Nvidia GTX 660 in SLi or Save for a single card?

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NoviceBuilder0412

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May 24, 2014
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Hi, wondered if anybody could give me some advice. Looking to upgrade my GPU and while searching I found a used identical card to mine (Asus GTX 660) for cheap. Motherboard is SLI compatible so seems like a good idea?..., and psu is powerful enough. I'd need to sell my 660 to fund an upgrade anyway and it's only a few months old so seems like a good option? but never used sli before.
Wondered if anyone could advise me what to do or what problems I may not have thought of?
Any help greatly appreciated
John
 
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Anonymouselite5
Well I can also agree with that. +1
You could buy a 2nd card and use it quite well.

Then in the future when the next generation of cards come out which may include cheaper versions of an already existing card, or buy a higher tier card and get your upgrades worth.
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Well SLI takes up much more Watts than a any single card equivalent. Not to mention extra heat.
So yes a single card solution is most of the time better than an SLI config. Some games even have problems with more than one card.

Although that also depends on your budget, SLI may be much cheaper than buying a new card. I would still recommend a single card though, a 970 will be the same as 2 gtx 660ti's in SLI (when the SLI works). Not to mention that the 660ti only has 2GB's of VRAM. Meaning recent games such as BF4 (which uses more than 2GB) you'll be losing performance.
So yes a single card is always better unless you just don't have the budget for a GTX 970 or r9 290x.

edit: you could also try looking for a GTX 780 or 780ti for cheaper since they're not made anymore.
-good luck
 
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Depends on what type of games you want to play, some games just don't run well in SLI and you get stuttering between frames and it can really put you off, others just get no performance boost from the second card. Best to look up the games your going to play and see how well they run in SLI. Another problem with SLI is you use more power generally and produce more heat, so this puts your energy bill up and can make a room that has no aircon very unpleasant in summer.
 
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Budget is a tough one, I live in Cyprus and being an island with not so many importers things tend to be expensive, and used prices stay high because of that.

The 2nd GTX 660 is asking €100 which isn't that bad as they're around €230/€250 to buy new here.
So Option 1 of going SLI would only cost me €100

Option 2: Then there's somebody selling a R9 290 for €250, if I could get €150 for mine that would also be €100 (Probably best option so far)

Option 3 is to sell my card and buy new. Here for a GTX 970 I'm looking at €420/€480 and if I were to move away from the green side a R9 290 can be had for as little as €325, but realistically say €360
So spend of €200 to €300 for a new upgrade 🙁

Writing this I'm now kinda thinking my 660 is actually alright. But then again I want better but can I really be bothered....
Yes! I can :) haha
 
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Definitely get the R9 290. I would no longer recommend a 970 because of Nvidia's false advertising.
 
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Well budget is hard, but think about it this way.

The single card is better but like we already know much more expensive.
Although a 2nd 660ti is much cheaper and is less effective and could give problems in newer games.
I recently did the same thing (although with a AMD 7850) I could have brought a 2nd card but opted for the r9 290 instead. It's up to you though and depends how much you want to spend.

Also with the GTX 970 vs the r9 290. The GTX 970 beats the r9 290 is most cases, but the r9 290 is cheaper and faster when there are games that use more than 3.5gb's of Vram (which is not many). So you can stay with Nvidia and go the 970 (for more money) or buy the AMD card for less..
In my opinion 100 euroes is not worth the 970 over the r9 290... but if you really like Nvidia.

Those are your choices.
-good luck
 
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Recently I was faced with a similar decision and I decided to go SLi. I had a 680 and ended up getting a second one for ~$140 on ebay. If you can find a cheap secondhand 660 then I'd go for that. I think you can score one for ~90 or less given that 680s are selling for 140-180 used.

Personally I think the whole vRam thing is a bit overhyped.

I play FC4 maxed out with the exception of very high for textures and 2xMSAA and my memory usage stays at about 1.8 GB.

Sure if you are going bigger than 1080p then I'd get a new 4GB card but I honestly think that you would be better served by just getting a second 660 on the cheap if budget is a major concern. Also consider the fact that you might not get much selling your 660 to put towards a new GPU.

I also like the suggestion to find a cheap secondhand 780, I have seen them going for a great deal in the aftermarket. Heck even a 770 (680) would be a nice upgrade.
 
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Thanks so much for every ones advice :)
I'm going off the idea of SLI now (Well with 660's anyway) for many of the reasons you've said. Currently only game at 1080p but I'm certain as higher res monitors lower in price I'd say it's inevitable at some point I'll want one haha
I'll only end up having to sell 2x 660's in the end haha
Problem is I don't have alot to work with being here, I can get things shipped here of course but try to avoid incase of possible problems and then expensive troublesome rma
Overseas shipping prices itself out, not to mention the exchange rate sucks euro to pound and stung on duty for anything from the us. Sorry rant over... haha
http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=el&u=http://www.eshopcy.com.cy/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Deshop%2Bcy%26biw%3D1477%26bih%3D735
This retailer is really the only option, I must say good in the past though but a bit pricey.
Tempted by a 770 but then it's not much more to get a 970!
Think it's gonna be the R9 290 :)
 
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The 960 has been released but 2 660ti's in SLI will give more performance than a 960, and for the price it's not worth it.
Once again a cheap 780 would be a good deal. Although an r9 290 an even better deal for the price (unless you find a 780 cheaper)

The 4GB's of Vram, like jjb8675309 said. Most 1080p gamers aren't going to use over 2gb's on most titles.
Although games such as BF4 with MSAA can use up to 2.5gb's and we haven't seen how demanding the newer titles may be.
My modded Skyrim with Mods actually utilizes up to 3.5gb's of my 4GB's.
So yes it's true that 2gb's is enough for now, we can't say for the future.

-good luck

 
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^^And that is talking maxed out, scale back textures and AA a bit and you are well under 2GB imo, personally I am glad I bought a secong 680 over selling my 680 and buying a 980 or 970. I would have shelled out a lot more money for marginally better performance. I think I'll be good for about a year or so, I'm gonna wait til the next series of GPUs come out before I upgrade.
 
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Well I can also agree with that. +1
You could buy a 2nd card and use it quite well.

Then in the future when the next generation of cards come out which may include cheaper versions of an already existing card, or buy a higher tier card and get your upgrades worth.
 
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Solution


This is true. If you're on a hard budget and don't mind having to upgrade again, you could just SLI your 660s and then Uprade in the future and use one of your 660s for PhysX or something

 
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