Dropping cash at Best Buy on GPUs: Dual 980tis?

silent-circuit

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I got that mad money... buy only at Best Buy; thanks gift cards.

Looking to get 1, maybe 2 high end GPUs. I can get a single EVGA 980TI for $680, and am willing to go double. I realize this is a little above market, but when it's effectively someone else's money $50-80 here or there isn't a big deal.

I'm planning to run a single 4K display for gaming with a 1920x1200 secondary (my current Planar PX2611w 26" IPS) maybe on a monitor arm, rotated, for desktop and browsing stuff.

Will the 980Ti work? Do I need 2? Do I need to sell my current setup and get a new CPU/motherboard/RAM? Only a new CPU for PCIe 3.0 support? Is there another GPU I should be considering that Best Buy offers?

Talk me through it. It has been a long time and I'm looking to move up in the world.
 
If you want decent settings with decent frames get the SLI rig.
 
Will it get choked by my 2500K and PCIe 2.0 8x/8x on a Z77 though?

Overclock that 2500K to 4+ GHZ and you'll be just fine. However, you might be a little limited by the PCIe 2.0 at 8x so it might be worth a Skylake upgrade. If you have the cash and want to spend it then that's the way I would go.
 
You would get better framerates with a Skylake setup.It's possible 1 980Ti could be enough.
 
If you're going to go SLI I'd highly recommend upgrading to a platform that supports PCI-E 3.0
 
Depends on the game, but you could lose up to 20% performance in certain games with a SLI config. Mind Guru3D tested with 980 SLI, so I imagine for 980 Ti SLI that 2.0 x8 bottleneck could be even worse. (2.0 x8 is equivalent to 1.1 x 16)
 
20% is rough -- no point going with the TI in my case then? I can afford cards but not a whole new rig to go with them -- an OC I can do, but new board/CPU/RAM is out of the question.
 
Get the dual cards. Later replace the 2500k with 2600/2700k.
Do this or go ahead and upgrade to 6700k. Regardless of what some people claim, a 2500k can hold back even a single 980 ti in some games never mind two of them which also adds more cpu overhead.
 
Do this or go ahead and upgrade to 6700k. Regardless of what some people claim, a 2500k can hold back even a single 980 ti in some games never mind two of them which also adds more cpu overhead.

a 2500k isn't going to prevent you from getting 60 fps in any game, period. 120 fps sure, 60 not even remotely. i am intimately aware of how my 2500k performs in games as it's almost always what prevents me from achieving 120 fps, and i have NEVER played a game where it kept me from 60. 90 or 100 is about the lowest i've ever seen my cpu top out.
 
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a 2500k isn't going to prevent you from getting 60 fps in any game, period. 120 fps sure, 60 not even remotely.
You can claim that all you want but it is NOT true. I had a 2500k at 4.4 and know darn well it made some games drop into the 50s and even upper 40s at times.

I am sure you will just keep arguing so here is someone else that tested the 2500k against 6700k. With both at 4.5, the 2500k gets slaughtered by the 6700k in Watch dogs and Crysis 3. And that is with just a single 970 not 980 Ti SLI. I can say just turning off HT on my 4770k in Watch Dogs make it run like crap at times with stutters and hitches. A 2500k would be crapping itself at times with the overhead associated with 980 Ti SLI.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=37684080&highlight=#post37684080

There are way too many of you living in a fantasy land when it comes to what a 2500k can do.
 
You can claim that all you want but it is NOT true. I had a 2500k at 4.4 and know darn well it made some games drop into the 50s and even upper 40s at times.

I am sure you will just keep arguing so here is someone else that tested the 2500k against 6700k. With both at 4.5, the 2500k gets slaughtered by the 6700k in Watch dogs and Crysis 3. And that is with just a single 970 not 980 Ti SLI. I can say just turning off HT on my 4770k in Watch Dogs make it run like crap at times with stutters and hitches. A 2500k would be crapping itself at times with the overhead associated with 980 Ti SLI.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=37684080&highlight=#post37684080

There are way too many of you living in a fantasy land when it comes to what a 2500k can do.

i've never seen anything even close to those results and i've played all of those games sans skyrim extensively. :confused:
 
i've never seen anything even close to those results and i've played all of those games sans skyrim extensively. :confused:
Well I certainly have. In fact I tested where he did in the same spots in Crysis 3 and it ate my 2500k for lunch dipping into 40s where as my 4770k stays above 60 in same exact place. I go over 85% usage even on my 4770k there. I know Batman Arkham Knight and Witcher 3 also have spots where a newer cpu with HT would help over a 2500k even with a single 980 ti. I have at least 5 or 6 games now that use over 50% of my 4770k. Now in MOST games, an oced 2500k is fine but again I would a newer i7 for pushing 980 Ti SLI in all games.
 
If I had the cash I'd drop it for another Ti but I'm not in the same boat. I'd still be on Gen3 albeit 8x. I say do it and grab a cpu capable of Gen3 pci-e.
 
You could always do a new rig with one 980ti. Then you'll be ready when Pascal comes out - lose less $ selling one card instead of two. Like nVidia said, Pascal has $1 billion in R&D sunk into it seperate from the double die shrink. It should be very impressive.
 
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You could always do a new rig with one 980ti. Then you'll be ready when Pascal comes out - lose less $ selling one card instead of two. Like nVidia said, Pascal has $1 billion in R&D sunk into it seperate from the double die shrink. It should be very impressive.

Do we have any idea of timeframe for Pascal?
 
Do we have any idea of timeframe for Pascal?

I personally think the Pascal I'll care about, the one with the huge die, is early 2017. Smaller die cards in 2016. We're all guessing though.

It's generally "best practices" to run a smaller part, like they did with the 750ti, to mitigate risks. Then move on up.
 
I personally think the Pascal I'll care about, the one with the huge die, is early 2017. Smaller die cards in 2016. We're all guessing though.

It's generally "best practices" to run a smaller part, like they did with the 750ti, to mitigate risks. Then move on up.

Yep, definitely passing up 1st gen pascal....
 
I'd go 5820k and a single 980 ti. Then upgrade to another 980 ti after selling your 2500k setup....
 
I'd go 5820k and a single 980 ti. Then upgrade to another 980 ti after selling your 2500k setup....
I see no point in going with 5820k on the X99 platform to run SLI. IMO either go 5930k on X99 for the full lanes in SLI or might as well go 6700k.
 
I realize this is a little above market, but when it's effectively someone else's money $50-80 here or there isn't a big deal.

not sure what you will end up doing but if you do buy them BB has a pricematch policy to a few online vendors like Amazon and Newegg plus a few others
 
If your using best buy gift cards & reward zone credit or just have a best buy credit card to play with leaving you stuck buying at Best Buy get the 2 980Ti cards. If not, buy 1 980Ti, and get a new motherboard/CPU/Ram setup to go with it.

When Pascal comes out sell the 980 Ti and buy a pair or GTX 1080s.I have a feeling Pascal is coming sooner than people think.

I have inside sources that say Stock on 980 Ti and regular and 970 are Very well managed. Although you can freely find them in stores there is not a huge overstock. Only thing keeping nvidia from getting the Pascal series out is fabrication refinements being worked on, and lack of a real competitive motivation from AMD
 
If you're going to go SLI I'd highly recommend upgrading to a platform that supports PCI-E 3.0

This is the cheapest solution. Replace your 2500k with a 3570k or 3770k so you keep the price down, same performance (very very slight bump over your 2500k) but all for the sake of PCIE 3.0 which will limit the PCIE bottleneck you might have.
 
bestbuy price matches neweggs prices :| figured id let you know
 
5930K / X99 vs. 6700K (will I also need a new board, given I'm going from LGA 1155 to 1151? I'd think so) is there a huge difference in real world usage at 4k? I know there are a lot of differences - DDR3 vs 4, 4 cores vs 6, PCIe 2.0/3.0, 8x/8x vs full lanes... Likely too much to get a good idea, I just need /some/ idea.
 
This is the cheapest solution. Replace your 2500k with a 3570k or 3770k so you keep the price down, same performance (very very slight bump over your 2500k) but all for the sake of PCIE 3.0 which will limit the PCIE bottleneck you might have.

THIS, ffs...it's a Z77 with PCIe 3.0 support already. Ivy Bridge would be a quick and much cheaper upgrade than doing a full-on overhaul to Haswell or Skylake. At least give it a whirl...selling your 2500K and getting an IB would be a cheap test for performance satisfaction. If it's not to your liking, then go with the newest platform. :)

But yes, get dual 980 Ti's if you plan to push playable framerates with some eye candy at 4K.
 
I game at 4k with a single 980ti and an 8320 at stock. Bought the 980ti from best buy actually as well. Go for the EVGA SSC with ACX 2.0. It's a great card. I play BF4 on ultra without AA and average between 48 and 70 fps depending on the map. Haven't tried too much with other games yet.

edit: I should probably update my sig.
 
Ended up with 2 Zotac 980Ti AMP! Editions. Triple fan coolers, super super quiet, I can't even hear them over my case fans at full load. Haven't tried to OC yet, haven't benched to see how CPU limited I am, but they're definitely quick.
 
Ended up with 2 Zotac 980Ti AMP! Editions. Triple fan coolers, super super quiet, I can't even hear them over my case fans at full load. Haven't tried to OC yet, haven't benched to see how CPU limited I am, but they're definitely quick.

Very nice. I hope you get a lot of joy and great gaming from them.
 
Ended up with 2 Zotac 980Ti AMP! Editions. Triple fan coolers, super super quiet, I can't even hear them over my case fans at full load. Haven't tried to OC yet, haven't benched to see how CPU limited I am, but they're definitely quick.

Sweet! Can you post a pick of your rig? :D
 
Sweet! Can you post a pick of your rig? :D

Will as soon as I get home some time tomorrow, I'm actually out of state right now -- got a bunch of cool new toys, then had to get in the car and drive 8 hours to help my fiancee's sister move. It's killing me.
 
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