GTX 970 upgrade to SLI or not?

[DarkTron]

Hey guys.

I bought my PC about 11 months ago. You can see the specs below. I own one 24 inch 1080p monitor but I'd like to buy a second one, 27 inch or more, probably with 1440p. But to run games like Rise of the Tomb Raider, Just Cause 3 or GTA V in 1440p my single Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 Gaming won't be enough. So I am asking you: Should I upgrade to a second 970 now that they will likely drop in price because of the new 1080 and 1070. Or should i sell my 970 and buy a 1070 or 1080. I've seen reviews showing 2 GTX 970 may even beat one 980TI in some cases (like GTA V).

 

[JUICEhunter]

If you can sell your 970 for a decent price, 1070 is a win, if you can find a 2nd 970 for a good price that's also a win but I would personally go for the first option as single card configurations are the most straight forward and consistent.

 

[MrKrako]

An SLI is not always the best option (double power consuption and not double performance). If you could sell your GTX970 for a good price, then try to go for the 1070. A single powerful card is better than have two "not-that-powerful" card (GTX 970 still a good damn GPU). Many games are not prepared for SLI support and you will run like you had a single 970.

But if you find a sweet good deal, a 970 SLI still will be a good option. Just that one 1070 still a better option than 2 970.

 

[DarkTron]

So I just did a few calculations:

I go for a second 970 - I pay ~ 300€, so total I then paid 300€ + 370€ for the first one i already bought is 670€ for about 980TI performance in SOME, not ALL games.

I sell my 970 for about ~170€ and buy a 1070 for approximately 500€ (don't know the exact price here in Austria/Germany just yet). In this case I paid 370€ for the first one, sold it for 170€ that equals 200€ spent plus the new 1070 costs ~ 500€ equals 700€ spent for about a bit more than 980TI performance, but therefore in ALL games.

Conclusion: I think selling my card and buying a 1070 is really better, although I would pay ~330€ now over the 300€ when buying a second 970. The performance gain in non SLI optimized games and especially the 8GB GDDR5 are better for future 1440p gaming.

Thanks!