GTX 690 owners speak up... Considering purchasing a second 690 for 2K gaming...

0

0xygenthief

Weaksauce
Joined
Sep 11, 2007
Messages
83
I was an early adopter back in 2012 and have pretty much laughed as two generations of GPUs came and went while the GTX 690 is still upper tier.

Now everyone seems to be on a GTX 970/980ti kick and selling off their old 690 cards. I get it, something new and shiny... must have. But I am wondering if maybe quad-sli with another 690 might be worth the sub $400 price tag.

I currently don't have a 4K monitor, just 2K. So the limited Vram has never been an issue and won't continue to be and issue even with quad-sli. My purpose for this post is to ask those [H]ard enthusiasts that have ran quad-sli whether or not its worth the effort/expense at this point?

Drivers have undoubtedly improved over time when it comes to quad-sli and compatibility with games (I would hope). I guess I am up for opinions, preferably from current or previous owners of quad-sli systems.

Also, its been ages since I last watercooled anything and am curios where one might go to obtain used 690 waterblocks?

Thanks in advance!
 
Ebay for anything 690 related(Cards and Blocks), cards can or should be able to be found on Amazon too. Get the card soon, since there isn't always a big supply. Good luck 0xygenthief.

Oh and if you do want some New GTX 690 blocks, you might have to deal with places in Europe, like this: HEATKILLER® GPU-X³ GTX 690 "Hole Edition", they show the blocks being in stock.
 
Stick with what you have. Games these days don't really stress your graphics card enough to really warrant purchasing a new card, not since the Crysis days imho. Save your money and invest it wisely else where. My friend is still rocking an EVGA 690 and its playing games just fine on his 30" monitor.

As for water cooling, I say don't bother. My system is watercooled and it gets be a hassle maintaining it after a while. And in the event that I want to sell my parts, its hard to find people that will buy it with watercooling parts attached to it. Sure I can put back the original heatsink fan, but now I have to worry about selling the blocks.
 
Waste of horse power. They'll choke to death on their 2GB frame buffer before realizing their full potential, that and 4-way SLI scaling is notoriously poor.
 
Kor said:
Waste of horse power. They'll choke to death on their 2GB frame buffer before realizing their full potential, that and 4-way SLI scaling is notoriously poor.
Click to expand...

^definitively This. GTX 690 was never a good card, way slower than two separated GTX 680, specially for modern gaming at 2560x1440, it's just crazy to say the 2GB aren't a issue when its even a issue for 1920x1080. I would just sell the card and buy a single 980TI and enjoy no SLI problems etc.. a single 980TI will be more powerfull than a pair of GTX 690 in Quad-SLI because the performance above 2 cards it's just crap, with a single powerful card you enjoy 100% the performance 100% of time..
 
Araxie said:
^definitively This. GTX 690 was never a good card, way slower than two separated GTX 680, specially for modern gaming at 2560x1440, it's just crazy to say the 2GB aren't a issue when its even a issue for 1920x1080. I would just sell the card and buy a single 980TI and enjoy no SLI problems etc.. a single 980TI will be more powerfull than a pair of GTX 690 in Quad-SLI because the performance above 2 cards it's just crap, with a single powerful card you enjoy 100% the performance 100% of time..
Click to expand...

I wouldn't go as far as suggesting the 690 was a bad card, it was pretty great imo (a little expensive mind you).
 
Araxie said:
^definitively This. GTX 690 was never a good card, way slower than two separated GTX 680, specially for modern gaming at 2560x1440, it's just crazy to say the 2GB aren't a issue when its even a issue for 1920x1080. I would just sell the card and buy a single 980TI and enjoy no SLI problems etc.. a single 980TI will be more powerfull than a pair of GTX 690 in Quad-SLI because the performance above 2 cards it's just crap, with a single powerful card you enjoy 100% the performance 100% of time..
Click to expand...

I'm with this guy. Buy a 980ti if you are going to buy anything.

I went to a 980 G1 from my 690 and considered it a worthy upgrade. Sli-profiles get old fast.
 
Wasting your time on quadfire and 2gb VRAM. I used to use a 690 I loved it, buts it's just old now.
 
Wow...

Not a whole lot of love for the 690 it seems. I feel the need to defend what I consider NVIDIAs most awesome product... ever, so bare with me.

I can't remember ANY other single card that can go neck and neck with the top of the line cards for 3+ years. Sorry, I meant demolish for 2 years and then go neck and neck for another 1+ years. Even today, if you go by "MY" specs, i.e. 2K gaming the 690 is within 10-15% of the 980 ti.

I prefer my displays to be around 100 ppi, so 2K at 30 inches is what I run. The 140 ppi of 4K monitors is just too much for my old eyes I suppose, and I don't have the desk space nor the kitchen pass from the wife to run triple monitors. In other words, the 2GB of VRAM has never been an issue at that resolution.

I can understand someone trading in their 690 for a 980ti or two if they upped their display or went multi-monitor. I just don't see the economics of the upgrade otherwise, though I know this crowd [H] and all.

Lastly, when it comes to drivers, compatibility, profiles and the like I get it, we are in the Apple/console/everything works out of the box age. I guess I am just old school and don't mind a little tweaking. I've never come across a game that I couldn't get running well within the first day of trying. Hell I got SLI working with Fallout 4 even though it isn't "technically" supported. Its not rocket science.

So though I truly appreciate the input, especially from the current and former 690 owners, I've seen the same statements on multiple forums. Most comments originating from non-quad-sli owners regurgitating what they read on another forum almost like a feedback loop.

I'd really like to get some feedback from someone who has ran quad-sli and preferrably at 2K resolutions, though that's asking for a lot it seems.
 
Well if you are itching to try quad sli I would say go for it, but it looks like cards are going for $250 ish on ebay ... so you are talking about a $500 swing in cards. Considering I just picked up an evga bstock 980ti for $550... I cannot say that is a great investment other than for the novelty factor. And to boot you can then almost do 4k60 😉 on the 980ti
 
Sounds like your just looking for someone to just tell you want to hear instead of giving you honest advice. The general consensus is that 2 card sli is the sweet spot. Don't forget there was a 7990 either
 
"2K" gaming is just 1080P, and 2GB isn't much for newer games in 1080P regardless of how much many GPUs are piling on. You sound like you are trying way too hard to justify a purchase you have already decided to make. Everyone else thinks it's a bad idea because the 690 is very old tech now. This sounds like a fools errand and won't result in a much improved gaming experience.

Like everyone else, I also think you would be better off selling the 690 and picking up a newer card instead of trying to squeeze more blood from that stone. Quad SLI scaling never has been great and your cards are already going to be RAM and feature limited.
 
Last edited:
Quad Sli is a bad choice. Performance scaling is bad, compatibility worse, and driver support close to non existant.

As everyone else says, sell the 690 and get a 980Ti, you'll get better performance, much lower power draw, cooler temps and great OC. IMO even a plain 980 would do.

But hey its your money, so just get the 2nd 690 and prove us wrong :D:D
 
This is exactly what I was doing when I had a HD 5970, lol. I tried very hard to convince myself that it would be a decent choice, and asked around on forums to have them talk me out of it. ended up doing it regardless. worst decision of my life. I was using 3 year old tech by that point, and quad xfire was just disastrous. I already experienced many issues with a single 5970, mainly with artifacting, and it took AMD a year to hammer out all those issues. A quad HD setup just killed everything. Random blue screens, heavy artifacting, inconsistent frame rates, and I couldn't play Rome:TW at higher than 1080p due to bandwidth issues.

When it did work, it was beautiful, but you'll be hassled more than you want. Going back to a single 5970 was like heaven.

Even the dual 780s I have right now give me some issues from time to time. SLi is just not something I would highly recommend. Single card solutions are more than enough these days, and I'll probably be doing just that in the future.
 
FYI only time I tried Quad SLI was with the 7950 gx2's and Oblivion back in the day, to echo the choir when it worked it was sweet but more often than not it was a real pita... but also first gen of that stuff ... on an Asus A8n-sli with a x2 4600 AMD of all things ;) It sure made my dlp 1080p tv games very pretty for the time though.

Also keep in mind that worst case you eat the ebay fees for selling the new card again, so the cost to you may be very minimal if you want to try it out, assuming of course there is still a market to sell the 690's. I would also be curious to see the results / what kind of gpu power you are able to make and what games like quad sli.
 
Tgrove said:
Sounds like your just looking for someone to just tell you want to hear instead of giving you honest advice. The general consensus is that 2 card sli is the sweet spot. r
Click to expand...
Indeed he sounds just like my brother when he contacts me for some tech consult...he is not looking for my recommendation he just want me to validate his already made choice :D
Dont do it man...listen to us on this one. ;)
 
That 2GB is going to limit your performance especially on modern games, even at 2K most modern games require at least 4GB of more so your better off with a modern video card like the 980Ti or Fury X.
 
Yeah my first thought is "Whoa, 2 GB in 2015?" yeah, its possible, but don't expect to be playing games in 1440p....
 
If you're going to entertain the thought of going quad-SLI, why not just get 2x Titan Z? At least then you won't be crippled by a 2GB framebuffer.
 
As someone who at one point had 3 GTX 690's and did run quad-SLI for a bit, I feel vindicated in saying this : Don't. Its shit.

Fact is, a single 690 can't even keep up with a decently clocked 970, let alone a 980 or higher card. I don't know where you're getting this crap about it being close to a 980ti, that is simply wishful thinking and praying to the SLI scaling gods.

If you wanted to spend your $999 wisely, you would have bought an OG Titan.
 
Don't do it. I've tried quad a few times in my life and each time it has been not too great. I've run
2x 3870x2's.. Blah
2x 4870x 2's... Crap

2x7950 gx2's.,.... Horrible experience
2x Titan Z's... 4 way scaling was awful
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top