In possession of two Gigabyte G1 980 Tis and two Gigabyte 980 Ti Reference cards - which to keep?

[cheru2016]

G'day mates,

as the title says, I am in possession of the four above mentioned cards.
I only intend on keeping two to run in SLI configuration, and I have been driving myself mad as to which two I should be keeping.

I've never run SLI before, but I have spent copious amounts of time researching the subject; particularly about the exact question that I'm posting here. Unfortunately however, there are SO many different opinions that it's making my head spin.

I'm using a Coolermaster cm690 iii with a Corsair H100i mounted on the top, and the stock rear and front fans that came with the case (4 fans in total). Unfortunately the side of the case is a windowed side and doesn't have a mounting spot for a side fan. I ran the G1s for a few days and of course, noticed app. 10 degrees difference, with the top card running hotter. I am now running the two reference cards and am noticing almost 20 degrees in difference.

I understand that open air cards will blow hot air into the case and reference will blow it out the back. My ASUS Maximus Hero Vii has about an inch between the top and bottom GPU cards so they're not directly stacked on top of one another, but there isn't an enormous amount of space. Cable management is very tidy, but the hard drives and other peripherals take up a lot of interior space which could negatively influence ventilation.

When run through 3Dmark Firestrike, the G1's came out with an overall score of 18,655 whilst the two references pulled 17,454. Whilst both are extremely powerful, that still translates to quite a difference. Even when the reference cards were overclocked to the same base clock speeds as the G1 (+152MHz) they only came out with 17,838 which is still 800 less than the G1 cards.

If it were based on preference alone, I would go G1 all day long, but I'm just concerned about ventilation and perhaps damaging or shortening the life of the top card due to overheating.

I really do need some direct advice as to what the better course of action would be. G1 or reference?

Thanks so much in advance, mates!

- Cheru

 

[davidarad02]

no. you shouldnt be worried. get the g1's, and enjoy the gaming bliss that comes with them.

 

[cheru2016]

Thank you for the reply, David.

I ended up returning the two G1 cards to the store, however I am still allowed to exchange them again.

I now have the two reference cards in my case and as mentioned, the Firestrike scores between ref and G1 do leave quite a gap.

Before I finalise my decision tomorrow for the last time, I'd love to hear the opinions of a few more of the knowledgable folks out here in forum land.

 

[cheru2016]

As a comparison, this was the score I pulled with the G1s -

SCORE
18655 with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti(2x) and Intel Core i7-4790K
Graphics Score 28018
Physics Score 11697
Combined Score 7137

The reference cards received this result -

STOCK CLOCK SPEEDS
SCORE
17454 with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti(2x) and Intel Core i7-4790K
Graphics Score 24857
Physics Score 11618
Combined Score 7038

OC CLOCK SPEEDS
SCORE
17838 with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti(2x) and Intel Core i7-4790K
Graphics Score 26148
Physics Score 11719
Combined Score 6860

 

[cheru2016]

Still no replies?

Bump?

 

[Reaper_7799]

In all honesty, if you are not planning to add the hybrid unit to the reference cards in the future, the G1 is a pretty stout overclocker above the factory overclock they give you and would probably be the better card(s). It has a custom pcb and custom dual bios, I'm pretty sure, and the capacitors should be a little more stout, plus at full load it is the same noise level as the reference but a good 10-15 deg cooler. If you are having issues getting heat out of your case with the G1's then stick with the reference cards but maybe see if you can overclock them higher than 152 , if you are not getting the performance you're after.

Just curious, did you test the cards individually also? I'm lucky, my reference is a good little overclocker and hits base 1270-1280 with no extra voltage and then 1475-1490 on boost. My individual firestrike graphics score is 20,600 at 1475 overclock. The 1490 oc makes things a little too hot and loud for me to run comfortable all the time.

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/5304837

 

[rcald2000]

@Cheru

Run GPU-Z and determine the ASIC quality. I don't yet have experience with running two 980 Ti's in SLI. Two 980 Ti's with custom blowers, in a tight case, would personally make me nervous, but again that fear is based on "book knowledge" not experience. Personally I plan on upgrading to two 980 Ti hybrids, as soon as I can catch them in stock at EVGA.

I just re-viewed Joker's video on overclocking a single 980 Ti. He pushed core clock and memory clock to +250 Mhz. His ASIC quality was 70.4% which I believe is respectable.

 

[cheru2016]

If it's of any assistance, this was the inside of my case when I had only one 980 Ti.

 

[rcald2000]

No picture. Could you please re-add the link?

 

[Reaper_7799]

These 980 ti's, even the reference can overclock really well. My asic is 72% and I run + 252 base and plus 500 to memory now. It will run + 270 with no extra voltage and closer to + 280 with a slight voltage increase but I haven't pushed it any further as I had to turn my fan curve almost max to keep temps under 80. I'll wait till I get the hybrid unit. I'll look some more into your other thread too rcald and put out a few suggestions later on.

 

[cheru2016]

Re-upped

 

[Reaper_7799]

Re-upped

BTW, I love that maximus 7, I almost bought it and might buy it a little later on. I grabbed this h97 pro gamer as a stopgap because I had to order the 980 ti earlier than expected and had other things going on too. But this H97 lets me get to 4.7 with 1.33V on my I7, so it's doing okay. I can hit 4.8 but that's closer to 1.39 V, a little too much voltage for me.

 

[cheru2016]

Thanks for the input, guys.

I'm now at work so am unable to test the ASIC until I get home in the evening.
I have to decide today which cards to settle on, so I guess I will go back to the store and pick up the G1s again and settle on those.
I just hope that I don't wreck the top card with heat from the bottom or that it doesn't throttle out due to high temps.

 

[cheru2016]

Just curious, did you test the cards individually also? I'm lucky, my reference is a good little overclocker and hits base 1270-1280 with no extra voltage and then 1475-1490 on boost. My individual firestrike graphics score is 20,600 at 1475 overclock. The 1490 oc makes things a little too hot and loud for me to run comfortable all the time.

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/5304837

I tested reference 980 Ti, G1 980 Ti, and G1 980 Ti Sli in this video.
I tested reference 980 Ti SLI but didn't include it in the video.

http://

The scores however are listed above in this thread

 

[rcald2000]

I just watched your video, thumbed up, and subscribed, to help your channel out. Good luck.

 

[cheru2016]

I just watched your video, thumbed up, and subscribed, to help your channel out. Good luck.

Thank you, mate
Hopefully you'll find some videos of interest!

At a glance, do you think that the ventilation I have in my case would be enough to dissipate the extra heat fast enough?
I may need to remount the SSD somewhere else and remove the whole middle HDD cage to allow for a bit more airflow through the front. My case side is solid metal with a perspex window so there's nowhere to mount a fan, unless I find a completely different case door for my case, though I don't even know if such a thing exists.

 

[rcald2000]

I hate to say this but I honestly don't know. Strangely, your case is bigger in the picture than I initially imagined from your description. I just ordered myself a new case yesterday but will be removing all cages and install just my Intel 750 PCIe SSD. I don't like the cages breaking up the airflow and I just don't like how they influence the aesthetics inside the case.

I used to have 4 x Samsung 850 (250 GB) in RAID 0, but now I just use the one Intel 750 and it achieves the same performance and uses NVMe.

Intel SSD 750 Series 1.2TB PCIe and 2.5" SFF Review - NVMe for the Consumer
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Storage/Intel-SSD-750-Series-12TB-PCIe-and-25-SFF-Review-NVMe-Consumer

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=intel+750&N=-1&isNodeId=1

 

[Reaper_7799]

Good video, I gave you a subscribe also. Your physics score will go up with an overclock on your processor.

 

[Reaper_7799]

I just watched your video, thumbed up, and subscribed, to help your channel out. Good luck.

Thank you, mate
Hopefully you'll find some videos of interest!

At a glance, do you think that the ventilation I have in my case would be enough to dissipate the extra heat fast enough?
I may need to remount the SSD somewhere else and remove the whole middle HDD cage to allow for a bit more airflow through the front. My case side is solid metal with a perspex window so there's nowhere to mount a fan, unless I find a completely different case door for my case, though I don't even know if such a thing exists.

You should remove the middle cage and perhaps stick another fan up front, I don't know what you have for intake fans up front already though. You could also attach a 120mm or a 140mm to that cage inside the case if you have a way to attach them, that way it will feed right into the 980 ti intake but it looks a little squished.

That's how I have mine set up and it stays nice and cool. I have one 200mm up front and then two 120mm on the drive cages right in front of the 980 ti intake.

 

[cheru2016]

Mmm - not sure if I can mount anything on the drive cages.

This is the case I have.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1417618/spiders-hands-on-overview-of-the-cm-690-iii-image-heavy

 

[Reaper_7799]

Mmm - not sure if I can mount anything on the drive cages.

This is the case I have.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1417618/spiders-hands-on-overview-of-the-cm-690-iii-image-heavy

There is a spot to attach a 120mm right there in that middle cage, if you leave that in but you will have to move your wiring around a bit. It may help some and direct air right into the 980 ti but I would also pull out each individual drive holder, it looks like they are still in, it will help airflow from your 200 mm fan.

If not, I would probably take that cage out because it will give you much better airflow and then you can either remove the 200mm and replace them with 2 140mm fans or just keep it as it is. Two 140mm or 2 120mm will push more air into the case than a single 200mm.

 

[cheru2016]

So I should remove the bottom and middle cages completely, put the SSD in the tray beneath the MB and the two HDD in the top ODD cabinet.

Then mount two 140mm fans to the front, instead of the 200mm, and throw a 120mm on the middle cage frame.

 

[Reaper_7799]

So I should remove the bottom and middle cages completely, put the SSD in the tray beneath the MB and the two HDD in the top ODD cabinet.

Then mount two 140mm fans to the front, instead of the 200mm, and throw a 120mm on the middle cage frame.

Yeah you can do it that way but I think you have to leave the bottom cage in, if you are going to keep the middle cage installed. It looks like it attaches to both the top and the bottom cages. If you take them out completely you would just have the 2 140mm up front pushing in and that should be enough with both of the cages removed.

If you leave them the way it is now, you could attach one 120mm to that middle cage as it is now, there are mounting points for it and then you could leave the 200mm or replace it with 2 140mm.

 

[cheru2016]

As per your advice, I just purchased two 140s and one 120.

 

[Reaper_7799]

As per your advice, I just purchased two 140s and one 120.

Cool man, good luck. Also that physics score will go up if you overclock your processor. Mine went up from around where you are at now to 13,000 but that was at 4.7, but even 4.6Ghz was around 12,300 I think.