GTX 670 SLI instead of 970 - dumb decision?

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grambo

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Hi,

I built the PC in my sig back in May 2012 and haven't touched it since. The last year or so I have not really been gaming much other than CS:GO and Dragon Age Inquisition. Star Wars Battlefront, Witcher 3, FO4 and other stuff have me excited to get back into it and I want to be able to max out these games with good FPS. My monitor is 1920x1200 60hz so I do not need to go beyond that. I figure my CPU (3770K @ 4.5GHz) is fine. My choice is either:

1) Buy a GTX 970 which is about $410CAD + 12% tax = $460CAD, sell my GTX 670 for $150CAD = $310 net upgrade cost.

2) Buy a used GTX 670 for $150 and run SLI

So ~$160 incremental cost to have a 970 vs. picking up a 2nd used 670 for SLI. That is a lot of money. I've never run an SLI setup before, have always avoided it in favour of a single faster card. I am really struggling with $410 for a 12 month old card (970) given the 670 SLI is not that far off and I am only gaming at 1920x1200.

My PSU is fine, so my only real concern is that my current Gigabyte 670 is a 3 fan card (so heat is dumped into the case). So I would try to find a blower for the second 670 given that my 550D is not the best case at exhausting air. I don't mind noise while gaming but can someone confirm if the second card will idle at the desktop so I don't have to hear the blower fan?

Am I missing something here?

tl;dr Currently have a single 670, can get a second one used for $150. 970 is $410+tax. Should I try SLI 670 versus spending an incremental $160 on a new 970.

cheers
 
Get the 970 and be done with it, less power, less heat, less noise and less possible performance issues with things that may not like SLI.

Now, do you feel your games are slowing down at 1080?
 
In your position, I would probably sell the 670, and go for a used 290(x). Then wait till Pascal.
 
I am not a fan of sli/xfire setups so I always recommend going with a single card. That said I would go with what you said and sell the 670 and pick up something in your budget. You might be able to save a few $ and avoid taxes by picking up a used 970 or amd equivalent.
 
sell the 670 to defray the cost of a new card. The GTX970 or R9 290x are both excellent options
 
I buy and sell a lot of used video cards and recently I have been paying and getting around $100 (about $130 CAD) for 2gb 670s before ebay/paypal fees, or $80-90 on hardforum.

I hope that is useful info. I personally am a fan of used budget SLI setups, but I don't seem to encounter the frequent issues others have.
 
970, no contest. Dump the 670 while you can still get a few bucks.
 
QuiteSufficient said:
I buy and sell a lot of used video cards and recently I have been paying and getting around $100 (about $130 CAD) for 2gb 670s before ebay/paypal fees, or $80-90 on hardforum.

I hope that is useful info. I personally am a fan of used budget SLI setups, but I don't seem to encounter the frequent issues others have.
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Thanks, this is very helpful. I can see a lot of used 670's for $100USD shipped on eBay, problem is to get them shipped to Canada is +$15-$20USD, with FX that comes to $150-160CAD. It's also kind of nice buying face to face, reduces the chances of duds and having to mail something back and argue about whether it was broke in shipping or not (I realize Heatware and ebay rep mitigates this risk a bit).

I'll keep my eyes out for 670's from Canadian [H] members.
 
skiddierow said:
In your position, I would probably sell the 670, and go for a used 290(x). Then wait till Pascal.
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Pascal is part of the reason I don't want to buy a new 970 new right now given current pricing. I can't get over the $415CAD/$465 after taxes price which is still launch pricing thanks to our crappy dollar. The fact it's still that expensive here in Canada while being over a year old pisses me off. Pascal is probably 6 months (best case) to 9 months away, close enough that I don't want to pay high $ on a 970 whose value will plummet inside a year but too far to wait.

Used 290X are going for $330+ CAD. Also wary of those cards because so many people hammered them as miners where I live. Also wary of AMD after multiple friends of mine had various issues in gaming on 280/290's at launch, much prefer to stay with NV.

MrGuvernment said:
Get the 970 and be done with it, less power, less heat, less noise and less possible performance issues with things that may not like SLI.

Now, do you feel your games are slowing down at 1080?
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Yep, BF4, Dragon Age Inquisition, Witcher 3 cannot be maxed on my single 670 @ 1920x1200 with AA. I don't have to make them look awful but I definitely have to turn them down to avoid big FPS dips. Guessing Star Wars Battlefront will be the same.

Killerxp100 said:
I am not a fan of sli/xfire setups so I always recommend going with a single card. That said I would go with what you said and sell the 670 and pick up something in your budget. You might be able to save a few $ and avoid taxes by picking up a used 970 or amd equivalent.
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I looked at used 970's and am actually considering this option now. Found a supposedly barely used 970 STRIX for $400CAD, GB 970 G1 for $380 and an EVGA ACX 2.0 for $350CAD. The STRIX is $480 and EVGA $465 new after taxes and rebate, G1 is even more expensive new. So there's quite a bit of money to be saved used on these cards in my local market (Vancouver BC).

If I grab a used 670 for $350 and can sell my 670 for close to $150, then I'm looking at +$50 marginal cost for used 970 versus a second 670 for SLI. Easier to stomach $50 marginal cost vs. $150 on a new 970. This is the way my accountant brain thinks.

Dayaks said:
Not multiGPU unless you're a glutton for pain.
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Part of me wants to try SLI since I've never done multi-GPU, but the rational part of me knows there could be pain and suffering ahead, especially if I want to play games when it's 25-30C during the hot days of summer (we don't have AC).

Gonna think it over more tonight and contact some of the guys selling these cards. I know the 970 is the logical choice and if I can get a used one for $350 or less I'll probably do that and sell my 670.

Thanks everyone :)
 
grambo said:
Part of me wants to try SLI since I've never done multi-GPU, but the rational part of me knows there could be pain and suffering ahead, especially if I want to play games when it's 25-30C during the hot days of summer (we don't have AC).
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If there was a cheap way to try it for yourself before committing, I would definitely do that.

The consensus is that SLI/Crossfire is generally less preferable to a single card solution and I agree with it, but you've seen the occasional person pointing out that their situation doesn't encounter the typical problems of multi-GPU. I'm one of these people, and I never would have known it if I didn't try it for myself.

For now, the 970's probably the way to go. But hey, down the line, if a friend of yours has a 970 you can borrow for a bit, try it and see if you like it before you upgrade next time.
 
Dayaks said:
Not multiGPU unless you're a glutton for pain.
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So much of this. Even if nVidia does nothing wrong you have devs who manage to completely fuck shit up:

dragonageinquisition said:
Set water detail to Medium.

Problem solved.

Since patch 1.0.6 multi-GPU water tessellation has been broken, it's MUCH slower than a single GPU. I bet your fps is crap anytime you are are near a large body of water.
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Island said:
There has been a documented issue with SLI scaling and the Witcher 3 since about 2 or 3 patches ago. SLI scaling is broken and you cannot get your video cards to scale to max with the game now. I believe it has something to do with how the developer changed the coding with Anti-Aliasing.

Using afterburner, my OSD will show a max FPS of around 40. The scaling on my top card will not go above 70%, and the second card is usually worse. The other issue is that if I turn all settings to low and disable post-processing, my FPS still stays at 40 FPS! It really sucks. There is a temp fix that one of the NVidia Forum members posted. They found an SLI protocol that works fairly well and boosts the scaling to above 80 FPS on both cards, but the FPS only increases to 45-50 FPS. I hope it gets addressed soon. Don't waste your money on a 3rd card.

EDIT- ^^ I just read your post Dragon. So, is Tessellation the issue? I will set it to medium and see if that fixes it. You are correct and my FPS stays capped at 40....
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Always buy the single most powerful card within your budget and never look back. The only time SLI makes sense is in a laptop (because they simply lack the raw grunt otherwise), or when your card is 2-3 years old and you can grab another for dirt cheap to hold you over until new tech drops. Or if you're trying to do 4K60 with every single slider set to maximum.
 
n=1 said:
So much of this. Even if nVidia does nothing wrong you have devs who manage to completely fuck shit up:





Always buy the single most powerful card within your budget and never look back. The only time SLI makes sense is in a laptop (because they simply lack the raw grunt otherwise), or when your card is 2-3 years old and you can grab another for dirt cheap to hold you over until new tech drops. Or if you're trying to do 4K60 with every single slider set to maximum.
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Yikes, those bits about DA:I and Witcher 3 are annoying given they are recent games AND games I want to play.

I highlighted your reply because that is my situation, I bought my GTX 670 on launch back in May 2012 so it's now almost 3.5 years old. I don't want to buy a new GTX 970 because they are a rip-off in Canada for a year old (launched at $380, currently $430-450+tax due to poor exchange rate) and late in their product lifecycle with Pascal probably 6-8 months away.

That said, I am leaning more toward a used 970 and selling my 670. If I can get a used 970 for about $350 I'm only looking at +$50 incremental cost from SLI 670 which is money well spent to avoid SLI headaches. The 970 should be enough GPU for me for years to come since I game at 1920x1200 @ 60Hz.
 
Killerxp100 said:
Don't forget to look here on [H] for used hardware!
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Yep, I've been keeping an eye on it. Problem is I am in Canada and it seems 99% of activity is in the US. It will cost ~$20US in shipping for a card and there's a risk I will be charged taxes as if the item is new.

Thanks though :)
 
The general consensus as was stated earlier, is to always go for the fastest single card.
Having said that, I too recently switched from a PNY GTX670 which (even three years old) was still running every game I play at massive framerates...and smooth.
It all depends on how the games you're looking at respond to SLI.
My own switch to a Gigabyte GTX970 though fast and smooth, came with some problems I have never encountered with any other Nvidia card.
For starters, it just sat there on a blank screen with the monitor looking for a source during the first restart at install.
It took an act of God to get it to play at PCI-e 3.0 even though the 670 had done it successfully for all it's running.
To this day I still do not ever see any BIOS information on startup, as is normal with most PC.
It goes from power-on to Windows splash screen.
Some have reported lots of coil whine, blank/black screens, etc...
The GTX970... while good once setup and running, seems to have posed some real challenges to Nvidia's board partners in a few circumstances.
Be prepared.
 
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I went sli 670's about a year ago for $90 off of someone here on [H]For Sale forum. I'm gaming at 1440p, and its been perfectly fine. Play all the same games as you. You aren't going to max out Witcher 3, but I haven't had any SLI issues yet in the year I've been using it. Had it in the past too, with 2x260's. Was never an issue, as nvidia drivers are stout, and upgraded quickly when there is an issue. I think I had to run witcher3 in single gpu mode during release week. Can't remember for sure.

Save the money and go cheap now, save more money for a year, get pascal single card you can afford later...but wait for the ti version, that undercuts nvidia's titan card released first. Oh, and upgrade to a higher resolution!

So my vote is go SLI. What are you really out if it doesn't work out and you sell both 670's? You won't get $150 now anyways for the one you have. The 670 was such a great card, maybe nvidia made it too good!
 
Get the 970. If you are waiting for Pascal, the 970 will be a better basis for comparison in performance, power, and heat. ...Plus the 970 will have a lot more retained resale value than the 670 when Pascal does hit the market.
 
Sell the 670 and buy a used 290/290X as a stop gap. If you don't want to do that, sell the 670 and buy a 970.
 
Thanks everyone for the helpful replies.

I've decided I'm going the used 970 route. I found a guy locally selling a Gigabyte G1 for $380CAD ($280US) - new the G1 is $545CAD ($400USD) new after tax/rebate right now, so I'm saving about 30% going used. Going to pick it up tomorrow, excited and it's just in time for Star Wars Battlefront Beta :)

Kluden said:
I went sli 670's about a year ago for $90 off of someone here on [H]For Sale forum. I'm gaming at 1440p, and its been perfectly fine. Play all the same games as you. You aren't going to max out Witcher 3, but I haven't had any SLI issues yet in the year I've been using it. Had it in the past too, with 2x260's. Was never an issue, as nvidia drivers are stout, and upgraded quickly when there is an issue. I think I had to run witcher3 in single gpu mode during release week. Can't remember for sure.

Save the money and go cheap now, save more money for a year, get pascal single card you can afford later...but wait for the ti version, that undercuts nvidia's titan card released first. Oh, and upgrade to a higher resolution!

So my vote is go SLI. What are you really out if it doesn't work out and you sell both 670's? You won't get $150 now anyways for the one you have. The 670 was such a great card, maybe nvidia made it too good!
Click to expand...

I was initially leaning this way, but decided to spend the extra $80 to go the used 970 route. Reason one is the 670's will likely lose more value when Pascal comes out versus a 970. Reason two was I realized I would have to ditch my PCI soundcard since it would be sitting directly below the fans of GPU1 in an SLI setup, so $50 more to get a PCI-e soundcard to avoid choking GPU1.

DejaWiz said:
Get the 970. If you are waiting for Pascal, the 970 will be a better basis for comparison in performance, power, and heat. ...Plus the 970 will have a lot more retained resale value than the 670 when Pascal does hit the market.
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Yep, this is definitely a concern of mine in that selling the 670's when they are 3 retail generations old would be tough. Heat was also a concern since the 670 I own now (GB Windforce) is not a blower style and I have a low airflow case (Corsair 550D) with no intention of adding high RPM case fans.

Rizen said:
Sell the 670 and buy a used 290/290X as a stop gap. If you don't want to do that, sell the 670 and buy a 970.
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Looked at 290/290X but they run way too hot/loud for what I want. Also I am a bit leary of the used market there from cards that were beat on for mining a couple years back.
 
grambo said:
selling the 670's when they are 3 retail generations old would be tough.
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600 series was re-branded into the 700 series and there was no 800 series. 600 series is definitely not as old as it's name might imply.

It's a shame that Nvidia's intentionally deceptive branding is so successful, as it no doubt means we will see more of it in the future. Get ready to have your 9xx cards replaced by the 11xx series, immediately making all of your cards "2 generations old" in the eyes of your average consumer :rolleyes:
 
GotNoRice said:
600 series was re-branded into the 700 series and there was no 800 series. 600 series is definitely not as old as it's name might imply.

It's a shame that Nvidia's intentionally deceptive branding is so successful, as it no doubt means we will see more of it in the future. Get ready to have your 9xx cards replaced by the 11xx series, immediately making all of your cards "2 generations old" in the eyes of your average consumer :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

nvidia released an 8 series for mobile only. The switch to 9xx on desktop parts was to maintain consistency across their entire product line.
 
grambo said:
Looked at 290/290X but they run way too hot/loud for what I want. Also I am a bit leary of the used market there from cards that were beat on for mining a couple years back.
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Reference ones yes, but any of the models with aftermarket coolers should run no noisier than any other card. They do put off a lot of heat, but if that's not a deal breaker for you they are excellent cards. I have a 290 in my second PC and it runs 2560x1440 pretty well, so 1920x1080 would be no sweat.
 
spintroniX said:
nvidia released an 8 series for mobile only. The switch to 9xx on desktop parts was to maintain consistency across their entire product line.
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There was as much an 800 series as there was a 300 series.

No one in this thread is talking about random re-branded laptop parts.
 
One of the big benefits of buying top(ish) tier cards like the (x)70 or (x)80 is that you can cheaply upgrade to SLI... the SLI option is cheaper, nearly half the cost. It really depends on your financial position. The SLI will have a few issues, but for MOST games it will be awesome. The 970 costs a heck of a lot more, but it won't have the same (rare) issues in SLI.

If it were me, and I had limited funds, I'd be looking at what games I was playing and resolution I planned to play them.
 
skiddierow said:
In your position, I would probably sell the 670, and go for a used 290(x). Then wait till Pascal.
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^^This Except that I will take a brand new GPU
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In the end, neither decision is wrong, as they both will work great.

Now, when you have this decision to make again, 970's should be pretty darn cheap to make an SLI setup workout!
 
Will echo others: sell that 670 and go for a 290x. You can probably get around $100-120 for that 670 which could be used towards a new 290x for $260 (or used for even cheaper).

This will get you very near 670 SLI performance without having to deal with multi-GPU issues.

Edit: I see you're leaning towards a 970. Definitely a good card, but if it was my dollar I'd definitely go for a 290x due to cheaper cost, generally better performance, and more (usable) VRAM. As usual, the heat/power/noise issues are overblown: as long as you go with an aftermarket hs/f, you'd hardly see a difference. I've had both a 970 and 290x (MSI dual-fan version), and never noticed a difference in heat or noise (actually I think the 290x was a bit quieter); there was however a noticeable improvement in performance with the 290x, especially at higher resolution and IQ.
 
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I had 2-670 sli & went with a single 970. Better frames & honestly more power in almost every game.
 
spintroniX said:
nvidia released an 8 series for mobile only. The switch to 9xx on desktop parts was to maintain consistency across their entire product line.
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And for the most part 8 series for mobile were simply former kepler cards with a small clock increases. Let's hope NVidia keeps some semblance of organization here now that their mobile chip series names are somewhat akin to their desktop brethren, (although still intentionally made to confuse consumers into thinking they're getting more than they are e.g. "980m" is actually a further shader-reduced/cut-down GTX 970)

On the other hand, AMD's mobile GPU naming conventions are an utter mess e.g. m290x is the old Pitcairn/7870 chip; m295x is a Tonga
 
970...you're making the right choice. It's going to provide you more performance than 670 SLI, but with much lower power draw and heat output, even compared to anything AMD equivalent.

970 will draw around 165-180W at full load.
670 SLI will draw around 280-300W at full load.
290X will draw around 240-270W at full load.
 
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