GTX670 SLI Or Titan?

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E

excypher

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Apr 22, 2007
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Hi folks,

I've been skulking around the forums for a while, and this has always been a place of great insight and advice for me, I beg of your attention for this issue that has been plaguing me recently.

It sounds so first world problems but i'm having great difficulty deciding between my new graphics solution, this particular mix has been discussed at great length, but usually in a situation that wouldn't favor the titan (e.g. i have 2 670's in sli is it worth the upgrade etc)

Currently i'm running 2 HD5770's in CF, they have served me well for a number of years, but i'm having to start turning down graphics settings in some games and this upsets me 🙁

The system they are going into is based on an i7 950 clocked @ stock, 750w corsair pro series psu, so i'm comfortable it's a good bed for either of these setups.

Now every opinion and review I read points out that the titan is massively overpriced, and easily outperformed in most games by a pair of 670's or even sometimes 660's.

My problems exist in that i've had trouble getting 2 graphics cards running cool enough, i've had to bodge together a bracket and take away some heatsink guards to ensure they are both kept at reasonable temperatures. In the motherboard that i have (gigabyte X58a-UD3R Pic:
http://images.bit-tech.net/content_...x58a-ud3r-motherboard-review/gigabyteud3d.jpg)

The slots usable for dual slot coolers at x16 place them with no gap whatsoever between the cards.

They are sat in a CM690II case, with 2x 140mm fans in the door and another 80mm fan blowing air using the bracket supplied with the case, airflow is not a problem, the second card getting the first one past 100C is the problem, No overclocking btw.

Though removing some heatsinks, some ic diamond paste (awesome stuff btw) and a bit of bodging I can keep both these cards stock under load at about 60-70 degrees, which is where I like my temps to sit.

Now in my country it will cost about £600-650 for the pair of 670's, putting them dangerously close to the titans £827 asking price.

Now currently I game at just 1600x900, not a lot of pixels to push, an argument could be made that 1 670 is sufficient for my needs for a long time, however there is the potential to upgrade to 1920x1080 monitor, and this results in less then perfect performance. I have no intention of going for multi-monitor setups until maybe a few years down the line.

Whatever my solution is, I want it to last a good 3 years pushing out the latest games at max settings at 60fps

My thoughts are:

SLI rig:
Pro:
Potentially more powerful then the titan
£200 cheaper
Comes with more games and shiz (not a critical factor, but cool)
Cons:
Can come with multi-gpu issues with some games subject to driver problems.
Could result in heat issues due to spacing of PCI slots


Titan rig:
Pro:
Single card solution, no risk of sli issues
No heat issues, guaranteed.
Massively powerful for a single-chip solution
Upgrade able with a second card later down the line
Cons:
Hugely expensive for performance gains

All considered and the application at hand. Would you guys still suggest the 670? Obviously I'm trying to build a case for the titan, But I would find it hard to spend the lions share of a grand on a single board.

Would appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks for reading!
 
Single 670 with ur current monitor and bank the rest. When u get the 1080, see what u r getting from it. By the time that happens the next gen cards will be out and u can take what u banked for the latest, still use 1 gpu, generate less heat, play at max, and cost less than the titan.
 
If you want this setup to last for a long time without upgrading it, then the GTX 670 SLI will be the better solution.
Generally the only reason to buy a Titan is if you're going for the ultimate SLI experiance.
And then it will cost you a fortune.
Since the Titan is a premium part, reductions in price are unlikely, so if you want to buy another one later on, chances are it will cost you just as much as the first one.

So at the end of the day, go for the GTX 670's.
 
I would choose 670, like others have mentioned, Titan's not worth the price.

ALSO, the Titan is more or less sold out, and Nvidia doesn't seem like it'll be producing more (they said it was gonna be a limited quantity premium card), so you're stuck with 670 either way
 
I agree with the 670's It is my opinion that they are the best bang for the buck on the market today! At your current res. I would agree with jed70 above. 1 will be plenty! Maybe by the time you want to sli, the price will have dropped a bit and you will save $20 for your patience...
 
Thanks for the comments everyone, that's what I thought you would say 😀

It does seem to make sense. The situation is "Bonus Time" basically, so I'm looking to splash. My only concern would be the heat issues from having the two cards so close together.

I was considering this card: http://www.ebuyer.com/407824-evga-gtx-670-ftw-2048mb-gddr5-dual-dvi-hdmi-displayport-pci-e-graphics-02g-p4-2678-kr

as the 670 in question, so it's a blower type.

Can anybody testify as to what the temperatures would be like on these boards, in that configuration? (literally no gap between the cards)

Thanks again.
 
You don't need SLI or Titan at that resolution. Like most have said you should get a single 670 and when you upgrade your monitor decide if you want another one.

There will definitely be a temperature increase when you put two cards so close together, whether they are blower or open air styled. Either way this will depend on your ambient temps, case airflow and vary from card to card so it's hard to predict which would be more suitable for you.

I'm not too fond of EVGA cards myself as they all pretty much use Nvidia reference cooler with a sticker on it. I'd go for this http://www.ebuyer.com/370292-asus-gtx670-dc2-2gd5-direct-cooling-2-2gb-ddr5-90-c1cs30-s0uay0bz-gtx670-dc2-2gd5 The Asus DCUII is by far the most efficient cooling solution for a 670 so I think you'd be pretty well off even if you lumped two of them together. No guarantees though.
 
I don't even think I have an SLI connector so I think putting two together isn't even an option....

I mean the 670 should be sufficient on the 1080p monitor sure enough right? I guess I can just wait until next gen before that becomes too much of an issue. Games are getting better optimized all the time.

Just I might consider getting the new monitor as part of this upgrade.
 
At your current resolution a single overclocked GTX 670 would be perhaps even over kill and even if you get a 1920x1080 monitor at most you'll only ever need two 670s in SLI to max out every game. The only reason to get a Titan card at all would be if you plan on doing anything GPGPU professionally.
 

The SLI bridge comes with the motherboard so if your motherboard doesn't officially support SLI then it won't have a bridge and won't support SLI so you'd be looking at getting another motherboard as well to enable SLI. And yes, the 670 is most definitely sufficient for a 1080p monitor.
 


All the SLI capable cards come with a single bridge. At least on AMD's side.
 


Thanks. I know the motherboard supports SLI. There may very well be a connector in the box somewhere. But it's 2am and screw looking in the attic for it right now 😀

The issue with SLI'ing these is more the heat, the bridge is a minor setback 😉

I think i'll go for the single 670. I wanted to save the last PCI-e slot for a Revodrive if I'm honest (don't care if it's not noticeable, i want one 😀)

I'll probably pick up a new monitor as well, as many have said a single 670 should be sufficient to do the job for now. And i'll bank the rest for when next gen comes out.

Now this is the stupid question, what benefit am I to obtain from shifting to a higher rez? If i play a game such as league of legends for example, would this enable me to see more of the map?

I've been building computers for years but somehow I don't know this? XD

Appreciate all your comments.
 
Yes, though I am a huge Titan fanboy, no Titan for you. It only make sense for 2560X1440 monitors and up.

What you need are those special 670's that are on a 680 board. They have the 680's heatsink and fan so they give you better performance and they exit all the hot air out the case. Here is one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162107

With a single 670 you will get an average in the 40's for Far Cry 3 and Crysis 3. That means the frame rate will dip into the 20's most likely. 670's scale nicely, so you will be looking at an average rate of, say 80 and dips to the 40's. That is maxed out.

 
Hmm might be worth the plug for it after all, do you mind if I ask what monitor you use? never sure what to go for when buying a monitor, contrast ratio's don't mean anything with all the dynamic ones floating around...
 

AMD video cards come with crossfire bridges as AMD is more lax about allowing crossfire on motherboards, basically as long as there are two physical x16 slots you're good to go. Nvidia SLI bridges come with the motherboard and not the video card as the motherboard has to officially support SLI for SLI to work.

If your motherboard supports SLI there should be an SLI bridge in the motherboard's box.

The single 670 is the way to go, even at 1080p the card doesn't get taxed very much unless it's a AAA title graphically demanding game like Crysis 3. Yes having more pixels on the screen allows for more of the video game to be seen. Now the real world benefits of a monitor with more pixels is usually an increase in physical size, for example: my 1680x1050 monitor was 21 inches whereas my 1920x1080 monitor is 23 inches.
 

I'd personally recommend looking at the Dell Ultrasharp IPS LED-backlit monitors as they're some of the best I've seen and used. In particular the 23" Ultrasharp U2312HM is an incredible buy for a 1080p IPS monitor, with its only down side being that it is a 6-bit monitor instead of a true 8-bit like the more expensive Dell Ultrasharp monitors.

As for panel type, I can't in good conscience recommend a TN panel to anyone unless they plan on doing competitive gaming and are looking at buying a 120hz monitor, the viewing angle and image quality is horrifically unpleasant compared to IPS.
 
I don't know if you've placed an order yet for your new card, but I did a quick price check on pcpartpicker.com in the UK for both the gtx670 and the hd7970. Why are you not considering that card? It's in the same price range, should perform faster when overclocked, and you said those hd5770s has served you well. Just a thought.
 


Yeah I took a quick look at TN monitors at 120hz. £400 is a bit much for my taste on a monitor 😀

That dell looks to be top notch though, all the reviews recommend it as well.

Even to my untrained eye this monitor sure is droll... Mind you it was a quick on the spot replacement after i shot the last one with a bb gun >.>

Us boys with our toys eh XD
 
Also, is your i7 950 overclocked? If not, you may want to consider it so as to attempt elimination of any potential cpu bottlenecks to the performance of which ever new card you get. You will need aftermarket cooler for that if you don't already have one. You don't need to spend much for good cooling. Something in the cooler master hyper line should work quite well. Just another thought.
 


Thanks, I have considered the 7970 before, I think I decided due to the 670's performance in key games and also the better driver support i'd go back to green this term :)

The 7970 is a good card though, And £15 cheaper if I use my current supplier, But not sure if it's just me, But all my issues with this rig have been down to those cards... I remember fond times of my old 8800GTX :)
 


I have a corsair H50 on there already.

A little while back I did a bit of an overclock and got her running at 3.8ghz without too much trouble (just setting voltages to the boost one, backing multiplier down to 23)

It passed 12 hr prime 95 so i was pretty happy it was stable, But I was having major RAM problems at the time, and think I took it off to try and resolve them.

Mind you, a new kit solved that problem a while ago.
 

Yes I have to agree with you, for what the 120Hz monitors are I feel that they are horribly over priced, but then again they are still niche products. Very few people want let alone need a 120Hz Monitor.

The Ultrasharp U2312HM is one that I'm still using now after a year without any issues at all. Go invest in a decent IPS monitor, it makes a world of difference in how you experience things on the web and in videos, the quality of the picture is simply unparalleled and I can honestly say I'd never again personally buy anything less than an IPS panel for my computer (if large OLED panels ever come down in price and become available I would however, consider one of those).

I'd have to agree with what was already said about overclocking your processor, if you are capable of doing it without frying your system then you should as the GPU you plan on buying will in fact be slightly bottle-necked by the performance of your CPU otherwise.
 
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