[SOLVED] GTX970 SLI in 2019

[THpapi]

Hey community!
I'm a journeyman builder but have never experimented with SLI. My older rig is about in need of an upgrade. It still games fine on modern titles albeit on medium settings and I usually get less than 144fps on 1080p, but older games and esports generally run at 144 on almost full ultra. I want to be able to get closer to 144 on 1080p ultra on more titles, and with GTX 970's being dirt cheap right now, I thought I might give SLI a try.
I already have MSI z97 SLI Krait edition MOBO
24gb ddr3
i5-4690k@4.5
My PSU is only a 550'r I suspect I need at least 750w for this venture? I would like a suggestion here.
Also, My card is a blower design, I just repasted it so temps are 60c max after hours of gaming at 100%, should I get another identical card or will the 2 blowers right next to each other be too hot? the card is the PNY GTX970, the sku that starts with V (there are 2 and the other starts with a G I think). Alternatively, I could get an EVGA card or MSI card with the 2 fans and use that for the top card? Or I can waterblock both of them but that's a whole nother venture and I'd rather to stick with 1 venture at a time.
Last question, The Bridge. I have a few older SLI bridges laying around that either came with GPU's or Mobo's, will any ol' sli bridge suffice or will there be performance gains with certain after market bridges or would the fancier bridges even be compatible with the 970?
I know its a lot, so quick recap:

1. RECOMMENDED psu wattage for GTX 970 sli.
2. 2nd card choice (identical blower card or different 970 with a fan, or "waterblock master race")
3. SLI bridge recommendation for 1080p 144hz with dual GTX970's

Thanks!

 

[Barty1884]

970's can draw a little north of 200W, each under a torture stress. So a 550W would be cutting it too close for comfort, if you were going this route.

However, take a look at the titles you play. SLI support in 2019 is pretty poor, generally speaking. Certain titles can support SLI natively, or via some 'hack' profiles, but it's far from guaranteed.
Honestly, SLI is probably not a great route to go. If a 970 is no longer cutting it, try to look to a single, stronger GPU. A 980TI would be a nice step up and can be found for $200-$250 in a lot of instances.

On the new front, a 1660TI nets you roughly GTX 1070 performance... a little better in most cases. At a new cost of ~$270, it's probably the better route to go.



If you do go the SLI route:
1. A quality 750W would be highly recommended. Something like a 750W Focus+ Gold, if you're ok with rebates.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $69.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-03-29 14:55 EDT-0400

2. Depends on the setup. Your blower-style card would probably be best utilized as the top card, limited airflow-wise by the 'new' GPU. For the new, lower GPU, it wouldn't really matter then. You'll be limited in clocks etc by the weakest card, so there's really no need to opt for anything stronger (clock-wise) than your current blower-style card.

3. 970's aren't going to benefit from the HB bridges - any included bridge from the 970/4690K's era will suffice.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Hmmmm. That's a tough one. I wouldn't recommend it unless for the fun factor, and experimenting.

Sadly, SLI is hardly supported any more. And the scaling is often so poor in some games, it's actually better to have one powerful card, than two not quite as powerful.

The big problem is for AAA games. Your I5 4690k @4.5 is still relevant, but most games now use upward of 4gb of vram, which even in SLI is limited to the frame buffer of s single card (ie. only 4gb) This means you will nearly always have to dial back settings. Having a single more powerful card is defo the way to go. Selling your current 970 to offset the cost of say a GTX1660TI/RX590 or above would be a much better option and get you better FPS across nearly all games, except where those that SLI is supported. I'd be looking to a GTX1080/Vega 64 for high FPS at 1080 144hz. But as mentioned, with the 4gb vram limitation on 970s in SLI, any of those cards I mentioned will allow better in game settings, and higher FPS (generally across more games).

TO answer your questions:

1. A good quality 750w PSU like this would be fine:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Power Supply: Corsair - RMx (2018) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($83.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $83.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-03-29 14:53 EDT-0400

2. Ideally you want two cards as closely clocked together as possible. The problem with SLI is, that i fyou have one slightly higher clocked card with faster speeds, it will down clock to the speeds of the lowest common denominator. SO cards with same speeds, or close would be good. As for type of blower/cooler etc, you just may find it hard to get something similar or price worthy. Just see what you can get, and accept it will run at the speeds of the lowest clocked card.

3. Any of the standard bridges should do fine. But just to be clear, even with SLI, there are very few games that you will hit 144hz/fps with that CPU/GPU combo. Okay, things like CS:GO, maybe fortnight on lower settings you may get close, but on anything new-ish or demanding like BF1/V, COD WW2, etc you won't get near that. Just keep expectations in check over SLI.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

970's can draw a little north of 200W, each under a torture stress. So a 550W would be cutting it too close for comfort, if you were going this route.

However, take a look at the titles you play. SLI support in 2019 is pretty poor, generally speaking. Certain titles can support SLI natively, or via some 'hack' profiles, but it's far from guaranteed.
Honestly, SLI is probably not a great route to go. If a 970 is no longer cutting it, try to look to a single, stronger GPU. A 980TI would be a nice step up and can be found for $200-$250 in a lot of instances.

On the new front, a 1660TI nets you roughly GTX 1070 performance... a little better in most cases. At a new cost of ~$270, it's probably the better route to go.



If you do go the SLI route:
1. A quality 750W would be highly recommended. Something like a 750W Focus+ Gold, if you're ok with rebates.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $69.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-03-29 14:55 EDT-0400

2. Depends on the setup. Your blower-style card would probably be best utilized as the top card, limited airflow-wise by the 'new' GPU. For the new, lower GPU, it wouldn't really matter then. You'll be limited in clocks etc by the weakest card, so there's really no need to opt for anything stronger (clock-wise) than your current blower-style card.

3. 970's aren't going to benefit from the HB bridges - any included bridge from the 970/4690K's era will suffice.

Actually Barty, I'd defo go for that Seasonic over the RMX. Nice spot!

 

[THpapi]

Thanks for the advice guys! I'll keep this question open for now to get some more people weighed in but thanks for the quality info.
This is just a "for fun" build, I call it my co-op rig, its for when friends come over they have something to game with me on. My main computer already has a gtx 1080 OC'd on water which unfortunately isn't worth upgrading to a new card yet (maybe upgrade to a 1080ti if they get cheap enough lol), so I'm not going to be buying a 1660ti or anything for my secondary rig lol
But honestly I'm glad I asked, I might scrap the whole idea. Since SLI support is going down, and my goal is to improve FPS for modern games, there is no point in going SLI. Ill just wait til it's time to upgrade my 1080, pass that down to the secondary rig, and if the 970 is still working, I'll probably build a console with it.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Thanks for the advice guys! I'll keep this question open for now to get some more people weighed in but thanks for the quality info.
This is just a "for fun" build, I call it my co-op rig, its for when friends come over they have something to game with me on. My main computer already has a gtx 1080 OC'd on water which unfortunately isn't worth upgrading to a new card yet (maybe upgrade to a 1080ti if they get cheap enough lol), so I'm not going to be buying a 1660ti or anything for my secondary rig lol
But honestly I'm glad I asked, I might scrap the whole idea. Since SLI support is going down, and my goal is to improve FPS for modern games, there is no point in going SLI. Ill just wait til it's time to upgrade my 1080, pass that down to the secondary rig, and if the 970 is still working, I'll probably build a console with it.

No worries mate, you're welcome. In that case, maybe just stick in an RTX 2060 or 1070ti, for the second rig. Selling the 970 will offset the cost somewhat and 1070ti's are cheap right now. Good luck, and happy gaming

 

[sizzling]

I have a 4670k @ 4.3Ghz and in many modern AAA games it won’t average over 100fps and I do see dips under 60fps. If 144fps in modern AAA games is your target you need a whole new modern platform.

 

[THpapi]

I have a 4670k @ 4.3Ghz and in many modern AAA games it won’t average over 100fps and I do see dips under 60fps. If 144fps in modern AAA games is your target you need a whole new modern platform.

Haha thanks, but no that's not my goal with this PC. 144fps on Apex shmedium will suffice, that's really the goal here lol Mostly the computer is used for League of Legends, Counter Strike, Warframe, Age of Empires, various sandbox survival games, those all run well. I don't suspect my CPU of holding me back to be perfectly honest.. maybe its because I don't play a lot of Ubisoft on it, but I hardly ever notice my CPU going over 50% usage... It's the graphics card that taps out. I haven't tried it but I'd be willing to wager my 4690k can drive a GTX 1080 without bottlenecking in most applications.