SLI My GTX 980 or Wait / Upgrade?

[Ransome]

Core i5-3570K (running @ 4.2 Ghz - slight auto voltage OC).
Gigabyte G1 Gaming Geforce GTX 980
Asus Sabertooth Z77 Motherboard
16 GB of G.Skill ripjaw-X DDR3 1600Mhz (x.m.p profile)
SSD 256GB Crucial M4.
HD Western Digital Black 2TB
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14
Case: Corsair CC600T Graphite White Special Edition
PSU: Corsair 850AX Gold
Running Win 8.1 64bit. Pro
Monitor: Asus ROG SWIFT PG278Q 2560 x 1440p
Secondry Screen: 55" TV: Samsung UA55D6400 TV1080p 60Mhz
Connected via Pioneer VSX-823-K AV Receiver

Flying abroad today. Thinking of getting a 2nd GTX 980 and go SLI or buy it here in Israel when I get back.

Will mostly play The Witcher 3 and The Phantom Pain this year. The Division later.

So should I SLI my GTX980 ? Or should I buy a different card or wait?
Titan X is too damn expensive, and wouldn't SLIing a 980 be better than a Titan X?
Also, I heard that with the up and coming DX12 and Win10 (not sure when that happens) it will be possible to mix, SLI fashion, two cards of different brands and models?!
How wil it work exactly?
My question is, should I wait for say.. GTX 990 and "SLI" it with my GTX980 using DX12? If it's possible..

 

[RCFProd]

The question is why do you want to SLI your GTX 980?

 

[RobCrezz]

So, we will soon see the cheaper version of the Titan X come out, likely with 6Gb Ram, probably called the GTX 1080.

Wait for that to be released then either:
1) Sell the 980 and upgrade to the 1080
2) Buy another 980 to SLI (980 prices will drop when the new 1080 is available)

 

[lcp1109]

wait for the game to be released, if you find your self unhappy with the performance you can than see which will be the best option.

 

[Ransome]

I can afford the cost of another 980 I think. If it will give me a long term and further "future proofness" than yes, I can buy another.
However what about my question regarding DX12 and mixing different GPU models?
Maybe in the near future I can DX12 SLI my 980 with 1080 for instance?

I have paitence, I did skip the entire 700 series and stuff. My last upgrade was from 670 to 980 this November. Also I have yet to truly challege my gtx 980 enough. However high fps is very important for me.

Selling my card is not really an option in Israel.. I can but I don't trust it and I rather have reserve or use it on a secondry build.

 

[JUICEhunter]

I can afford the cost of another 980 I think. If I will.give me a long term and further "future proofness" than yes, I can buy Another.
However what about my question regarding DX12 and mixing different GPU models?
Maybe in the near future I can DX12 SLI my 980 with 1080 for instance?

There is little to no information out about this. I'm sure we will hear more about mixing gpus soon but right now there isn't a whole lot to consider your next upgrade around it.

Original question: Only get a 2nd 980 if ultra/2k/144hz is what you need.

 

[Ransome]

Thanks, wish I had more info to go by.
To be honest I am not sure yet.
I think I will eventually buy another GTX 980 and go SLI, but I wonder if I should just do so already, now that The Wild Hunt is around the corner.
Will appreciate more opinions and thoughts here guys

 

[RCFProd]

If you are satisfied with one GTX 980 it would be a bit strange to just get another one.

First see how the GPU performs in The Wild Hunt.

 

[lcp1109]

http://www.nextpowerup.com/news/19361/the-witcher-3-pc-ultra-graphics-settings-runs-at-1080p-resolution-and-60fps-on-a-gtx-980-gpu.html

Unfortunately the is no info about 1440p, so no one can really tell you what you should do. If expending 570$ is no big deal for then you should just buy the card and stop wasting your time running your head around this problem, but if you don't have money to trow around for no good reason you should wait until the game is released, or until more info is available about playing it at 1440p

 

[Ransome]

If you are satisfied with one GTX 980 it would be a bit strange to just get another one.

First see how the GPU performs in The Wild Hunt.

Seriously, this isn't about wasting or throwing money. It's about making the right investment and at the correct timing.
Hence why I asked if I should SLI now, or consider the futuristic DX12 SLI between different series/models Of GPUS, ETC..

As far as I see it, there won't be any game as heavy as The Witcher 3 for at least a year or two.
MGS V The Phantom Pain is a must have for me, but I am pretty sure it will have smoother stronger performance and be less demanding than TW3 since Ground Zeroes was highly optimized on both pc and ps4 (Up to 60fps).
The Division that's probably coming end of 15 or at 2016 might be the only challenger for TW3.

Now about the article you posted in the link:
I doubt the game will run on "constant 60fps @1080p" on Ultra.
The main reason being that if Ultra is the same as TW2: then it will have UberSampling enabled. A feature that drastically reduces performance while not really improving the visuals.
With UberS. There is no way it will be a constant 60.
TW3 features a massive world with loads of shadows, AI and details to render. Surely at hectic locations and intense fights it will drop to 40s 50s and so on, especially on Ultra.

Now I play TW2 atm, thought I could use this as reference:
At 1440p (G-sync 144hz), with Geforce Experience auto optimizing all my settings to the highest BUT with UberSampling OFF, my fps is as follows:
In Flotsam the town in act 1 I get 80 to 90 fps.
Outside of town in the Forest I get 70 - 80, about 75 average.
When fighting in the deep woods - fps can drop between 60+ - 75.

So yeah, there is certainly room for improvement. With G-sync I can say that 90 fps looks much more amazing and smooth than 60 or 70fps.
I imagine that in 1080p I will run constantly @ 60fps (vsync tv).

So yeah upgrading now or going SLI is an investment. I don't know if I would need this though... There is also a chance that I would play TW3 on my TV at 1080p 60mhz to enjoy the high quality 5.1 home cinema system and less demanding performance.

 

[lcp1109]

Seriously, this isn't about wasting or throwing money. It's about making the right investment and at the correct timing.
Hence why I asked if I should SLI now, or consider the futuristic DX12 SLI between different series/models Of GPUS, ETC..

That why I told you, like some other users, that you should wait for more info about the game and then take a decision...

Unless money is not a problem for you and you can easily expend $570, in this case there is no point losing your time thinking about it, just buy the can and then go grab a bear with some friends.

Right now it would be pure speculation to say that you will need an GTX 980 SLI to have a good gaming experience with Whitcher 3

 

[RCFProd]

Ofcourse it is a waste of money. There is no 'right investment' excuse for this.

One GTX 980 should by Itself already be very future proofed.

Future proofing on graphics cards with dual GPU solutions is almost pointless.

You'll want to get rid of them in 1-2 years because there will be newer and better ones on the market.

And that keeps on going.

 

[Ransome]

Unless money is not a problem for you and you can easily expend $570, in this case there is no point losing your time thinking about it, just buy the can and then go grab a bear with some friends.

Sorry... but I had to:

 

[lcp1109]

lol

 

[Ransome]

I need to think more about the gtx980 sli. The main problem in Israel is that prices never come down. What happens usually with those special oc' high end cards, is that they simply disappear from the shelves. So if I hold out the purchase for too long, it will be impossible for me to SLI. (Especially since I want to SLI with another Gigabyte 980 g1 gaming).

Happened to me with my old gtx670 when I wanted to go SLI after a year I couldn't find it anywhere.

Another question please: you can see my rig specs above: can I SLI with my current hardware ,especially the Power Supplier?Does it have enough juice? (Would assume the answer is yes, but Iwant to be sure).

Regarding the hardware in general: I consider my rig to be a high-end gaming pc. Should I bother upgrade anything else? What do you think of my system?

In a seperate thread I posted, people claimed that I have no reason to upgrade my CPU since it won't give much of a boost in games.

 

[RobCrezz]

Nothing in your system needs to be upgraded to be honest.

Personally I wouldnt bother with SLI in your situtation. When you need more GPU power, sell your 980 and upgrade to a latest and greatest.

 

[lcp1109]

yes, your system is more then ok, your PSU will support 2x gtx 980, about upgrading the CPU, yours is a bit slower then an i5-4690k, but at gaming you will not get any real performance improvement if you upgrade, at least for now.

 

[Ransome]

Thank you very much for all the helpful information and advice. This is pretty reassuring!

I might actually go for an SLI, will do my calculations. I'm trying to see if I can find another Gigabye G1 Gaming GTX 980 (had to say it..) at a decent price. The reason why I might buy the same GPU brand is for the sake of clock speed uniformity, aesthetics, and since the Gigabyte 980 is pretty nice and sleek with its back-plate and cooling.