to be faster than a single 970 but might give you more headaches in the long run.

 

[TheGamingKiwi]

Hnmm, would a 760 Sli beat a 970? Or would the bad driver support not be worth it?
See I'm also tossing up between a 1st gen console as well.

 

[StarChief]

Hnmm, would a 760 Sli beat a 970? Or would the bad driver support not be worth it?
See I'm also tossing up between a 1st gen console as well.

Speaking from experience, I had both setups; 760 sli and then I switched to a 970, and I'll tell ya that a single 970 runs circles around twin 760s in almost every way. It's quieter, produces much less heat and eats way less power. It runs my games a good 10-20 fps better than 760x2. Games like GTA 5, Dota 2, Elite:dangerous, Civ Beyond earth, CoD: Aw and some other ones.

 

[geofelt]

What is your current psu?
A GTX970 will want about a 500w psu.

I would always plan on a good single card so long as it can do the job.
You will win synthetic benchmarks with dual cards, but your gameplay will be better with a single card.
Some reasons:
1. dual cards require a stronger psu.
2. a more expensive sli capable motherboard.
3. a better case to handle the extra heat.
4. some games do not support dual gpus.
5. Sometimes you will see screen tearing or stuttering caused by small differences in the capability of each card.
6. If you need a future upgrade, a single card can be replaced with a stronger one more easily.

Most of the time, games are limited by the graphics card.
But, for some types, like strategy games, sims, mmo's, cpu is the limiter, primarily the single master core performance.
Few games can actually use more than 2-3 fast cores. That is why FX-6 and FX-8 are not so great for gamers and are cheaper.

What to do??

My suggestion is to buy the i5-4690K and a less expensive Z97 motherboard now.
It is as good as it gets for gaming.
If your budget permits, compare the cost of a newer gen i5-6600K and a Z170 motherboard.

Buy a EVGA GTX750ti or GTX960 card now. EVGA has a 90 day free upgrade option which would let you upgrade to a GTX970 or whatever and get full purchase price credit for the new card.
Look at their web site for the fine print.

 

[Infall]

What starchief says. Again go for 970 with no worries and no hesitation.

 

[Bartendalot]

Hnmm, would a 760 Sli beat a 970? Or would the bad driver support not be worth it?
See I'm also tossing up between a 1st gen console as well.

People come here from help with their builds and to learn more about tech. Go troll for that company somewhere else please.

 

[geofelt]

Hnmm, would a 760 Sli beat a 970? Or would the bad driver support not be worth it?
See I'm also tossing up between a 1st gen console as well.

People come here from help with their builds and to learn more about tech. Go troll for that company somewhere else please.

Were you referring to my suggestion for EVGA?
The reason is that the OP has a timing problem in that he needs a few months time to be able to afford a GTX970.
EVGA is the only vendor I know of that has such a 90 day trade up option that would solve the OP's timing problem.

 

[Bartendalot]

2016 is a great year for both gpus and cpus with hbm memory and 14 nm.
If you want to upgrade now go for 970. Sli as crossfire may have problems some tims + they draw a lot more power and the heating will make them throttle too losing some of the potential power. 970 is a lot cleaner solution is newer more vram is faster than the sli has full directx 12 support for games to come and draw a lot less power (and less heating in your system) Amd is pretty fine so don't sweat over it I have both system one with fx 8320 and one with i5 and my r9 390 loses around 5 fps when I am on amd in the same game so don't sweat over that kinda stuff.

Hnmm, would a 760 Sli beat a 970? Or would the bad driver support not be worth it?
See I'm also tossing up between a 1st gen console as well.

People come here from help with their builds and to learn more about tech. Go troll for that company somewhere else please.

Were you referring to my suggestion for EVGA?
The reason is that the OP has a timing problem in that he needs a few months time to be able to afford a GTX970.
EVGA is the only vendor I know of that has such a 90 day trade up option that would solve the OP's timing problem.

I agree with your reply completely hence the up vote! That would give OP the better system with more future-proofing. EVGA is great. I couldn't recommend them higher for their customer service.

I replied to this obvious troll:

Hnmm, would a 760 Sli beat a 970? Or would the bad driver support not be worth it?
See I'm also tossing up between a 1st gen console as well.

 

[geofelt]

fps benchmarks will likely show sli GTX760 to have higher average fps.
I suspect that a frame time analysis would not be so positive.
I think, perhaps that one should take advice from one who has done both, namely starchief.

I do not think nvidia has bad drivers. A graphics driver can only work with what the game delivers to the driver.
Less popular titles may not get the attention that the big games do.

As to consoles, I can't help.
I see more people changing from consoles to pc gaming than the other way around.
It probably depends on the games you play and the resolutions and eye candy that you want.

 

[TheGamingKiwi]

I have a 1080p 60 hertz, panel so either option will suffice at giving me good fps at Ultra settings. A 760 is $289 brand new. The money that I save from that could be put towards the new skylake and then just buying 760 a couple of months down the track. And is sli really as bad as everyone makes it sound?

 

[geofelt]

I have a 1080p 60 hertz, panel so either option will suffice at giving me good fps at Ultra settings. A 760 is $289 brand new. The money that I save from that could be put towards the new skylake and then just buying 760 a couple of months down the track. And is sli really as bad as everyone makes it sound?

It depends.
1. Some games do not support dual gpus well, or even at all.
If your game is one of those, you need to be satisfied with performance using one card.
2. There are small differences in the performance capabilities of different cards. That may result in screen tearing or stuttering. Again, the impact will differ depending on how the game is coded and on the method the driver uses to render two parts of the image. AMD and Nvidia do things differently, and have different ways to implement code.
3. If you are not too picky, you may not notice anything at all.