sli 970 vs single 980

[Rebelstudiosgaming]

since the 980ti has been announced, i was thinking of getting it, until i saw the price, its not nearly worth it to buy one. so i was thinking about 1 980 or 2 970s, though the 3.5gb vram does kinda bug me. so is it worth it to get 2 970s or 1 980?

 

[king3pj]

A single 980 is a simpler setup that doesn't require as much power or a SLI capable motherboard.

Two 970s is a lot more powerful than a 980 and a few frames above or below a GTX Titan Z depending on the game. I have been running two of them without issue. VRAM has not been a problem for me but who knows if that will change in a year or two.

 

[davmazin]

its not 3.5gb vram its only that its harder to use the last 500mb on the card, i don't remember which post or thread but that was explained as its slower for the nvidia cards to use the last part of the vram also consider the resolution that you are gonna play with if its 1080p then the 970 is more than enough

 

[luckystrikes]

If you can afford 970 sli, go with those two.
Better performance than 1 980 and looks cool too if you have transparent window case.
3.5GB is really not a issue.

Did you know normal person will not be able to access 0.5GB ? You won't able to access it with a software neither.
It won't be used anyways and many people think the wrong way.

 

[Nextg_Rival]

Go with the 970 SLI, it's much faster than a single 980 and the VRAM is far more than enough for 1080p/1440p gaming.

 

[davmazin]

Well for GTA V and The witcher 3 wild hunt the 970 is more than enough for 1080p and i can tell cuz i have both games and a single 970 and it runs GTA V on high and some on ultra pretty well, also the witcher 3 was playing really well with everything maxed on 1080p

 

[JackNaylorPE]

1. The 970 SLI is 50% faster than the 980 and most often faster than a Titan X. In techpowerups test of 19 games

3 games had mixed results depending on resolution
Titan won 4
The SLId 970s won 10

2. The 3.5 GB things is a red herring .... reviewers can't seem to be able to duplicate the problem without doing special weird stuff
http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/middle-earth-shadow-of-mordor-geforce-gtx-970-vram-stress-test.html

3. Two 970s can cheaper than the 980. Here's what the neighborhood kids are doing

Tom does a new build with one 970 for $320 and gets his two game coupons

Dick buys a 970 for $320 and gets his two game coupons; Dick immediately sells his brand new 970 to Tom for $220

Tom gets two 970s for $540 ($10 less than a 980). Dick gets two games at a $20 discount