Is it worth upgrading SLI 780 WC at this point?

N

Neon01

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jan 22, 2008
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I use a 1600p (60hz) right now, but would like to upgrade to 4k at some point (are they available in 60hz models yet?) Not certain if that would happen before I upgrade again though - I tend to keep video cards only 1-2 years anyway. A new SLI 970 watercooled setup is about $950, and maybe $1350 for the 980s. I figure my current setup is worth $700ish, conservatively, so that's between $250 and $650 out of pocket for the upgrade.

Dragon Age Inquisition and the upcoming Witcher 3 are my biggest priorities, and both are (or likely to be) pretty demanding. DA:I is running pretty poorly on my current setup. Right now I need to set several settings to high instead of ultra, no AO, no AA, and even then I get sub-60 frames in many areas, though I understand that a patch may address some of this.

TW2 was pretty much my favorite game ever, so I really want to be able to run TW3 with full eye candy smoothly. Would it be best to wait?
 
i would try volt modding and overclocking your cards, before upgrading. With new tech merely months away it's hard to justify going from the 780 to 970/980, particularly since you aren't at 4K yet.
 
spintroniX said:
i would try volt modding and overclocking your cards, before upgrading. With new tech merely months away it's hard to justify going from the 780 to 970/980, particularly since you aren't at 4K yet.
Click to expand...

I'm running at 1150mhz (in game) on the core right now with a modest bump to memory, but I can't seem to go much higher. Of course neither card goes above 45 C even after hours of gaming in a confined room, and my power load usually stays below 70-80%. I believe it may be because they seem to run at different Vcores. I've read about this issue with regard to the 970 in SLI, but not much info for the 780. Still, there's something there, since they each can OC much better on their own. That and the fact that I can see them operating at slightly different Vcore while under load together indicates to me that might be the problem.

Sounds like good advice though. Especially after doing some reading on memory requirements for recent console ports...
 
A little off topic perhaps, but about noise:

You could possibly run air cooling very effectively by picking low noise fans + a low noise cabinet + using the fan controlling software that comes with your Asus motherboard (Asus Fan Xpert 2).

I do that myself with a i7-4770 (not overclocked though, obviously, as it's not a 4770k).

My pc is placed in my living room and is running all day long, it's almost completely silent when I'm doing office work, and I am extremely sensitive to pc noise. Only when I'm gaming, it makes noise, however I don't mind as I'm always playing with headphones on anyway which means I can't really hear the noise from the pc anyway.

I have a Fractal Design R4 case, a Noctua CPU fan (can't remember model name), a Noctua case fan and 2 x Aerocool fans in the front of the cabinet. I also have a Noctua fan at the bottom of the cabinet but I've turned that one off as it's not needed at all.

Right now I have these fan rpms:
CPU fan: 222 rpm
Front fans: 707 rpm
Case fan: 431 rpm

CPU temperature: 26 degrees Celcius
Motherboard temperature: 24 degrees Celcius
Room temperature: 21 degrees Celcius

But ok, like I said, it may be a little harder for you since you're overclocking.
 
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