Will an Nvidia 1080 Ti card work with my old PC?

[gpufan_2994]

Hello, I have got currently the following configuration: Int Core i5-3570 3400 1155, be quiet! Pure Power BQT L7 530W ATX23, Asro P67 PRO3 P67 RG SA, D316GB 1600-999 XMP K4 KHX and currently with Asus2GB D5 X GTX660 TI-DC2 R. I'd like to replace the current GPU with an Nvidia 1080 Ti based one. Will it work with the old PCI 2.0 x16 slot? Are there any potential performance bottlenecks to expect, should I replace some other components? Many thanks!!
P.S. In addition - could I even use 2x of 1080 Ti via SLI with my current PC?

 

[Barty1884]

Compatibility-wise, there shouldn't be any issues.

The 1080TI will work just fine on a 2.0 PCIe x16 slot. The bandwidth (even 2.0 x8) is still mroe than sufficient.

I'd have some concerns:
1. The PSU. it's definitely a bit older, and a 'budget' oriented offering in it's day. Coupled with the fact the 1080TI draws another 100W over and above a 660TI (250W TDP vs 150W).

2. Depending on the resolution, the 1080TI is probably overkill to pair with a 3570. 1080p or 1440p, the CPU is likely to hold back the GPU in a lot of titles. At 4K though, the CPU matters much less.

3. The cost. A 1080TI is comfortably $1,000 (or more) today, and a horrible value for money at that point.

 

[gpufan_2994]

Compatibility-wise, there shouldn't be any issues.

The 1080TI will work just fine on a 2.0 PCIe x16 slot. The bandwidth (even 2.0 x8) is still mroe than sufficient.

I'd have some concerns:
1. The PSU. it's definitely a bit older, and a 'budget' oriented offering in it's day. Coupled with the fact the 1080TI draws another 100W over and above a 660TI (250W TDP vs 150W).

2. Depending on the resolution, the 1080TI is probably overkill to pair with a 3570. 1080p or 1440p, the CPU is likely to hold back the GPU in a lot of titles. At 4K though, the CPU matters much less.

3. The cost. A 1080TI is comfortably $1,000 (or more) today, and a horrible value for money at that point.

Many thanks for your reply! I should probably have mentioned that I won't use it for games etc., but primarily for machine learning and maybe also some crypto-mining experiments. So if I understand it correctly I will most probably need to upgrade the PSU with one that has at least 100W more (is it really mandatory right from begin of such upgrade, or could I just test things out and see if it's a must-have?). In addition - could I even use 2x of 1080 Ti via SLI with my current PC? Thank you!!

 

[yeti_yeti]

Compatibility-wise, there shouldn't be any issues.

The 1080TI will work just fine on a 2.0 PCIe x16 slot. The bandwidth (even 2.0 x8) is still mroe than sufficient.

I'd have some concerns:
1. The PSU. it's definitely a bit older, and a 'budget' oriented offering in it's day. Coupled with the fact the 1080TI draws another 100W over and above a 660TI (250W TDP vs 150W).

2. Depending on the resolution, the 1080TI is probably overkill to pair with a 3570. 1080p or 1440p, the CPU is likely to hold back the GPU in a lot of titles. At 4K though, the CPU matters much less.

3. The cost. A 1080TI is comfortably $1,000 (or more) today, and a horrible value for money at that point.

Many thanks for your reply! I should probably have mentioned that I won't use it for games etc., but primarily for machine learning and maybe also some crypto-mining experiments. So if I understand it correctly I will most probably need to upgrade the PSU with one that has at least 100W more (is it really mandatory right from begin of such upgrade, or could I just test things out and see if it's a must-have?). In addition - could I even use 2x of 1080 Ti via SLI with my current PC? Thank you!!

You could not sli 2 1080 TI'S, since SLI is only supported by higher end motherboards.

 

[gpufan_2994]

@yeti_yeti Thank you!

And by the way - how do I discover that my PSU is "weak" for a new GPU? Are there any tools to use in this regard? Thanks.

 

[Barty1884]

Many thanks for your reply! I should probably have mentioned that I won't use it for games etc., but primarily for machine learning and maybe also some crypto-mining experiments. So if I understand it correctly I will most probably need to upgrade the PSU with one that has at least 100W more (is it really mandatory right from begin of such upgrade, or could I just test things out and see if it's a must-have?). In addition - could I even use 2x of 1080 Ti via SLI with my current PC? Thank you!!

It's not so much the wattage (just pointing out the differing power draw), moreso in quality of the PSU.

A quality 500-550W would be sufficient, but the PurePower L7 isn't exactly great.
It's not *technically* a requirement, but definitely a good idea.

As for SLI... No. Your board only has a single x16 slot, so only natively supports 1x GPU at x16.
For Crypto (and potentially machine learning, I'm not 100% on that), a powers x1 to x16 riser may allow you to run a second GPU (not technically SLI). Whether the bandwidth is sufficient for your uses, I can't say. Crypto can use x1 without issue, but learning, you'd have to do additional research.

There would be additional power concerns if you wanted to run 2x 1080TI's.

 

[gpufan_2994]

Many thanks for your reply! I should probably have mentioned that I won't use it for games etc., but primarily for machine learning and maybe also some crypto-mining experiments. So if I understand it correctly I will most probably need to upgrade the PSU with one that has at least 100W more (is it really mandatory right from begin of such upgrade, or could I just test things out and see if it's a must-have?). In addition - could I even use 2x of 1080 Ti via SLI with my current PC? Thank you!!

It's not so much the wattage (just pointing out the differing power draw), moreso in quality of the PSU.

A quality 500-550W would be sufficient, but the PurePower L7 isn't exactly great.
It's not *technically* a requirement, but definitely a good idea.

As for SLI... No. Your board only has a single x16 slot, so only natively supports 1x GPU at x16.
For Crypto (and potentially machine learning, I'm not 100% on that), a powers x1 to x16 riser may allow you to run a second GPU (not technically SLI). Whether the bandwidth is sufficient for your uses, I can't say. Crypto can use x1 without issue, but learning, you'd have to do additional research.

There would be additional power concerns if you wanted to run 2x 1080TI's.

Alright, now it's generally clear, huge thanks! I will start with 1 strong GPU and then see if I need more (most probably it won't be the case at 1080 Ti is absolutely sufficient for most ML tasks that I currently have got to solve). Just not sure what you mean by "a powers x1 to x16 riser" .

 

[Barty1884]

Meant to say "powered". Basically, it's a riser cable that connects to the x1 PCIe slot (on the motherboard) on one end, and gives a full x16 slot (physically) on the other end that the GPU connects to. Typically they require additional power (as there's not the typical 75W available via the PCIe slot).

Looks like this:

 

[niksonrex88]

Honestly. I think its a much better idea for you to get a gtx 1060 6GB or a gtx 1070 together with a new cpu. Cause on some of the newest titles if you are not planning to play at 4k the 1060 does a great job and your pc could bottleneck some games. So yea. $1k is a bollocks price for what you get.

 

[jr9]

- Don't recommend buying a high end GPU for mining. It will take you ages to break even with power costs factored in.

- Unless you are playing at 4k, a GTX 1080 Ti is complete overkill for regular gaming. I would not look any higher than GTX 1070 for your system given the processor. A 3rd gen core i5 will bottleneck a GTX 1080 Ti. Even a GTX 1080 would get bottlenecks with that CPU and it would be very noticeable.

- You need a power supply upgrade for a newer card unless you go for a GTX 1060. Recommend a gold rated 650W like a EVGA G2/G3 or Seasonic FOCUS.

- Don't bother with SLI. It's not worth it and especially not if you are on the Ivy Bridge platform. If you were trying to get 144FPS+ on a 4k display it would be different.

If you have a reason to opt for a 1080 Ti, it would be best to look at a completely new build.

 

[Barty1884]

@niksonrex88 and @jr9, OP confirmed no gaming. Machine Learning & Crypto.

Agreed on the crypto return period being ridiculous, but if it's a valid card for ML, then the crypto aspect is secondary.

Depending on the scope of the ML, you may need a better CPU etc anyway..... but IIRC, ML is pretty GPU heavy more than anything else.... so you may well be fine.