Zotac 1080ti AMP Extreme - Should I go for SLI?

[dinka100]

Hi, Last week I got myself a new rig aiming for 4K:

Motherboard: Asus Z270 Strix G
CPU: Intel i7-7700k (Not OC)
RAM: 2x Gskill D4 TDZ 8G 3200mhz c16
VGA: Zotac 1080Ti AMP Extreme
Case: ThermalTake View31 TG RGB
CPU Cooling: Antec Mercury 240 Liquid
PSU: Antec HCP 1000w Platinium
Monitor 32inch Benq UHD BL3201

I tested this rig on Dragon Age: Inquisition settings maxed out but it didnt satisfy me specially during heavy fights or where there was a huge fire or rain. So I lowered the following settings:
Texture quality: Fade touched >> ultra
Both Antialiasing and post process antialiasing >> off
Got better but still it lags,

questions:
-Will CPU OC help me get better results?
-Is SLI what I need?
-Can I SLI a 2nd of my current card on z270 strix MB? My current rig can handle a 2nd card?
-Any risks of having SLI going wrong as I heard it might cause micro jitters?

 

[bjornl]

Your current rig can handle a 2nd card. You will gain a little with an OC, but not much. But since you are chasing the 1%, then you might as well.
SLI is a bit twitchy. Some games it works fantastic, other games not so much. Nvidia is naturally working hard to get it right.

Before you spend money:
Do you have vynsc enabled?
Do you use afterburner?
Could what you are feeling be input lag?
Have you checked your system for what starts with your system (autoruns by Sysinternals (from MSFT))
run malwarebytes anti-malware.
Do you run the game from a fast SSD or m.2?
Try overclocking the CPU and see what it gets you.
Try overclocking the GPU and see what it gets you.
Try turning down anisotropic filtering.
Try turning down shadow detail just a little.

 

[dinka100]

Your current rig can handle a 2nd card. You will gain a little with an OC, but not much. But since you are chasing the 1%, then you might as well.
SLI is a bit twitchy. Some games it works fantastic, other games not so much. Nvidia is naturally working hard to get it right.

Before you spend money:
Do you have vynsc enabled?
Do you use afterburner?
Could what you are feeling be input lag?
Have you checked your system for what starts with your system (autoruns by Sysinternals (from MSFT))
run malwarebytes anti-malware.
Do you run the game from a fast SSD or m.2?
Try overclocking the CPU and see what it gets you.
Try overclocking the GPU and see what it gets you.
Try turning down anisotropic filtering.
Try turning down shadow detail just a little.

Hey, Appreciate the answer bjornl,

Regarding the CPU OC, I am using Antec Mercury 240, can it handle the OC? I am still searching for a good OC guide for my 7700k.

But lets answer your questions:

Do you have vynsc enabled? >> Guess it is enabled by default as I havent touched it
Do you use afterburner? >> I do 4.4.0
Could what you are feeling be input lag? >> What do you mean by an input lag?
Have you checked your system for what starts with your system (autoruns by Sysinternals (from MSFT))
run malwarebytes anti-malware. >> I use Kaspersky Internet Security on my system.
Do you run the game from a fast SSD or m.2? >> M.2
Try overclocking the CPU and see what it gets you. >> Can you give me a straight forward guide for it? and if my antec cooler can handle it?
Try overclocking the GPU and see what it gets you. >> It crashes the game at least with Dragon Age: Inquisition it does
Try turning down anisotropic filtering. >> will do and report back
Try turning down shadow detail just a little. >> will do and report back

 

[bjornl]

I suggest you start with disabling v-sync. Use afterburner to cap your frame rates. Given how close you seem to be, dumping vsync would seem a good start.
Check what starts with your system. That is a free set of tools from Microsoft, they work great.
If your GPU OC crashes the game, you probably went too far. I am assuming you followed a guide on how to raise the voltage as you raise the gpu processor and ram speeds?
Your Antec cooler is not very well regarded. But so long as your CPU temps remain ok, you should be able to OC some. The key is to monitor the temps during the process.
You should run malwarebytes anti-malware. It is free. And unlike Kaspersky has no link to the FSA.

Here is some
http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2103175/bios-overclocking-beginners.html
http://www.overclock.net/t/1621347/kaby-lake-overclocking-guide-with-statistics

 

[dinka100]

I suggest you start with disabling v-sync. Use afterburner to cap your frame rates. Given how close you seem to be, dumping vsync would seem a good start.
Check what starts with your system. That is a free set of tools from Microsoft, they work great.
If your GPU OC crashes the game, you probably went too far. I am assuming you followed a guide on how to raise the voltage as you raise the gpu processor and ram speeds?
Your Antec cooler is not very well regarded. But so long as your CPU temps remain ok, you should be able to OC some. The key is to monitor the temps during the process.
You should run malwarebytes anti-malware. It is free. And unlike Kaspersky has no link to the FSA.

Here is some
http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2103175/bios-overclocking-beginners.html
http://www.overclock.net/t/1621347/kaby-lake-overclocking-guide-with-statistics

Understood, I should have said that I have installed Asus AI Suite, should I remove it? I havent done any changes to it, only using it for monitoring, no tweaks yet.

about the GPU OC, I used guru3d guide which has been reliable through out these years. I even lowered GPU OC settings but again it crashed.

By the way, those autostart apps are that much important in ruining the performance?

What cpu cooler do you recommend so I use in my case which is a Thermaltake view 31?
Also is Prime95 a good program to intensively test my cpu cooler before OC? if not, what is?

I`m not gonna PM you but plz keep tracking this thread really need your help.

 

[bjornl]

The ASUS AI suite is just an alternative way to overclock. You can experiment with it if you wish. Small, conservative steps.
guru3d is a great site and a great resource. Pity you got nothing on the GPU update. I assume you raised the voltages slightly?
Every app you run sucks resources. Startup apps are important to control because you are not the one making the decision for when they do their stuff. Think of it this way... if I was asking you how heavy a backpack you could carry, and your coat had 14lb of gear in it, don't you think that 14lb might impact how much you can carry in your backback?
Your case is a nice wide case with good clearances. Should be easy to keep cool. I am not recommending you spend any money. I am recommending you try it with what you have first. That antec cooler might not be ideal, but it still might be ok for your needs. As for myself, I don't trust those AIO coolers. I've run water cooling in the past but I've gone back to air. Pumps don't fail and leaks don't happen with a Noctua. But that is what I use. I don't need validation and I don't care if anyone follows my example. I am simple (as are nearly all engineers) and so I dislike many popular things. I don't like fussy things. I hate windows in cases. I hate LEDs in PCs. I want my PC to be really good at being a PC and thats it; I don't want it to be a coffeetable center piece with some no-purpose blinky things. This outlook is no doubt in the minority, but that doesn't bother me a bit. Similarly you bought that cooler for some reason, and so should not toss it without first checking to see if it meets your goals and aesthetics.

 

[dinka100]

The ASUS AI suite is just an alternative way to overclock. You can experiment with it if you wish. Small, conservative steps.
guru3d is a great site and a great resource. Pity you got nothing on the GPU update. I assume you raised the voltages slightly?
Every app you run sucks resources. Startup apps are important to control because you are not the one making the decision for when they do their stuff. Think of it this way... if I was asking you how heavy a backpack you could carry, and your coat had 14lb of gear in it, don't you think that 14lb might impact how much you can carry in your backback?
Your case is a nice wide case with good clearances. Should be easy to keep cool. I am not recommending you spend any money. I am recommending you try it with what you have first. That antec cooler might not be ideal, but it still might be ok for your needs. As for myself, I don't trust those AIO coolers. I've run water cooling in the past but I've gone back to air. Pumps don't fail and leaks don't happen with a Noctua. But that is what I use. I don't need validation and I don't care if anyone follows my example. I am simple (as are nearly all engineers) and so I dislike many popular things. I don't like fussy things. I hate windows in cases. I hate LEDs in PCs. I want my PC to be really good at being a PC and thats it; I don't want it to be a coffeetable center piece with some no-purpose blinky things. This outlook is no doubt in the minority, but that doesn't bother me a bit. Similarly you bought that cooler for some reason, and so should not toss it without first checking to see if it meets your goals and aesthetics.

Regarding the AI Suite, many websites saying it is wrong to overclock with that as it fails usually and even if you update windows it will face issues, I even read that it mistakenly disables cooling fans on some incidents.

Tutorial said you need to increase the voltage by 100+ and thats what I did. I also tried without voltage increasing and didnt help.

I`m gonna check those autostart stuff you suggested, disabling V-Sync and also running a prime95 see how my PC works with that, then write an update here.

 

[dinka100]

I`m updating this

Yesterday you said something which kept my mind busy "I suggest you start with disabling v-sync" and last night when I got home, unwillingly, I disabled V-Sync, result wasnt that good and picture was broken most of the time. I turned it back on and this time I decided to do something else, I set the game on High Graphic Levels instead of ultra.I previously had Multisample Antialiasing turned off. It became super smooth and remember, it is in 4k high, not 2k high !! Then I started fine polishing it by moving each graphics option to ultra one by one, going out of the game and back so it applies changes and then I tested it. Test was carried out in "Storm Coast" inside a jungle full of shades with distant mountains in far view while fighting multiple foes, gamers who know this place understand what I am talking about in terms of rich graphics. Finally I got it all on ultra except below:

Mesh Quality : Ultra
Tessellation : Medium (2x level lowered)
Texture Quality : Fade Touched
Shadow Quality : High (1x level lowered)
Terrain Quality : Ultra
Vegetation Quality Ultra
Water Quality: Ultra
Post-process Quality : High
Ambient Occlusion : HBAO (1x level lowered)
Effects Quality : Ultra
Post process Antialiasing : High
Multisample Antialiasing : Off
Shader Quality : High (1x level lowered)

This game (Dragon Age: Inquisition) is the toughest game I have ever come to know which has the richest graphics and now I have dominated it in 4k with this Zotac 1080Ti AMP Extreme at stock settings fully stable at 60fps. It is even running better that last year when I played it on gtx980ti at 1080P. What eyes like to see is Texture Quality set at Fade Touched and on this settings we have it.

Oh and bjornl, I checked my BIOS settings, my X.M.P Profile on Asus Strix Z270 MOBO is enabled so my CPU is basically OC`ed at 4.5GHZ and rams at 3200MHZ.

So yeah This VGA is the right one card solution for 4k, you just need to lower some fussy options on graphics on some games. thats all.

Thanks for the help bjornl I am beyond happy.