EVGA B-Stock 970 SC ACX 2.0, $249.99

Not exactly. I am coming from SLI 780 Ti classifieds, which are about equal to 970's since the drivers have matured (give or take depending on the game/benchmark - but averaged they are close).

My OCed Gigabyte 980 Ti G1 1497 boost gets 100 FPS in Valley using the 1080P extreme setting. My stock 780 Ti classifieds 1250 boost got 118 FPS.

EDIT: 780 to 780 Ti is about 15% better if I recall. So a pair of 780's should just about equal a single overclocked 980 Ti. Maybe not in every game or benchmark, but it is a fair bet that on average it is about as good.
 
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Not exactly. I am coming from SLI 780 Ti classifieds, which are about equal to 970's since the drivers have matured (give or take depending on the game/benchmark - but averaged they are close).

My OCed Gigabyte 980 Ti G1 1497 boost gets 100 FPS in Valley using the 1080P extreme setting. My stock 780 Ti classifieds 1250 boost got 118 FPS.

EDIT: 780 to 780 Ti is about 15% better if I recall. So a pair of 780's should just about equal a single overclocked 980 Ti. Maybe not in every game or benchmark, but it is a fair bet that on average it is about as good.
Well I disagree. I am looking at overall performance at 1440 and a single stock 980 Ti is 80% faster than a single 780. SLI rarely gets over 80% and if you oced both cards the 980 Ti has more overclocking headroom and scales better thus meaning that oced 780 SLI would need over 90-95% scaling just to match a single oced 980 Ti.

Anyway no point in worrying about it as someone can just make the best decision for themselves.
 
Well I disagree. I am looking at overall performance at 1440 and a single stock 980 Ti is 80% faster than a single 780. SLI rarely gets over 80% and if you oced both cards the 980 Ti has more overclocking headroom and scales better thus meaning that oced 780 SLI would need over 90-95% scaling just to match a single oced 980 Ti.

Anyway no point in worrying about it as someone can just make the best decision for themselves.

I agree that each person's experience will be different, so there isn't a whole lot of point arguing about it. So I will just leave this here for those that want to compare stock 970 SLI to a reference 980 Ti at 1080P through 4K.
 
Compare an oced 980 Ti to an oced 780 and the 980 Ti is more than twice as fast overall. In some of the newer games the gap is getting bigger and bigger. Last time I checked SLI did not scale even remotely close to 100% so I dont see it getting better performance than a single 980 Ti.


Do you have any benchmarks to back that up because I highly doubt that? I'm talking about 1080P also.
 
Compare an oced 980 Ti to an oced 780 and the 980 Ti is more than twice as fast overall. In some of the newer games the gap is getting bigger and bigger. Last time I checked SLI did not scale even remotely close to 100% so I dont see it getting better performance than a single 980 Ti.

It's really quite simple.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1496?vs=1493
- This is how a 980 Ti compares to a 780. It's maybe about 80%-95% faster depending on the game that is being run.
- Consider that for anyone that already has a 780, the cost of the initial card is sunk cost. To SLI, it will be ~200$.
- A 980Ti would provide roughly the same or perhaps slightly better performance for 620-670$.
- 640 (let's average)/200$ = 3.2
That is the 980Ti in order to be cost effective would have to perform... well a hell of a lot better than it does (around 220% better). Let's not add in money value of subjective and game-dependent experiences such as frame times and all that jazz. Because it's impossible; I will say that, if you choose the 980Ti, the value of those non-SLI 'features' to you would have to be around 440$. You're mainly paying for the VRAM.
- From an economical standpoint, there is no real option here. Doing SLI with the 780 is leagues ahead of 980Ti. Just basic math. The 980 Ti only makes sense if you're coming from a card that is extremely obsolete. That's pretty much true for any flagship card. Here at [H] we tend to kind of blow performance differences and such out of proportion and push ourselves towards expensive crap we don't really need. Technically speaking, SLIing the 970's you could get from this deal would also be superior performance per dollar to a single 980Ti, but of course the cost difference would start closing in much faster.

I'll note that you seem to really love the 980 Ti as you parade its efficacy around everywhere...
 
^^^^ that's the impression I got when he talked about the 980Ti.

Next time misterbobby do your research before commenting.
 
^^^^ that's the impression I got when he talked about the 980Ti.

Next time misterbobby do your research before commenting.
This coming from someone who cant even figure out how to research enough to see how much faster a 980 Ti is than a 780. And also how about next time you read a little closer before commenting. No where did I say the 980 Ti was a better performance per dollar deal. I simply said that a single oced 980 Ti would be as fast or faster than oced 780 SLI and there would be no SLI issues to deal with and that Kepler is falling farther behind in most newer games. :rolleyes:
 
It's really quite simple.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1496?vs=1493
- This is how a 980 Ti compares to a 780. It's maybe about 80%-95% faster depending on the game that is being run.
- Consider that for anyone that already has a 780, the cost of the initial card is sunk cost. To SLI, it will be ~200$.
- A 980Ti would provide roughly the same or perhaps slightly better performance for 620-670$.
- 640 (let's average)/200$ = 3.2
That is the 980Ti in order to be cost effective would have to perform... well a hell of a lot better than it does (around 220% better). Let's not add in money value of subjective and game-dependent experiences such as frame times and all that jazz. Because it's impossible; I will say that, if you choose the 980Ti, the value of those non-SLI 'features' to you would have to be around 440$. You're mainly paying for the VRAM.
- From an economical standpoint, there is no real option here. Doing SLI with the 780 is leagues ahead of 980Ti. Just basic math. The 980 Ti only makes sense if you're coming from a card that is extremely obsolete. That's pretty much true for any flagship card. Here at [H] we tend to kind of blow performance differences and such out of proportion and push ourselves towards expensive crap we don't really need. Technically speaking, SLIing the 970's you could get from this deal would also be superior performance per dollar to a single 980Ti, but of course the cost difference would start closing in much faster.

I'll note that you seem to really love the 980 Ti as you parade its efficacy around everywhere...
Congratulations on the ability to do basic math. At no point did I say the 980 Ti was the cheaper alternative. Maybe you and damstr should work on reading comprehension now that you have mastered math.
 
Congratulations on the ability to do basic math. At no point did I say the 980 Ti was the cheaper alternative. Maybe you and damstr should work on reading comprehension now that you have mastered math.

It wasn't an analysis of which was strictly cheaper, it was the analysis of a choice.

Good grief why fool with SLI on 780 at this point? Kepler is falling farther behind with most new games and a single 980 Ti will be faster overall and has more vram. And SLI has issues regardless of what many SLI owners claim.

A choice which you made your stance on clear very early in this topic. And then continued to make posts about implying a certain decision's merits.

So yes, you did not strictly say that, but my post was not strictly a reply to what I quoted. My post was a reply to your overall viewpoint in this topic (and technically across the board since you seem to like the 980Ti a lot).
 
It wasn't an analysis of which was strictly cheaper, it was the analysis of a choice.



A choice which you made your stance on clear very early in this topic. And then continued to make posts about implying a certain decision's merits.

So yes, you did not strictly say that, but my post was not strictly a reply to what I quoted. My post was a reply to your overall viewpoint in this topic (and technically across the board since you seem to like the 980Ti a lot).
Again all I was looking at was overall performance. At no point did I ever debate that 780 SLI would be cheaper because I already knew it was.
 
This coming from someone who cant even figure out how to research enough to see how much faster a 980 Ti is than a 780. And also how about next time you read a little closer before commenting. No where did I say the 980 Ti was a better performance per dollar deal. I simply said that a single oced 980 Ti would be as fast or faster than oced 780 SLI and there would be no SLI issues to deal with and that Kepler is falling farther behind in most newer games. :rolleyes:

You do realize the point of this thread was a CHEAP video card right so why would anyone that clicked on this looking to save money even consider a $650-$700 980Ti? I mean why did you even click on it? To only talk about the 980 Ti?

That's like someone looking for 2 used Honda's and instead they changed their mind and bought a BMW. :rolleyes:

The fact that NO one in this thread agrees with your logic should've been the first sign...

EDIT:

This is your original statement.

"Good grief why fool with SLI on 780 at this point?"

No shit because its $400 cheaper to add another 780 for similar performance.... Do we understand now or do I have to further break it down Barney style?
 
You do realize the point of this thread was a CHEAP video card right so why would anyone that clicked on this looking to save money even consider a $650-$700 980Ti? I mean why did you even click on it? To only talk about the 980 Ti?

That's like someone looking for 2 used Honda's and instead they changed their mind and bought a BMW. :rolleyes:

The fact that NO one in this thread agrees with your logic should've been the first sign...
Again basic reading compression skills would go a long way. My initial reply to you was only about how I would not go 780 SLI at this point due to SLI issues and Kepler falling farther behind. Yes the 980 Ti costs more but it has more overall advantages too. Only YOU can make the right decision for yourself after looking at all the pros and cons but I know that I would go with a single card as would many others. Of course I fully expect for you to take something else of context for the sake of arguing.
 
Again all I was looking at was overall performance. At no point did I ever debate that 780 SLI would be cheaper because I already knew it was.

Overall performance differences will be a tossup. At 400$ price difference, it's a pretty simple tossup to grade, fiscally.

Granted I suppose one could try to sell his existing 780 GTX first and then use the money to buy a 980Ti. The max you'd probably sell a 780 for at this point is 200-250 at the very most. So Then buying the 980Ti would cost 400-450$. Which means you'd still be spending about twice as much as getting another 780. It's still a losing option because the 980Ti will generally not perform twice as well, even when subjective measures are thrown in. But it's opinion based.

If there's any interesting option for a 780 owner aside from SLI, it's perhaps selling the 780 and then getting a 970 from this deal and SLI-ing it (or just getting the 970 without SLIng it). It'd a 0-50$ upgrade depending on how much you sell the 780 for. Used 970 GTX's are actually selling for more than this deal's price on Ebay...
 
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This card is back in stock again.

Also, just so people know, it takes this backplate: https://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=100-BP-0972-B9

There are 2 different styles of backplates, and neither one lists this GTX 970 card as compatible so I thought I would let people know. I was able to pick up this backplate cheap, (open box), at a local Micro Center last night so that's how I know for sure. I know it doesn't really do anything, but I just like the extra protection for the back of the card.
 
If they are both EVGA cards, I'd suggest reaching out to EVGA support. They are fully aware of the different revisions not able to SLI and offered me a replacement that matched my original card.

EVGA Support is amazing. They are sending me a Super Superclocked card in exchange for my original Superclocked card. No upgrade fee, no shipping costs. Plus their collateral cross ship system is awesome for getting things out in a timely manner. They even allowed it even though I'm the 2nd owner on the Super Superclocked card.

I'd say they've now earned my business for the considerable future. Thanks to quikt for suggesting it, or I might have tried to go it alone.

Very happy at the moment.
 
This card is back in stock again.

Also, just so people know, it takes this backplate: https://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=100-BP-0972-B9

There are 2 different styles of backplates, and neither one lists this GTX 970 card as compatible so I thought I would let people know. I was able to pick up this backplate cheap, (open box), at a local Micro Center last night so that's how I know for sure. I know it doesn't really do anything, but I just like the extra protection for the back of the card.

Dang, that was fast... they must have a lot of these...

I prefer to just get cases where the GPU sits upright. It's better for airflow (especially with aftermarket coolers), and you don't have to worry about the GPU bending under its own weight or anything. Don't need to worry about backplates or anything bending anywhere. Just superior from a physics standpoint, though the footprint is usually larger. I just wish there were more people making those types of cases. So far I've went through the HAF XB Evo, but it was too cramped. Using a Core X9 now, which is great (and/though massive).
 
Bought. Card retails for at least $80 more.

Will be a nice replacement for my 2GB 770 Lightning I've had 1.5 years, which will go for sale soon. More memory, should last another couple years.

Hard to believe I bought the 770 for $316 after selling my 7950 for $300 (thanks miners!).

Is the 3.5gb really a thing?
 
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Is the 3.5gb really a thing?

Yeah, it really is 3.5GB and apparently games have to be coded specially to access the extra (and slower) 500 MB for the full 4GB.

Edit: Strike that - games don't have to be specifically coded for it. But that last 500MB of VRAM runs at 1/7th the speed of the rest, so if anything in it is accessed it might slow things down a lot.

Let Linus explain it for you!
 
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Word. I play @ 1080p and shoot for 100+ fps on my 144hz so it shouldn't impact me. Gracias!
 
This is kind of way after the fact, but as an FYI these are still in stock. I updated the OP with the new link. I'm not sure what the difference is. It's about 5$ more expensive.
 
This is kind of way after the fact, but as an FYI these are still in stock. I updated the OP with the new link. I'm not sure what the difference is. It's about 5$ more expensive.

04G-P4-2977-KR == dual bios + voltage boost
 
I would pay the extra $10-$20 for the SSC (3975).
Ideally the 3973 should be the cheapest of the series, but those never show up.
 
I've really liked my 2977 for Witcher. Great looking game turned up. I've used Riva to put a 145 hz limit in my system because menu framerates are almost 4000 and you get some nice coil whine.

Cap has stopped that.
 
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