single 980/ 970 SLI vs 670 SLI

[ibshortkid94]

I've got 2 MSI Power Edition 670's in my computer right now and I'm looking to upgrade (the 2GB of vram is becoming a major bottleneck). So far, I've narrowed it down to two possible configurations:

GTX 970 (2-way SLI)
GTX 980 (single card)

I'm pretty sure the 970 SLI will give me more raw frames, but the single, more powerful 980 will give me smoother gameplay (after a year with an SLI build I've noticed microstuttering and general SLI issues) In addition, the single 980 would provide room for improvement later since my Corsair HX850 can only handle 2 cards with my current setup. The only issue is I'm unsure if I will see a framerate drop in games that aren't bottlenecked by the 2GB frame buffer (I haven't been able to find any benchmarks comparing 670 2-way SLI to a 970/980). Which do you think will provide the better result?

Note: my budget is limited to ~600 USD, so if there are other suggestions keep them within that range.

 

[frag06]

I've got 2 MSI Power Edition 670's in my computer right now and I'm looking to upgrade (the 2GB of vram is becoming a major bottleneck). So far, I've narrowed it down to two possible configurations:

GTX 970 (2-way SLI)
GTX 980 (single card)

I'm pretty sure the 970 SLI will give me more raw frames, but the single, more powerful 980 will give me smoother gameplay (after a year with an SLI build I've noticed microstuttering and general SLI issues) In addition, the single 980 would provide room for improvement later since my Corsair HX850 can only handle 2 cards with my current setup. The only issue is I'm unsure if I will see a framerate drop in games that aren't bottlenecked by the 2GB frame buffer (I haven't been able to find any benchmarks comparing 670 2-way SLI to a 970/980). Which do you think will provide the better result?

Note: my budget is limited to ~600 USD, so if there are other suggestions keep them within that range.

970 SLI will be more powerful than one 980. One 970 will be a bit slower than 670 SLI in benchmarks, but the 970 will probably win in games.

One 970 is more than enough for 1080p and even most games at 1440p. With a $600 budget, you aren't going to be able to buy two.

A 980 isn't really worth the money, IMO. Better to buy one 970 now and SLI later if you need to.

 

[ibshortkid94]

I've got 2 MSI Power Edition 670's in my computer right now and I'm looking to upgrade (the 2GB of vram is becoming a major bottleneck). So far, I've narrowed it down to two possible configurations:

GTX 970 (2-way SLI)
GTX 980 (single card)

I'm pretty sure the 970 SLI will give me more raw frames, but the single, more powerful 980 will give me smoother gameplay (after a year with an SLI build I've noticed microstuttering and general SLI issues) In addition, the single 980 would provide room for improvement later since my Corsair HX850 can only handle 2 cards with my current setup. The only issue is I'm unsure if I will see a framerate drop in games that aren't bottlenecked by the 2GB frame buffer (I haven't been able to find any benchmarks comparing 670 2-way SLI to a 970/980). Which do you think will provide the better result?

Note: my budget is limited to ~600 USD, so if there are other suggestions keep them within that range.

970 SLI will be more powerful than one 980. One 970 will be a bit slower than 670 SLI in benchmarks, but the 970 will probably win in games.

One 970 is more than enough for 1080p and even most games at 1440p. With a $600 budget, you aren't going to be able to buy two.

A 980 isn't really worth the money, IMO. Better to buy one 970 now and SLI later if you need to.

Can you provide a link to the benchmarks that you are referencing? I'd like to see how much slower the 970 would be relative to the 670 sli.

I suppose if I go with one 970 then I will have some left over to get a better SSD for my system drive

 

[sammy sung]

I'd suggest going with the more powerful single card overall, which would be the 980. Always invest in the single powerful solution, and SLI/Crossfirex later if desired.

At this juncture I'd just wait for the AMD 3xx series. Then perhaps a 980Ti

SLI'd 670's are still great at this time, largely

 

[frag06]

I've got 2 MSI Power Edition 670's in my computer right now and I'm looking to upgrade (the 2GB of vram is becoming a major bottleneck). So far, I've narrowed it down to two possible configurations:

GTX 970 (2-way SLI)
GTX 980 (single card)

I'm pretty sure the 970 SLI will give me more raw frames, but the single, more powerful 980 will give me smoother gameplay (after a year with an SLI build I've noticed microstuttering and general SLI issues) In addition, the single 980 would provide room for improvement later since my Corsair HX850 can only handle 2 cards with my current setup. The only issue is I'm unsure if I will see a framerate drop in games that aren't bottlenecked by the 2GB frame buffer (I haven't been able to find any benchmarks comparing 670 2-way SLI to a 970/980). Which do you think will provide the better result?

Note: my budget is limited to ~600 USD, so if there are other suggestions keep them within that range.

970 SLI will be more powerful than one 980. One 970 will be a bit slower than 670 SLI in benchmarks, but the 970 will probably win in games.

One 970 is more than enough for 1080p and even most games at 1440p. With a $600 budget, you aren't going to be able to buy two.

A 980 isn't really worth the money, IMO. Better to buy one 970 now and SLI later if you need to.

Can you provide a link to the benchmarks that you are referencing? I'd like to see how much slower the 970 would be relative to the 670 sli.

I suppose if I go with one 970 then I will have some left over to get a better SSD for my system drive

Look at this OCN post for reference. There are many posts comparing cards. setups, ect.

Two 670's perform a bit better than a 780 Ti, so you are looking at the same thing with a 970.

 

[ibshortkid94]

I ended up going with a 970, I just couldn't justify the extra $200 for a 10-15% increase in performance.