Considering upgrading my GTX 780 Ti....

C

Camberwell

Gawd
Joined
Jan 20, 2008
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Hi guys, looking for some advice on which route to take.

I run a 1440p monitor at 120Hz, and my GTX 780 Ti is struggling in BF4.

In my country, it would cost me the same to get a second 780 Ti to SLI with my current card or to sell my 780 Ti and get SLI GTX 970. From what I have read, getting a single GTX 980 is not worth it, and SLI GTX 980 is out of my budget.

With a third child on the way, my current funds may not last much into the new year so I am looking to upgrade sooner rather than later; waiting for a GTX 980 Ti is not really an option unless it pops up in the next month or two.....

So....SLI GTX 780 Ti vs SLI GTX 970 - or no SLI at all and just further turn down the graphics in BF4?

I am leaning towards SLI'd 970's mainly for the reduction in heat and wattage, even if that may not be as powerful overall as SLI'd 780 Ti's; but I am open to suggestions!
 
If it's the same price, I'd go with the 970 SLI option simply because it's newer tech and lower power consumption. Performance between 970 SLI and 780 ti SLI will be very comparable, especially when 970 is overclocked.
 
I would agree, the 970 also has a higher VRAM, whereas their GPU power isn't very much different, if VRAM is ever an issue,780TI would probably hit it sooner than 970.
 
780 Ti wasn't a big bump over 780 and the 980 isn't a big bump over the 780 Ti. I was so disappointed with the Ti I ended up dumping them pretty quick...probably didn't help that I splurged on the EXTREME Kingpin one for tons of $$$ heh. Went and bought 780 Classifieds for cheap on eBay at the time and didn't look back. Great bang/buck. Same is the case now with used 780 Ti!

Take advantage of the 780 Ti used/new market being real low right now and get a second card - or wait until Spring '15 and get 980 Ti SLI or a single card.
 
sk3tch said:
780 Ti wasn't a big bump over 780 and the 980 isn't a big bump over the 780 Ti. I was so disappointed with the Ti I ended up dumping them pretty quick...probably didn't help that I splurged on the EXTREME Kingpin one for tons of $$$ heh. Went and bought 780 Classifieds for cheap on eBay at the time and didn't look back. Great bang/buck. Same is the case now with used 780 Ti!

Take advantage of the 780 Ti used/new market being real low right now and get a second card - or wait until Spring '15 and get 980 Ti SLI or a single card.
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Unfortunately here in The Netherlands used prices are still pretty high, otherwise I would have done it already ;)
 
Turn down gfx for now. Wait about 4 months into the new year. Im on 120hz, 1080p though, but upgrading RIGHT NOW is NOT the right time for 780ti users
 
BroHamBone said:
Turn down gfx for now. Wait about 4 months into the new year. Im on 120hz, 1080p though, but upgrading RIGHT NOW is NOT the right time for 780ti users
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OP wants to upgrade from single card to SLI, not from single card to single card.

The question was, buy another 780Ti, or 2x970 (and sell 780Ti) for about the same price (in OP's country).

4GB 2x970 should win out, I think.

I am inferring from OP's post that he won't be up for the cost of 2x"Titan 2" (or whatever it is called later).
 
Whether or not he wants to sli, he should still wait. There is zero reason to sli 780tis since a 970 sli solution is better. On the other hand, there is no reason to get sli 970s with possibly new cards on the horizon resulting in further price drops.

With that said, turning down the gfx and being patient is one way to go. If you really need to see the flys buzzing around shit in games, by all means upgrade.

You can spend $400 (used 780ti) to make a few $50-$60 games look better. Then you will want to upgrade in a year to something better. OR hold out, save money, and jump on better cards later. Your choice, your remorse, my experiences.
 
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BroHamBone said:
Whether or not he wants to sli, he should still wait. There is zero reason to sli 780tis since a 970 sli solution is better. On the other hand, there is no reason to get sli 970s with possibly new cards on the horizon resulting in further price drops.

With that said, turning down the gfx and being patient is one way to go. If you really need to see the flys buzzing around shit in games, by all means upgrade.

You can spend $400 (used 780ti) to make a few $50-$60 games look better. Then you will want to upgrade in a year to something better. OR hold out, save money, and jump on better cards later. Your choice, your remorse, my experiences.
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OP wants to hit 120Hz @ 1440p in BF4 ... what single card can do that, even within the next 6 months?
 
xorbe said:
OP wants to hit 120Hz @ 1440p in BF4 ... what single card can do that, even within the next 6 months?
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That's when you act like an adult an understand your wants vs needs and the means it takes to acquire your wants with having the least remorse.

Like i said, his choice. The comments are there for him to make a decision.

OP Have you tried overclocking your cpu/gpu?
 
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xorbe said:
:confused: Way off topic from OP's question.
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Lmao, sorry im trying to help a fellow member.

This make your jellies better?,:

sell your 780ti and get x2 970s or x2 290x's with a whole h2o setup so your then not stressing about heat. Mastter fact, sell your gpu and get a, dare i say, Titan black.

I don't know if you realized, xorbe, third child on the way. I think life takes precedence over 120fps on BF4.

All of my comments are on topic.

Set aside a small fund for you to buy after your child's birth. Sell some of your PC unused/barely used items. I have two kiddos, and it is the only way i can upgrade.
 
This is HardOCP - I think xorbe's interpretation is likely more accurate. BroHamBone - your advice is sound, as well - but if we always waited for the "next best thing" - we'd always be waiting. A lot of us here at [H] buy cards and upgrade them in 3 months. That's not a big thing with the likes of eBay and Craigslist...you don't lose a whole lot and you get to enjoy tinkering with new hardware within your hobby. It's not always logical or financially sane...and that's OK. It's a hobby and if you can afford it - enjoy it.

lavaheadache said:
That 780 Ti is not struggling..... poor wording.
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I do not believe English is his first language. Either way - it makes sense that it is "struggling" in the sense of HardOCP extreme gaming - 1440p / 120 Hz is no joke
 
Lol, i was part of the upgrade ordeal for about a year, then realized it wasnt worth dishing out the time and money. Just giving him an idea since he is worried about finances with a third child otw.

There are some used 780 tis going for under $400 atm in the fs forum.
 
lavaheadache said:
That 780 Ti is not struggling..... poor wording.
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Not entirely sure why you would consider my wording poor. On my old 1080p monitor I had all the settings on Ultra, now with 1440p at 120Hz, I have to put everything to Medium - hence my card is now struggling at this higher resolution to achieve the same Ultra settings that I prefer.
 
sk3tch said:
This is HardOCP - I think xorbe's interpretation is likely more accurate. BroHamBone - your advice is sound, as well - but if we always waited for the "next best thing" - we'd always be waiting. A lot of us here at [H] buy cards and upgrade them in 3 months. That's not a big thing with the likes of eBay and Craigslist...you don't lose a whole lot and you get to enjoy tinkering with new hardware within your hobby. It's not always logical or financially sane...and that's OK. It's a hobby and if you can afford it - enjoy it.



I do not believe English is his first language. Either way - it makes sense that it is "struggling" in the sense of HardOCP extreme gaming - 1440p / 120 Hz is no joke
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I'm British (although I currently live in The Netherlands), English is very much my first language ;)

Basically I have the funds now, and based on previous experience with our first two children, something will come up whereby my funds will need to be put towards something unexpected, so I would like to make my purchase(s) sooner rather than later!
 
BroHamBone said:
Whether or not he wants to sli, he should still wait. There is zero reason to sli 780tis since a 970 sli solution is better. On the other hand, there is no reason to get sli 970s with possibly new cards on the horizon resulting in further price drops.

With that said, turning down the gfx and being patient is one way to go. If you really need to see the flys buzzing around shit in games, by all means upgrade.

You can spend $400 (used 780ti) to make a few $50-$60 games look better. Then you will want to upgrade in a year to something better. OR hold out, save money, and jump on better cards later. Your choice, your remorse, my experiences.
Click to expand...


I've had this 1440p monitor for 6 months now, and I've been waiting to get more gpu power ever since. The GTX 980 that I have been waitng for as a single card solution has turned out to be a bust, so SLI seems to be the only solution without having to wait a further 6 months. Over here, when new cards come out there are no meaningful price drops, which doesn't help either!
 
Ouch! Well, a 2nd 780ti will give you the needed power. Since you have a specific card, msi gaming, try finding similar quality of you can't get the exact one. Some want same cards, some don't mind.
I straight traded an Evga Titan for an Asus titan since the guy "needed" all evga cards ��

GLW finding what you want!
 
I'm in the same boat with my 780ti and my unopened 4k gysnc monitor. I think I'm going to try and get more life out of the 780ti and turn settings down till the next batch of cards come out. I've decided on used 970s in sli because of heat and power consumption compared to 780ti's in sli.
 
In my country, it would cost me the same to get a second 780 Ti to SLI with my current card or to sell my 780 Ti and get SLI GTX 970.
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It seems that market efficiency is not prevailing in your country. How come, an used, older and slower video car can sell for the same as a new and faster alternative (including free game)?? Maybe you could check again and try to negotiate with those wanting to sell their 780 ti.

If you can trade at not extra cost your 780 for a 970, then go for it. 970 SLI will offer you a vast improvement over your current setup.
 
RadXge said:
It seems that market efficiency is not prevailing in your country. How come, an used, older and slower video car can sell for the same as a new and faster alternative (including free game)?? Maybe you could check again and try to negotiate with those wanting to sell their 780 ti.

If you can trade at not extra cost your 780 for a 970, then go for it. 970 SLI will offer you a vast improvement over your current setup.
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The 780 Ti is not so slow, and as the new prices on high end cards remain high until they are all sold, used prices remain equally high....The Netherlands is a very small country, so the market for high end cards is also very small.

970 SLI will be a big improvement, the debate I am having with myself is, is it actually better than 780 Ti SLI which seems to edge it in terms of raw gpu power....
 
It looks like you're right the 780ti is about 10% faster OC vs OC. The only advantage to the 970s is better DSR performance (?) and you'll have to decide if you need that extra GB of ram. I'd be tempted since my single 980 goes over 3GB at times.
 
Dayaks said:
It looks like you're right the 780ti is about 10% faster OC vs OC. The only advantage to the 970s is better DSR performance (?) and you'll have to decide if you need that extra GB of ram. I'd be tempted since my single 980 goes over 3GB at times.
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That's basically what it comes down to I guess - slightly more power vs an extra Gb and much less heat in SLI....I have to say I'm leaning towards the 970's, likely the MSI Gaming.
 
Selling 780ti and getting dual 970's seem to be a more sound choice atm from looking at some benches. Honestly, i'm also disappointed in the fact that 1440p still cant be maxed out with our current gen of cards.
 
In my experience, I can run ultra settings plus 4x MSAA with your specific card and still get 60FPS or higher. If you're aiming for 120FPS at 1440p while maintaining 4x MSAA, I'm not sure that's going to be doable with 2 of any card on the market today.

Also, the 970 is a significant downgrade from the 780Ti, and a stock 980 is more or less a side-grade from your current card (being it is a massively OC'ed 780Ti). Are you running your card in "OC" mode, "gaming" mode or "silent" mode?

I'd say that if you want more performance, get a matching 780Ti to what you have as that'll give you the best bang for the buck.

Vatican said:
Selling 780ti and getting dual 970's seem to be a more sound choice atm from looking at some benches. Honestly, i'm also disappointed in the fact that 1440p still cant be maxed out with our current gen of cards.
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How do you define maxed out?
 
David_Schroth said:
In my experience, I can run ultra settings plus 4x MSAA with your specific card and still get 60FPS or higher. If you're aiming for 120FPS at 1440p while maintaining 4x MSAA, I'm not sure that's going to be doable with 2 of any card on the market today.

Also, the 970 is a significant downgrade from the 780Ti, and a stock 980 is more or less a side-grade from your current card (being it is a massively OC'ed 780Ti). Are you running your card in "OC" mode, "gaming" mode or "silent" mode?

I'd say that if you want more performance, get a matching 780Ti to what you have as that'll give you the best bang for the buck.

How do you define maxed out?
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I am aiming for 100+ fps @ 1440p but with no MSAA at the moment (to be honest, at 1440p I don't miss it, although that's probably just me), so one card is definitely not enough. My card is running a custom bios from OCN with boost disabled @ 1264MHz. If the total price of SLI'ing both types of cards is the same, does the bang per buck still apply?

By the way, my thanks to everyone that is replying, any and all advice is gratefully received!
 
If you can sell off your 780Ti for and buy a 970 for no extra cost then that would be the optimal choice. I'm assuming you're playing the multiplayer in BF4, which is heavily CPU bound. Going the sli route might not give you the performance boost you're looking for. Have you tried playing the game at lower settings? If so, are you satisfied with the performance you're getting? Dropping this much funds for a single game at the moment might not be worth it right now.
 
napkun said:
If you can sell off your 780Ti for and buy a 970 for no extra cost then that would be the optimal choice. I'm assuming you're playing the multiplayer in BF4, which is heavily CPU bound. Going the sli route might not give you the performance boost you're looking for. Have you tried playing the game at lower settings? If so, are you satisfied with the performance you're getting? Dropping this much funds for a single game at the moment might not be worth it right now.
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That wouldn't make sense, the 970 is weaker than the 780Ti. Go 970 SLI or wait for 980Ti.
 
Nevermind, for some unknown reason I thought it was my post being quoted >.<
 
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Zicro said:
That wouldn't make sense, the 970 is weaker than the 780Ti. Go 970 SLI or wait for 980Ti.
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Sorry that's what I meant in that post. If he were able to recuperate the cost of the original card then he would technically be only buying another single card.
 
Camberwell said:
I am aiming for 100+ fps @ 1440p but with no MSAA at the moment (to be honest, at 1440p I don't miss it, although that's probably just me), so one card is definitely not enough. My card is running a custom bios from OCN with boost disabled @ 1264MHz. If the total price of SLI'ing both types of cards is the same, does the bang per buck still apply?

By the way, my thanks to everyone that is replying, any and all advice is gratefully received!
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A pair of MSI Gaming 780Ti's will be faster than a pair of 970's, therefore, if price is the same, adding a second 780Ti will be better for you from a performance per dollar perspective.



napkun said:
If you can sell off your 780Ti for and buy a 970 for no extra cost then that would be the optimal choice. I'm assuming you're playing the multiplayer in BF4, which is heavily CPU bound. Going the sli route might not give you the performance boost you're looking for. Have you tried playing the game at lower settings? If so, are you satisfied with the performance you're getting? Dropping this much funds for a single game at the moment might not be worth it right now.
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Based on his sig's rig, he's probably not CPU bound.
 
This may help you decide. I went 970 sli and love it at 4k

GoldenTiger said:
Here's a review someone found I thought was worth posting as this kind of comparison is often cited but rarely has data to answer it so far:
http://www.reviewstudio.net/2028-asus-gtx-970-strix-oc-review-bring-the-maxwell-to-the-owl

It compares a 1228mhz GTX 780 Ti OC vs. 1300mhz GTX 780 OC vs. a 1530mhz GTX 970 OC, for the curious (boost clocks as stated in the text).

The 780 Ti in the review is stated to be running at 1228mhz boost in-game with 1975mhz memory (7900mhz qdr)
(http://www.reviewstudio.net/1179-as...iew-best-performance-dead-silent/overclocking) and you can find the same reference in the 780 OC review on their site.

BASE CLOCKS are listed by them in the graph. Boost clocks according to the review are as stated above :). This is actually the best oc-to-oc comparison between a 780 ti at good clocks, 780 at good clocks, and GTX 970 at good clocks, that I have seen yet.

9AfYZQk.png


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34W7KjL.png


The gap in other reviews narrows a little at 4K, while remaining similar to 1080 when done at 2560x1440 resolution, keep in mind. (They have a 3dmark score in there too but list the combined, rather than GPU, score which makes it meaningless :(). The GTX 970 oc'd stacks up very favorably to the GTX 780 Ti oc'd and consistently beats out the 780 oc'd.
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Note the boost clocks and red text bolded :). If you can do a 970 sli at the same cost as the 780ti pair would run it is much more practical to go the 970 route for OC'ing on air, heat, noise, and vram. Not to mention once MfAA is enabled for sli that is a nice boost as well.
 
GoldenTiger said:
This may help you decide. I went 970 sli and love it at 4k



Note the boost clocks and red text bolded :). If you can do a 970 sli at the same cost as the 780ti pair would run it is much more practical to go the 970 route for OC'ing on air, heat, noise, and vram. Not to mention once MfAA is enabled for sli that is a nice boost as well.
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Thanks, interesting info - I have a few days to think it over.....
 
Since it looks like the 980 Ti that I was waiting for could still be a long ways off, I've decided to go with a local sweet deal on a ref MSI GTX 780 Ti. I'm hoping that with the ref card exhausting out the back and the MSI Gaming keeping itself cool (I will test to see which card should be top or bottom for temps), this will be a sweet setup.
Thanks to all for the responses, this is why [H] is the go to forum for all my tech quieries :)
 
Congrats on the upgrade! I hope you enjoy the new card, and the capabilities meet your requirements.

Also, congratulations on the future addition to your family!
 
Has nvidia fixed all issues with SLI now? Other than it being 1 frame of input lag is SLI exactly the same as using a single card?
 
Grats on the upgrade, :D! Enjoy!

Nicholars said:
Has nvidia fixed all issues with SLI now? Other than it being 1 frame of input lag is SLI exactly the same as using a single card?
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Nicholars, SLI and crossfire both have about the same functionality as they have for a decade. On SLI at least, there's very rarely any issues that can't be fixed by entering a simple compatibility bit value into the game profile... the odd game that comes along (I could probably count them on one hand for what I've run into, since the 8800GT 512mb SLI days) which won't play nice usually is patched within a few weeks, anyway. As a 4K monitor user (and before that, a 2560x1600 user in late 2008, and 1680x1050 in mid-2004) I have almost always wanted a multi-GPU setup. Also there is no inherent "1-frame input lag" like you're mentioning, on these setups.
 
GoldenTiger said:
Grats on the upgrade, :D! Enjoy!



Nicholars, SLI and crossfire both have about the same functionality as they have for a decade. On SLI at least, there's very rarely any issues that can't be fixed by entering a simple compatibility bit value into the game profile... the odd game that comes along (I could probably count them on one hand for what I've run into, since the 8800GT 512mb SLI days) which won't play nice usually is patched within a few weeks, anyway. As a 4K monitor user (and before that, a 2560x1600 user in late 2008, and 1680x1050 in mid-2004) I have almost always wanted a multi-GPU setup. Also there is no inherent "1-frame input lag" like you're mentioning, on these setups.
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I think there is 1 frame of input lag with SLI from what I read anyway... Also a lot of people mention microstuttering and general stuttering etc... Was wondering if this has been fixed now and if its worth adding a second 970.
 
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