![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
GTX 970 SLI, overkill for 1440p?
- Thread starter fishrule
- Start date
Araxie
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2013
- Messages
- 6,463
theres not such thing as overkill when talking from 2560x1440 and above because generally people have to lower settings and get rid off AA to keep playable Framerate.. 970SLI will be perfect for 1440P specially for the prices.. when you aim to be locked at 60FPS with recent games maxed out you will find how hard its that to maintain that..
S
sonsonate
Guest
No, it's not. I actually would upgrade to triple 970s and use Dynamic Super Resolution or GeDoSato on every game -- which I do use on the games that support it (mostly those UE engine games like ME3, Spec Ops: The Line, etc) for some very crisp downsampling from like 8K. You could probably get that magical 60FPS with maxed everything with the more taxing games.
What he said. I have a 1440p display driven by a single 290, and it's decent, but I've yet to really play a triple A title (we'll see how it fares once dragon age inquisition hits)
misterbobby
2[H]4U
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2014
- Messages
- 3,814
I have to wonder if people even look at reviews or search at all. Of course its not overkill as a single 970 or 980 most certainly can not even average much less stay above 60 fps in all demanding games maxed at 1440.
my experiences with SLI have only shown me that strongest single card will always beat sli... more frames doesnt always mean a smoother experience unfortunately
Araxie
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2013
- Messages
- 6,463
that can only apply if you are using mid range cards (and just in certain cases). to try to match a high end card.. but when you are already using a high end card and you want still more power SLI/Xfire its the solution.. i was a SLI user for very long time and never had single issue with the gameplay experience.. there are so much things that can decrease the smoother experience of a game when talking about Xfire and SLI.. what single card you know that can offer the performance of a 970SLI or a 980SLI setup?.
I disagree, 670 was almost identical to the 680 and was high end.
Performance = higher frames? If so of course SLI 970s and 980s will be unmatched. But I'll take lower frames and a smoother game any day
Lord_Exodia
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2005
- Messages
- 7,008
I agree. In some demanding games 970 SLi will be just on par with your 60fps goal. In others It'll be giving you more frames than you know what to do with, and on those I'd use DSR to provide 4k quality crispness to your 25x14 monitor. In that way those older less demanding games get more graphic crispness.
Many times people only look at FPS and these new cards brought more to the table than that. There are some good features with this launch. Soon the MFAA will be available in a driver update which I'm excited for.
Master_Pain
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2007
- Messages
- 4,947
This. I ditched my 780 SLI setup for a 980. Dealing with SLI and crossfire is a pain in the ass. You're always either trying to get something to work with it, or waiting for a profile to be released to enable SLI. I finally got fed up after waiting 6 months for a Titanfall SLI profile. It will be a long time before I try it out again.
Araxie
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2013
- Messages
- 6,463
thats exactly my point.. if you do not have enough power with a 680 to handle some games at high resolution what would you do? SLI its the only option, with a 670SLI you have way higher performance than a single 680 enough to be able to handle more eyecandy settings and still enjoy more performance.. one thing its have lower frames and better smoother gameplay and another is have to cut off settings to keep playable frames with a single card.. at the end it depend totally on the person, for example i like to have a game as maxed as possible (with of course acceptance of low AA and such things..) and be above 60FPS as possible.. sometimes SLI/Xfire its the only way to achieve those requirements.. specially if talking on high 2560x1440+ resolutions or 120+HZ monitors.. (more even yet with 1440P and 120+hz.. )
Starrbuck
2[H]4U
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2005
- Messages
- 2,981
How would a 980 compare against 780 SLI for 1440p?
Absoluely This. It has been true for as long as SLI and Crossfire have existed.
They advertise it as a way to increase performance with two cheaper cards as you need more performance over time... but that is absolutely the worst reason to run two cards... because of all the compatibility issues and the rapidly changing technology.
The ONLY good reason in my book to SLI or Crossfire is when you CAN NOT purchase a single graphics card that has the amount of performance you need or want.
In other words you are buying new tech, such as 970 or 980 cards and one of them just isn't going to do it. Otherwise you always, always, always buy the single card that gets the job done.
More time spent playing/working and less time screwing with driver and compatibility issues.
atifur.rahman
n00b
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2014
- Messages
- 27
No, I dont think it's overkill. Newer games are going to require a lot more powerful GPUs soon. Keep what you have man, there's no such thing as overkill for us PC gamers 
Not entirely. How about buying one 980 now, and getting another later when prices come down and the graphical demand gets a little higher. I purchased a 680 way back when and another about a year ago when I wanted a boost in performance. The only problems I've experienced was from games that didn't support SLI properly (1 game, The Book Of Unwritten Tales) and that one would run fine on a GTX 260. Poor coding.
Given the miniscule difference in performance, I would take 970 SLI right now over a single 980 hands down every time. If I have to turn off one card to play games that suffer from SLI occasionally, so be it. A single setting is easier than having to tweak several settings for optimal performance on a per game basis. Besides, nVidia profiles typically allow you to do just that.
Dayaks
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2012
- Messages
- 9,774
I was going back and forth over SLi in a different thread. I keep reverting back to this review with frame times. http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphi...and-GTX-970-GM204-Review-Power-and-Efficiency
Crysis 3 is the only game that actually gets better performance. BF4 and GRID2 will have the same settings (if you want the same smoothness) and Skyrim, Farcry3 and Bioshock straight up play like garbage with SLI. Not exactly small indie games. I am surprised Pcper is the only review site (currently 9/23) with frame times for SLI/Xfire but it really tells a story.
So if you want to get 970SLI where one or two games will play better, a few games will play on par but you'll have to convince yourself you don't see the microstutters when you up the settings, and other AAA games that play like garbage months/years after release have at it. I had 7970 trifire at one time. I'd say trifire for BF4 (one of the more optimized games) was about 30-50% faster than a single card. When I went down to crossfire then single card, I couldn't tell the difference from 2 to 1 cards. I didn't have to change settings at all which jives with Pcpers graphs.
I am going to see what AMD has up their sleeve, which is probably nothing, then get a 980 which I read OCs slightly better than a 970, except for maybe the MSI gaming 970... Gotta keep an eye on the OC thread. I'm personally debating if the 980 is worth it for 50% more cost, 20% more performance, slightly better OC and Titan(ish) cooler compared to the 970.
If people suggest SLI they should at least warn of the issues. Hell it is very tempting. 970 SLI is great value at first glance especially since people are getting 1500 OCs with it. But investigate further and you'll see a lot of compatibility issues... There's a few issues threads on these new cards in SLI already.
Crysis 3 is the only game that actually gets better performance. BF4 and GRID2 will have the same settings (if you want the same smoothness) and Skyrim, Farcry3 and Bioshock straight up play like garbage with SLI. Not exactly small indie games. I am surprised Pcper is the only review site (currently 9/23) with frame times for SLI/Xfire but it really tells a story.
So if you want to get 970SLI where one or two games will play better, a few games will play on par but you'll have to convince yourself you don't see the microstutters when you up the settings, and other AAA games that play like garbage months/years after release have at it. I had 7970 trifire at one time. I'd say trifire for BF4 (one of the more optimized games) was about 30-50% faster than a single card. When I went down to crossfire then single card, I couldn't tell the difference from 2 to 1 cards. I didn't have to change settings at all which jives with Pcpers graphs.
I am going to see what AMD has up their sleeve, which is probably nothing, then get a 980 which I read OCs slightly better than a 970, except for maybe the MSI gaming 970... Gotta keep an eye on the OC thread. I'm personally debating if the 980 is worth it for 50% more cost, 20% more performance, slightly better OC and Titan(ish) cooler compared to the 970.
If people suggest SLI they should at least warn of the issues. Hell it is very tempting. 970 SLI is great value at first glance especially since people are getting 1500 OCs with it. But investigate further and you'll see a lot of compatibility issues... There's a few issues threads on these new cards in SLI already.
Last edited:
rabidz7
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2014
- Messages
- 1,331
60FPS is the bare minimum for usability. There is nothing "magical" about it.
rabidz7
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2014
- Messages
- 1,331
I'd get a 980 over two 970s. It's not worth dealing with the SLI issues.
S
sonsonate
Guest
Well, when I said magical, I mean that it is illusive, hard to get at.
As for SLI problems, the last game I had with any "issue" was Trine Enhanced Edition beta. I had to turn off SLI to play it, otherwise, the screen was blank.
Stuttering, well, that can be subjective even though it is measurable. Some people aren't as sensitive as others. The list Dayaks gave left out that Bioshock stutters with single or dual cards, Far Cry 3 was a stuttering mess with single or dual, and Skyrim, well, when I played it, it was mostly fine after a few patches for me.
Might as well get a single 980 GTX instead. I doubt many games will require the extra power for a few years, and when they do, just get a second 980. Thankfully, the wattage between the 970 and 980 is fairly negligible, so you shouldn't have to upgrade your PSU.
DejaWiz
Fully [H]
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2005
- Messages
- 21,825
Not overkill at all. Hell, you have the GA-Z77X-UD5H which is Tri-SLI capable, so you can always throw in a third 970 down the road if you want even more oomph and the 20nm/16nm Maxwell refresh doesn't bring enough to the table to warrant you transitioning to those.
If 970 SLI does satisfy your GPU horsepower desire, then you'll be set until at least Pascal, if not what comes after.
$660 GTX970 SLI will murder a single $550 GTX980. If the extra $110 is in the budget, there is no reason not to go with the multi-GPU setup, imo.
If 970 SLI does satisfy your GPU horsepower desire, then you'll be set until at least Pascal, if not what comes after.
$660 GTX970 SLI will murder a single $550 GTX980. If the extra $110 is in the budget, there is no reason not to go with the multi-GPU setup, imo.
Araxie
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2013
- Messages
- 6,463
and still present stuttering and choppy gameplay with AMD cards, while outdoors the game run flawlessly and perfectly smooth but indoors well.. its just a mess with the Frametime varying from 13ms to 40ms constantly per second at 60HZ.. at 120hz the history its much better but still ranging from 6.6ms to 10ms which of course its less noticeable but its there, and happens with my 7870XT, my 280X and 290X, tried with fresh install, windows 7, windows 8, no mods, no HD texture packs, the game just behave that way with Amd cards.. hard to know but the experience with my 660TI its far superior than the 280X in that game.. 16.6ms locked at 60hz(indoors) and 8.3ms locked at 120hz (indoors)..
Dayaks
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2012
- Messages
- 9,774
Ignore
Not overkill at all. Pretty similar to my SLI 780s and I want more performance, so I think I'll be going with SLI 980s soon.
That said I've had a wonderful experience with SLI, not even one small annoyance. Perhaps I've just been lucky with the games I've been playing, but I also know I'm not the only one that has been having a good SLI experience.
That said I've had a wonderful experience with SLI, not even one small annoyance. Perhaps I've just been lucky with the games I've been playing, but I also know I'm not the only one that has been having a good SLI experience.
Araxie
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2013
- Messages
- 6,463
same as me, as same as much people.. i do not see why really people complaint about multi-GPU setups.. my 660TI SLI setup was just a flawless experience..