A single RTX 2080 or two GTX 1080 TI in SLI?

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Jan 3, 2009
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Right now, I have a system that is starting to show it's age a bit... though still works fine for the vast majority of games (especially if I don't attempt to max out the settings on the newer ones).

I built it late 2012/early 2013, and it's a i7 3770k (sadly stock clocks as the overclock failed) with two GTX 670s with a very minimal overclock in SLI. The CPU while slightly showing it's age is still more than enough for just about every game out there, the GPUs though are showing their age far more. Thanks to the whole cryptocurrency nonsense newer GPUs were out of my price range for a while.... plus I wanted to wait until a single GPU was powerful enough to outperform both my GPUs combined, since usually I try to buy one top-end GPU and then later add another cheap for SLI when they are older and cheaper to boost performance... rinse and repeat for when the next single card can outperform a SLI setup.

Anyway, I might have to put a stop to that now. I mean, I am impressed with the RTX cards, and while I understand what a giant deal it is to do real-time raytracing.... similar to PhysX and 3D Vision and all those other technologies I doubt it will be adapted outside of a handful of games for a while, likely not until at least one or two more generations of cards.

I was reading that the RTX 2080 has a 35% performance increase over the 1080, which honestly is impressive.... but I noticed that used GTX 1080 TI cards are going for $400-500. Considering I could buy two GTX 1080 cards for less than a single RTX 2080 (assuming they don't go the same overpriced route as 1080s did when they were current thanks to cryptomining) would it just be a better idea to go that route?

First of all, yes, I realize that not every game supports SLI, but from my understanding about 70-80%, if not more, do. And the ones that don't will still work as a single card.

I also realize that I will not have the whole raytracing feature using GTX cards instead of RTX (and honestly, as much as I don't think it will take off for a while.... I do still want that feature and am not sure if I should stick with a GTX because of that).

And finally, due to having many other cards in my system, I pretty much NEED to get the "blower" style cards that have a single fan at the end, since a card with a fan at the beginning or middle would be blocked by the other cards below it. This severely limits my choices as most cards are a multi-can setup, and even among the blowers most of them have a separate radiator which I don't have room to mount (so I would need to get cards that ONLY have a single fan at the end and nothing else), I am not even sure if the RTX 2080 would be available in that format. I also generally tend to prefer EVGA cards, I know they had a blower style like that for the GTX 1080 Ti, not so sure if they will do that for the RTX cards.

Oh, and one more thing, I doubt it but I figured it might be good to ask anyway. Would my older CPU be a bottleneck for those cards?
 
Just get a 1080ti used in f/s f/t. Sounds like ray tracing is going to be struggle city over 1080p and based on leaks 2080 may be SLIGHTLY faster than a 1080ti. The gains from pascal to turing are less than the gains from maxwell to pascal...and I don't see anyone that owns a 980ti upset with how well it has aged.
 
I would recommend getting one 1080 Ti card, and spending the rest of the money on a new CPU/Mobo/RAM. You can always get another 1080 Ti, or sell it and get a 20-series when the prices are at MSRP.

You also didn't mention what resolution you are playing at, that can make a difference in the choice, but the 1080 Ti can hang with 4K 60Hz in a lot of games.
 
A new CPU/Mobo/RAM would cost a lot more than just a second 1080 Ti, that's not an upgrade I am going to be doing anytime soon, especially since my CPU is hardly a bottleneck right now.
 
I started with two 1080Ti, and sold one, because not one single game I've ever played has had an issue with just a single card at 1080TI at 3440x1440.

Get a monitor with G-Sync and a single 1080TI and you'll be set for a LONG time to come.

With G-Sync it doesn't matter if you are getting 40FPS or 120 FPS. It all feels smooth!
 
It's an Asus 144hz 1080p monitor, sadly no G-Sync feature. It's a 3d monitor, so I would like to hit at least 120FPS so games would be 60FPS in 3D mode, though I admit I don't use 3D all the time.
 
It's an Asus 144hz 1080p monitor, sadly no G-Sync feature. It's a 3d monitor, so I would like to hit at least 120FPS so games would be 60FPS in 3D mode, though I admit I don't use 3D all the time.

Even a 1070 will be fine for this. But at this point, 1080 ti for a good price is what I would do. I am always CPU limited at 1080p180hz with my 1070 in every game I play.
 
SLI is a mixed bag and less and less games support multi-GPU, keep that in mind.
 
Buy the fastest single card you can afford. I have a [email protected] and a 980 with a pretty high oc. I am grabbing a 1080ti and waiting a bit for my CPU/Mobo upgrade. At 1080p. Should be good for another year at least.

I do anticipate needing a cpu upgrade before a GPU with a 1080ti. Newer games are going to utilize more cores. At least the big games with 3d support should.
 
Kind of hard to make a decision SINCE THERE ARE NO BENCHMARKS OUT YET.

Jeesuz fucking Christ.

SLI'ing 2 cheaper cards to outperform a single expensive one is always a win.
 
It's an Asus 144hz 1080p monitor, sadly no G-Sync feature. It's a 3d monitor, so I would like to hit at least 120FPS so games would be 60FPS in 3D mode, though I admit I don't use 3D all the time.

at stock settings and 1080P that 3770K it's a massive bottleneck for the GTX 1080Ti if you don't overclock it AT LEAST to 4.5ghz.. you are wasting even GPU performance at that resolution. on a lot of tittles at 1080P the GTX 1080Ti will be just barely (if any) better than a GTX 1080. you will be better upgrading your Monitor if you want to really juice all the GTX 1080Ti power before even considering any other GPU upgrade..

examples on few cherry picked tittles


sw2_2560_1440.png
sw2_2560_1440.png


fallout4_1920_1080.png
fallout4_2560_1440.png


hitman_1920_1080.png
hitman_2560_1440.png


dishonored2_1920_1080.png
dishonored2_2560_1440.png


codiw_1920_1080.png
codiw_2560_1440.png


And that's with an overclocked 7700K to 4.8ghz a 30% higher clocked CPU and at least 30% better per clock performance with also way faster 3000mhz DDR4 RAM on a CLEAN system, add few background programs and apps and the difference will just increase, this is to show how 2560x1440 it's actually the sweet spot for a GTX 1080Ti, on many tittles, yes the gtx 1080Ti will perform better at 1080P than the GTX 1080 on few really heavy tittles but that will hardly happen with your current stock clocked 3770K.. point is, you will gain zero performance gains by going mGPU and hardly any performance gain with a faster GPU as you aren't already getting full performance on your current system.
 
Araxie,
You know the funny thing about statistics?

Anybody can use them to say anything they want.

Here are two recent videos that HardwareCanucks released that show a gaming enthusiast is better off with a GPU upgrade vs. upgrading a legacy CPU - even with the CPU being a second generation 2600K Sandy Bridge processor as compared to an 8700K. (a 1070 in the first link, or a 1080TI in the second link).

Timestamp 6:10


Timestamp 2:43
 
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I am CPU limited on a 1070 even at 4k for Fallout 4 and other AI heavy titles.

1080p240hz is a good match for a 1080 ti with a fast CPU. My 180hz display pushes my CPU at the limit.
 
Araxie,
You know the funny thing about statistics?

Anybody can use them to say anything they want.

Here are two recent videos that HardwareCanucks released that show a gaming enthusiast is better off with a GPU upgrade vs. upgrading a legacy CPU - even with the CPU being a second generation 2600K Sandy Bridge processor as compared to an 8700K. (a 1070 in the first link, or a 1080TI in the second link).

Timestamp 6:10


Timestamp 2:43


Yeah, tunnel shooters will be purely GPU limited. But RPGs, racing sims, flight sims, action games will be much more sensitive to CPU speed.
 
If you want to be analytical about it, consider the games you play now (or will play) and look at their SLI support.

However, if it was me I'd upgrade that CPU since that's going to be your limiter at 1080p. The other optuon would be to upgrade you monitor to 1440p 120hz and get a single 1080 ti which honestly will be the biggest improvement in experience.
 
If you want to be analytical about it, consider the games you play now (or will play) and look at their SLI support.

However, if it was me I'd upgrade that CPU since that's going to be your limiter at 1080p. The other optuon would be to upgrade you monitor to 1440p 120hz and get a single 1080 ti which honestly will be the biggest improvement in experience.
I agree with this. Your CPU will get longer life with a higher resolution. If OP likes 3D then take a look at a PG278Q/PG278QR or S2716DG, as they still support 3D Vision and have the added bonus of G-Sync.
 
Get a single used 1080ti. Get a massive boost and from there see where the bottle necks lie. If your good stretch out that cpu longer. If not start saving for an upgrade. A 2080/2070 will be a waste for rig. Do not go for SLI. The industry has spoken, SLI contiunes to fall out of favor. It's to hot and miss performance of wise.
 
What about utilizing dsr? Artificially running 1440p on a 1080p.

This is a very valid point that I think many people either forget about or overlook entirely. Being able to have SSAA applied to every game (no matter the baked in support) is a huge win for IQ, and jaggies especially. I usually run my games @ 1440/1880P since that gives me really good IQ and still allows me to take advantage of decently high FPS and FreeSync.

OP, I went from the fasest 3770K on these forums (5+Ghz) with DDR 2400 ram @ 2600 and a heavily OC'd (1750mhz VEGA) to a Ryzen 1600 @ 4.1 with DDR3 2933 c14 and the difference in gameplay was crazy. The avg FPS wasn't much higher, but the frame times were so much better that it game a better game experience. That was with a cpu that was 1.5Ghz+ faster then yours. There is a difference.

Even a cheap 6700K/770K @ 4.0-5Ghz, paired with a used highly OC'd 1070 or 1080 would make for a very nice system. You should be able to resell your mobo/ram/cpu for $200 easy, more if you eBay it making the upgrade dirty cheap for the performance you are getting. I personally would go with a Ryzen setup since the 1500/2600/soon to launch 2500 witll give you a decent OC and you can drop a nice 8+core Zen2 into the mobo next spring with a simple bios update, but if you prefer Intel the 6700/7700K used are good offerings for just gaming systems.
 
SLI is dead. Devs are dropping or have already dropped support for it and Nvidia 3D. Been happening for well over 2 years now. Always go with the fastest single card solution you can afford.
 
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