970 SLI or 980 Ti

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Chellexelle

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I am building a new gaming computer and the only thing left to pick out is the graphics card. I don't want to send a lot so I was wondering if I should SLI two 970's or wait for the 980 Ti?

Two 970's will have more CUDA cores and more GDDR5 memory than a single 980 Ti for about the same cost.
 
Your memory logic is not accurate, since both cards have to have the same data in memory you really only have 4GB (3.5?) of usable memory in 970 SLI. But yes, games that scale well in SLI will probably be a little bit faster with 2x970 than 1x 980 Ti.

The good thing about the 970 config is that after the 980Ti comes out you'll be able to get two of them for under $500 easy here on the forum.
 
I'm generally of the opinion that it's better to have a bad ass single card as opposed to a pair of lesser badassery. Too many driver headaches and game compatibility issues with cards of both AMD and Nvidia. I'd get the 980Ti if it were me and I could afford a $700 video card.
 
MacLeod said:
I'm generally of the opinion that it's better to have a bad ass single card as opposed to a pair of lesser badassery. Too many driver headaches and game compatibility issues with cards of both AMD and Nvidia. I'd get the 980Ti if it were me and I could afford a $700 video card.
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I agree. Though it's worth saying that SLI is vastly improved these days compared to pre-Kepler.
 
Although I don't have a problem with SLI or xfire I do recommend getting the fastest single card you can. THEN you have an upgrade path that makes sense later when the single card can't handle the latest games. Adding another gtx 980 Ti for sli in the future would give your computer much longer life. Not future proof, I really hate that saying because nothing is future proof, but definitely lengthen the lifespan of your build.
 
xp3nd4bl3 said:
Your memory logic is not accurate, since both cards have to have the same data in memory you really only have 4GB (3.5?) of usable memory in 970 SLI. But yes, games that scale well in SLI will probably be a little bit faster with 2x970 than 1x 980 Ti.
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I thought that having two or more cards divides the work load so if you have two 970's then each card has 4GB but has different data in memory for it's assigned tasks and that gives you 8GB total memory and twice the processing power.
 
MacLeod said:
I'm generally of the opinion that it's better to have a bad ass single card as opposed to a pair of lesser badassery. Too many driver headaches and game compatibility issues with cards of both AMD and Nvidia. I'd get the 980Ti if it were me and I could afford a $700 video card.
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That's historically been my stance - get the single best card I can afford. Because historically, SLI scaling has been less than stellar on many titles.

However, enough key titles have been coming out recently with near-perfect SLI scaling that I've come around on this a bit. Example, my 2 x 970's get 97%/98% utilization in Witcher 3 - in fact I bought the second 970 just *for* Witcher 3.

GTA5 is also pretty remarkable in that I get a hair less than double the framerate. If this trend continues then I'm less and less motivated to shell out $650 for new single-card performance that will net less than 2 x 970 performance. And if DX12/Vulkan bring any of the rumored/promised multi-GPU efficiencies like pooled memory, then multiple card scenarios will become even more attractive. Something to consider.
 
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Chellexelle said:
I thought that having two or more cards divides the work load so if you have two 970's then each card has 4GB but has different data in memory for it's assigned tasks and that gives you 8GB total memory and twice the processing power.
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Nope. Each card's framebuffer is just a mirror image of the other's. If card#1 renders frame#1, and card#2 renders frame#2, well they have to have identical data in their framebuffers since they're rendering the same scene.
 
If you can get past microstutters, and the 4gb limitation, as well as extra power requirements, I would argue that the cost savings for SLI would be with it. You'd most likely be 15-20% faster overall, except at super high resolutions that would top vram usage. However, with DX12 implementation, this would be a moot point most likely anyhow (if what is being said is true with the SLI combo of cards), in games that support DX12.
 
overall i feel the 980 ti will be better at $650 with a good cooler especially overclocked since sli will not overclock nearly as well. Plus not having to deal with sli or worry about sli not being supported or functioning well and the extra vram is a big plus more than a few percentage gains in certain games or waiting for dx12
 
So I have been looking around and although I have always been a fan of Nvidia, it seems the AMD R9 295X2 out performs the GTX Titan X and so would also out perform the GTX 980 Ti or 970 SLI.

I hate to ask this in the Nvidia forum but considering how well the R9 295X2 is doing and the fact that I can get one for under $600, should I get it.

I preferred Nvidia for PhysX but how many games really use it anyway...
 
Other that the possible 3 month wait for the cards to actually be in stock, (if it's another paper launch), I'd vote: 980ti.
 
Probably the most important question to know here is what resolution are you gaming at and do you have a 60Hz monitor or something like a GSYNC 144Hz monitor?
 
980 Ti somewhere between $650-$700 will obsolete 970 SLi, imo.
More VRAM, better OC from a single card.

So I have been looking around and although I have always been a fan of Nvidia, it seems the AMD R9 295X2 out performs the GTX Titan X and so would also out perform the GTX 980 Ti or 970 SLI.
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I would absolutely not touch the 295 X2 if you want to play games at launch.
If you're playing games that are all 1+ month old (sometimes longer), then it's viable. You also need a special PSU to power it.
 
If I am making the same decision now, 980ti.

980ti should be similar to Titan X, which is similar to SLI 970 in performance for very roughly the same MSRP (2 970's is roughly $650, 980ti is $699 last I heard), which makes 980ti a superior choice:

1. No SLI issues (specifically MFAA and DSR)
2. More VRAM (6GB vs 4ish GB, even if 980ti is segmented it should still have far more headroom than either 970 or 980)
3. You won't need a platform change, if your MB does not support SLI
4. Less likely you will need to upgrade your PSU (one 980ti should consume less power than SLI 970's at full power)
5. Almost every game will benefit from 980ti (the main exceptions being the games that cap at a certain fps, and you can max out the said game at the fps cap), where as SLI would depend on scaling. Most games nowadays scale pretty well for the most part, but a single GPU will definitely take care of the exceptions
6. More upgrade options. Going a single 980ti leaves the option of SLI'ing open later down the line, SLI 970's or even 980's would have to involve replacing the pair.

This is made on the premise that I do not and will never touch second hand or refurbished computer parts. I am confident that the second hand GPU here are trust worthy, but whenever I buy new things, I always buy newest.

I don't regret my SLI 970, in fact I am very glad I chose these over a single 980 (wasn't keen on burning money for SLI 980), but since 980ti is coming out very soon, I'd wait for that.
 
TaintedSquirrel said:
980 Ti somewhere between $650-$700 will obsolete 970 SLi, imo.
More VRAM, better OC from a single card.
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Yep, practically no point to 970 SLI anymore if the 980 Ti comes in at $649. Only makes sense if you already have a 970 and snag another for really cheap, and even then if it were me I'd sell the 970 to fund a 980 Ti purchase instead. An overclock should push the 980 Ti beyond 970 SLI, without any scaling issues etc. Well worth it.

That's why I always say it only makes sense to go multi GPU with the top cards. 980 Ti and TXs will be the only cards worth going multi GPU with until the next single GPU that's 30-50% faster comes out.
 
The Titan X when overclocked is about the same as 970 SLI but slower with stock speeds. So I'd guess when overclocked the 980 Ti will have similar performance as a stock 970 SLI setup. Overclocked 970 SLI will be faster.

If you don't have a 970 yet then 980 Ti is the way to go.
 
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