SLI vs Buying 1 New Better Card

[hero887]

Trying to decide on how to get the most "bang" for the buck by comparing SLI to buying a new card.

I currently am running a MSI N660 GeForce GTX 660 2GB 192-Bit GDDR5 and I want to either put it in SLI mode with this similar card or save 2x's as much and get this card.

Some questions/concerns about that tho...

1. Will SLI work with that "similar" card. I know it's 128-bit and my original is 192-bit. Will it work?

2. Will the MSI GeForce GTX 970 GTX 970 GAMING 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5 be a better card than both of those other cards combined in SLI?

3. My reason for upgrading is to hopefully increase the FPS of games while recording/livestreaming. Will any of these upgrades give me a noticeable difference (bare in mind, I don't use my gaming PC to stream, I outsource streaming to my streaming PC)? OR should I rather save to get a beast like the MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti GTX 980Ti GAMING 6G

Thoughts? I would greatly appreciate it! Especially regarding SLI compatibility. From what I read...doesn't seem hopeful to SLI with those cards. Let me know! Thanks again!

Total PC Specs:
Case - Cooler Master HAF XB EVO
MOBO - ASUS M5A99FX PRO R2.0 AM3+ AMD 990FX
CPU - AMD 4-Core FX-4300
RAM - Kingston HyperX FURY 8GB 1866MHz DDR3
GPU - MSI N660 GeForce GTX 660 2GB 192-Bit GDDR5
PSU - EVGA SuperNOVA 750W
SSD - Crucial M500 120GB
HD - Samsung 500 GB

 

[pete_101]

No, it wouldn't work and if it did you wouldn't want to do it anyway. 2GB is not enough memory, in case you didn't know 2 + 2 doesn't = 4, it still = 2GB as both cards have to mirror each other's data. Also SLI is messy and some games simply refuse to run on it. Get a GTX 970 or R9 390 and be done with it. As for a beast of a card like the 980Ti, unless you are planning on a doing a major upgrade, your computer is nowhere near good enough for that GPU.

 

[spentshells]

No you can not sli the 960 with your current card. The only similar thing about them is the number 60 included in both of their names.

You could find a used 660 and sli with that, it would be rather cheap, but a single 970 is going to be far and wide a smother experience while offering the additional memory.

If you are short on money and are desperate for more fps then sure sli is a great option otherwise there are simply to many pro's going with the new card.

+1 gtx 970

 

[hero887]

...As for a beast of a card like the 980Ti, unless you are planning on a doing a major upgrade, your computer is nowhere near good enough for that GPU.

Just out of curiosity what kind of upgrades would be required to properly support/use/run that beast GPU? I'm assuming a better PSU for certainty. What else?

 

[hero887]

+1 gtx 970

2 questions about this card.

1. Is there a better similarly priced card out there than that one?
2. Does my current build support the GTX 970 or other recommended similar cards?

 

[pete_101]

+1 gtx 970

2 questions about this card.

1. Is there a better similarly priced card out there than that one?
2. Does my current build support the GTX 970 or other recommended similar cards?

A similar performance/priced card is the R9 390. On the positive side, the R9 390 has 8GB of VRAM vs 4GB (or 3.5GB) for the GTX 970 and at higher resolutions is the better card. On the negative side, it uses more power and therefore runs hotter, also some say the drivers aren't as good but this is debatable.
Your system should be able to run either of these two cards, although you may see a bit of bottlenecking at times..

As for upgrades required for a GTX 980Ti, your PSU is about the only component that's actually good enough, 750W is more than you would need. Also your 8GB DDR3 RAM would still be ok, unless you got a new Intel Skylake CPU which requires DDR4.
You would need at least a new CPU and ideally you would get an Intel motherboard with an i7 CPU. With your current motherboard, the AM3+, it takes the likes of the 8350......which is an improvement over what you've got. I think the best AM3+ CPU is the 8370E. Even then it's questionable if you could run a 980Ti as some games only use 1 or 2 cores and the single core performance of those CPUs isn't all that good, where as Intel CPUs have much better single core performance.

 

[spentshells]

Just a quick note, @ 1080P there are very few games that exceed 2Gb yes it's great to have but Im still playing on ultra, I'm finding the games still "playable" in my eyes.

2 gtx 660's have pretty amazing performance.

Have a look

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xc5lwuDZGA

This is pretty old and the games are pretty old but you see clearly that adding another 100 dollar card to your setup will offer amazing an amazing performance boost.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/msi-geforce-gtx-660-twinfrozr-iii-review,24.html

 

[hero887]

Just a quick note, @ 1080P there are very few games that exceed 2Gb yes it's great to have but Im still playing on ultra, I'm finding the games still "playable" in my eyes.

2 gtx 660's have pretty amazing performance.

Have a look

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xc5lwuDZGA

This is pretty old and the games are pretty old but you see clearly that adding another 100 dollar card to your setup will offer amazing an amazing performance boost.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/msi-geforce-gtx-660-twinfrozr-iii-review,24.html

I like the specs on SLI GTX 660! I am considering to get a 2nd 660 for much less than the R9 390 (although I love that card from the looks of it and I haven't ruled it out for future upgrades). A few more questions and then I'll be finished (I hope) by the way, THANK YOU for all your help people!

1. Any good place to get a used 660, besides Amazon? Perhaps this? http://www.amazon.com/MSI-N660-GAMING-2GD5-OC/dp/B00FA0WKGW/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1446315777&sr=1-1-fkmr1&keywords=N660+GeForce+GTX+660+2GB+192-Bit+GDDR5

I found it very difficult to find this card new.

2. If I saved for the R9, I know I wouldn't regret it. But that means I have a good card unused. Any advice on how best to sell it?

3. I have ruled out getting the GTX 980Ti. It's WAY to expensive and unrealistic for me or the games I play at this point. BUT I am considering eventually (key word) going R9 390 SLI. That would future proof me for years. Even a single R9 390 would future proof me for years! But if I went SLI, what sort of PC set up would I need to accommodate that?

4. Lastly, if I went for the R9 390, does it matter which brand? MSI? GIGABYTE? ASUS?

 

[spentshells]

99 dollars and from amazon, pretty much as good as it gets, Ebay people are nuts they want way to much money

2 You are correct, the r9 390 is gonna be faster and all around better but a lot more expensive, Im pretty cheap so for me I would opt for the 660 in sli but for now you can sell your card on ebay or just craigslist.

3 Crossfire (not sli) would work fine on your current motherboard and cpu, sadly however a lot of performance would be lost as the cpu while awesome doesn't allow the 390 to shine/ perform at it's bestwith one card let alone 2. Yes you would see huge gains adding the second card, but by the time that becomes an option you would be better off getting a new card.... kinda like what you are doing now with the 660. Mind you the 390 has always been a high end card, the 660 never was (good card however)/

4 Any of the brands you listed will be fantastic. However best performance and quality for the lowest price I can see (on newegg) is this one here.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121974&ignorebbr=1&cm_re=amd_390-_-14-121-974-_-Product