Tri-SLI GTX 780 vs Duo-SLI GTX 780Ti?

Supercharged_Z06

Supercharged_Z06

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Could use some good subjective advice here from some of you that are running the latest and greatest gen GPU hardware out there!

I've been saving up to do a GPU upgrade for quite some time now... currently still running a pair of heavily overclocked, water blocked SLI'ed GTX 480's.

I do not have a multi-LCD setup, just running a single 30" Dell U3011 display (2560x1600).

Right now, my SLI'ed 480's are still running great, but they simply can't hold up as to frame rate when eye candy is maxed in some of the latest games and the limited amount of VRAM is also holding things back a bit when it comes to textures.

When the GTX 780 first arrived last year, I seriously considered upgrading, but after looking at benchmarks, I realized that performance gains wouldn't be all that huge by upgrading to a single GTX 780... perhaps a 20% gain overall at best, so I held off.

Now that I've finally saved up enough dosh in the toy chest fund to consider upgrading and with the release of the GTX 780Ti, the upgrade itch has hit hard again. In wanting a huge performance increase, I'm also thinking that I'll need to go SLI when I upgrade as well.

My dilemma: I can purchase 3x GTX 780 cards and go tri-SLI for roughly the same price as a 2x GTX 780Ti SLI setup. ($1500 vs $1400)

I have plenty of case room (Corsair 800D), a motherboard that is tri-SLI capable (ASUS Maximus IV Extreme) and a pretty beefy power supply (Enermax Maxrevo 1350W) so I can easily handle going either route... but if I am driving a single 30" display, is this complete and utter overkill? (I'm also contemplating going 4K as to a new monitor a year or two down the road once the refresh rates in the newer LCD hardware can handle/support 60Hz or better...)

So, what should I go with as to driving my current display with an eye to the future?
Should I instead just go with a pair of GTX 780's and call it a day? Or even a single GTX 780Ti and just stick it out and wait for Maxwell to arrive later this year?
 
Dual GTX 780TI for sure, with that you will be able to handle all the games out there now and for a long time too.. if you have the money then shoot for the Dual 780TI..

At this point, you should avoid any triple card setup, unless you are on a more recent PCIe 3.0 board or in socket 2011 or in a board with a PLX chip, you do not want to run 3 GTX 780 in PCIe 2.0 4x-4x-4x.. even i would not feel so comfortable running dual 780TI in PCIe 2.0 x8-x8.. so if you have the money then shoot directly for the Dual 780TI specially for any binned with high factory overclocked and overclock it to the hell..

also if you are planning to keep your WC setup and not planning to overclock a lot, you may consider moving to the red team 290X, they scale much better with the new Xfire tecnology, im totally impartial at this suggestion, you may consider it only with water due to the heat and noise those card produces they scale good in Xfire but they are far to overclock as good as the 780TI.. so again if you want to overclock as demon then move to dual 780TI..
 
definitely buy 2 x 780Ti

i also have 30" Dell and the cards are monsters
 
Thanks, I really hadn't even consider the PCI-E 2.0 vs 3.0 issue... although the MB I have is capable of x8 x16 x16 with three cards and from what I have read, the difference between 2.0 vs 3.0 isn't all that significant (less that 5-6% overall). One important factor when going with 3 cards though is having to deal with 3x as many failure points. I may also eventually water block whatever I end up with - so whatever has more headroom as to an OC is probably a better choice for me. While the 290X path from a performance standpoint may be a viable option, I've been burned by the red camp's drivers one too many times to seriously consider them.

I guess right now I am leaning towards a pair of ASUS GTX 780 Ti DirectCU II's as their upgraded (non-reference) design seems to sport a better VRM solution. Odds are that will be plenty of oomph to run a single 30" Dell... and I could always add a third card once I step up to a 4K monitor if really needed. Whatever I end up getting, I'll most likely run them stock for the first 6 months and then waterblock them for some extra OC headroom. Any other suggestions/ideas?
 
I think you have made a good choice. One other point I did not see mentioned is the spacing between the cards. Since you plan on running the cards on air for the first 6 months, you will have huge heat problems with 3x cards with no room between two of them. So you choice with going for 2x 780 Ti's is sound.
 
I would strongly advise against getting custom cards for tri-SLI. I can almost certainly guarantee that you will have heat issues which can cause instability, or at the very least will negate any type of overclocking you can do. Unless you're water cooling from the get-go, it is not worth it. Trust me. I've dealt with this myself, and if you're sandwiching cards especially for tri-SLI you'll need to go reference. The problem is custom cards dump the heat into your case, and no matter how good your air flow is - the upper cards will get 10-15C warmer than the lower cards if they're stacked too close. With this being the case, stability problems can quickly become an issue. Generally speaking, this is why reference is preferred for mGPU configurations - they output air out of the rear of the case as opposed to inside of it.

Water cooling tri-SLI DC2 cards would be fine, but running them on air sandwiched is asking for tons of headache. Don't do it. Reference will work on air, DC2's in tri-SLI will require so much intervention to simply make work that it isn't worth it.

edit: just realized that you're doing DC 2 in 2 way instead of 3 way. That could work, if your motherboard allows adequate spacing between cards. If you have to stack them, you may have heat issues. In any case you'll need excellent case air flow to make it work, and your overclocks will not be as good in SLI as compared to a single card.
 
I'd do the tri sli. A 780 at around 1100mhz will match 780ti even with tri sli as long as you go reference cards even on air you'll be able to hit 1100mhz no problem. At that resolution pcie 2.0 will be fine. If you step up to 4k or surround you'll want to do a platform upgrade tho. Not like it's expensive microcenter has 4670k for 180 and can grab a giga z87-OC non force for 200 anywhere for your tri/quad sli needs.
 
Spacing shouldn't be a problem and airflow in my setup also shouldn't be an issue as I have plenty of fans pulling air through the case due to the customizations I've made to it. Here's a pic of my current setup:

system4.jpg


(That's 8 fans up top in a push/pull config sucking air out of the case and another pair of fans sucking air out the back in a push/pull config... not including the one blowing up directly under the pump... yes, I know, just a wee tad over the top as to a water cooling setup/config... heh!)

I think I'd be fine running the GTX 780Ti's on air for a bit before opting to waterblock them as I built my rig with max upgrade potential in mind... :)

I'm now thinking that just replacing my two GTX 480's with a pair of GTX 780Ti's is the way to go for now - while tri-SLI GTX 780's would also work, I'm thinking the gains realized over a pair of GTX 780Ti's would be wasted on a 30" display and the added headache's of water blocking three cards over two would also be an issue. Odds are a couple years down the road I would also opt to upgrade the MB/CPU as well.
 
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Holy shit. Ur gonna have like 40°C load temps on that 2600k running those rads and no gpu ' on the loop.
 
So, in researching into this a bit more, there doesn't seem to be any waterblocks that will work with the ASUS DC2's custom layout yet. If I plan to eventually waterblock the 780Ti's I end up getting, what's the best brand to go with as to warranty coverage and/or feature set? I still think the DC2's with the beefed up VRM circuitry are the way to go... should I just hope that a water block that's compatible with them will appear a few months from now? Any other recommendations?
 
Zotac amps. They use reference PCB but they are binned for overclocking.
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2013/11/28/zotac-geforce-gtx-780-ti-amp-review/1
It also has a 265 watt tdp instead of 250 watt. So 100% power level is actually higher than a reference card. My 780 is the same thing and I don't even have to adjust power target to prevent throttling. Even overclocked it never hits 100%. Will be easy to get blocks for since it's reference PCB.
 
I agree, dual SLI ASUS GTX 780Ti DCUII's http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HSY1RVC are definitely the way to go!

It's a shame to waste the cooler but the PCB/VRM cooling are very nice. I've heard bad things about the Zotac's VRM's blowing under heavy OC's but it's up to you.
 
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GameHard6 said:
I agree, dual SLI ASUS GTX 780Ti DCUII's http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HSY1RVC are definitely the way to go!

It's a shame to waste the cooler but the PCB/VRM cooling are very nice. I've heard bad things about the Zotac's VRM's blowing under heavy OC's but it's up to you.
Click to expand...

I think your thinking of the galaxy HOF. Have heard nothing about AMP blowing. I'd like a link to this. It's reference PCB. So yes if you for 1.3v threw it it could be a problem. At least if you have a problem you can get support tho. Good luck getting anything out of asus nowadays.

Could just go evga classified. They have water blocks as its same PCB as 780 classified.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487007
block
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/2...ck_-_Nickel_EK-FC780_GTX_Classy_-_Nickel.html
 
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Supercharged_Z06 said:
So, in researching into this a bit more, there doesn't seem to be any waterblocks that will work with the ASUS DC2's custom layout yet. If I plan to eventually waterblock the 780Ti's I end up getting, what's the best brand to go with as to warranty coverage and/or feature set? I still think the DC2's with the beefed up VRM circuitry are the way to go... should I just hope that a water block that's compatible with them will appear a few months from now? Any other recommendations?
Click to expand...

Ek might release a block for the dc2 780 ti. If I was going with a custom pcb card, I'd be looking at the 780 ti classified. Waterblocks are available for it.
HOODedDutchman said:
I think your thinking of the galaxy HOF. Have heard nothing about AMP blowing. I'd like a link to this. It's reference PCB. So yes if you for 1.3v threw it it could be a problem. At least if you have a problem you can get support tho. Good luck getting anything out of asus nowadays.
Click to expand...
Yup. Zotac gpu's tend to be overlooked mainly because it's a zotac. Their amp cards are known for being binned.
 
Good point, didn't even think of that. I knew the 780 dc 2 had a waterblock, not sure on the dc 2 780ti. 780ti has a different PCB , right? I wasn't even sure about that.

I also agree about Zotac cards, they're nice. I just can't stand the orange color scheme for whatever reason, but if that doesn't phase you - I have heard great things about them. That way getting a WB will be easy peasey, and possibly less expensive with better supply (since it is reference and binned for OC'ing)
 
Good way to get around the orange color scheme is to adopt it. Within next few weeks should have my giga z87x-OC board, 4770k, g.skill ares ram and some cougar 120mm for my nh-d14. That or bail n grab an xspc rx360 kit with d5 pump n a gpu block n keep my 2600k. Always something :confused:;)
 
xoleras said:
Good point, didn't even think of that. I knew the 780 dc 2 had a waterblock, not sure on the dc 2 780ti. 780ti has a different PCB , right? I wasn't even sure about that.

I also agree about Zotac cards, they're nice. I just can't stand the orange color scheme for whatever reason, but if that doesn't phase you - I have heard great things about them. That way getting a WB will be easy peasey, and possibly less expensive with better supply (since it is reference and binned for OC'ing)
Click to expand...

There is a new EK block for the 780 ti dcuii ;)
 
I'm still leaning towards the ASUS GTX 780Ti DirectCU II at this point - especially in light of the fact that it looks like EK is going to make a waterblock for it - "Coming soon" on their site sounds like they will anyways.

While I like that Zotac seems to bin their chips for their AMP offering, I don't like that they are using the reference VRM design (with 6 and 8 pin power connectors.) The DCU II seems to have a very nice VRM re-design, plus they are using two 8 pin power connectors. With the right volt mod tweaks and on water, I would think I could squeeze quite a bit of extra performance out of them.

EVGA's classified offering also seems good - but I've read mixed reviews as to the chips they are binning - or rather not binning as it seems they are now only really binning them for their "Kingpin" edition of the classy, and then there's the up-charge for all the extra marketing flash and the LN2 BIOS/extra power circuitry which would all be a waste on me as I never plan to go beyond simple water cooling. (Also cost close to $150 a pop more than the DCU II's)

I'm going to go ahead and wait another week or two in order to see what the Titan Black brings to the table in both price and performance, but odds are I'm going to go with a pair of 780Ti DirectCU II's.

Thanks for all the suggestions/tips!
 
I'm thinking 2 x 780ti performance would scale better than triple 780's.
 
I didn't read the thread but 780 Ti is the only answer. 3-way Gk110 scaling sucks ass especially for resolutions below Surround. I would know, I had 3x and hated it.
 
Dammit - still no real news on the Titan Black... seems it most likely won't launch until right before CeBIT kicks off in early March. Basically, it'll be a 780Ti with 6GB of VRAM, only with Titan's DP pedigree/capabilities for $999. I seriously doubt it'll be all that much faster than the 780Ti, but for a SLI setup with tons of VRAM, it would better handle the upgrade to a 4K screen and the larger texture demands of games designed to truly take advantage of such setups in a couple of years. I just dunno...

I'm really torn between saying "screw it" and just getting a pair of 780Ti's now vs. kicking myself in 3 weeks for not having waited to buy a pair of Titan Blacks instead.

When I do upgrade, I really want to notice the performance bump. Spending ~$1450 on a pair of 780Ti's now is already insane. Not all that big a jump to just go whole hog crazy with a pair of Titan Black's.

Damn these 1st world problems! :D
 
Just get the 780ti. 500 extra for the blacks is crazy. At 4k you aren't going to need AA which is the thing that'll shoot up the vram usage. You won't even notice a difference between 16xMSAA super whatever crap and having it off at that resolution. If your that worried about it find a couple used titans. Prob get them for less than 780ti and get the vram you desire.
 
Ok... after much consideration, I finally broke down and ordered a pair of EVGA GTX 780 Ti Dual Classifieds. Also order a couple of backplates for them - EVGA cheaped out a bit by not including them as standard with the card.

Going to run them on air for a bit and then waterblock them. (Most likely this Spring.) When/if the Titan Black hits within the next couple of months and Nvidia somehow puts some major unexpected "must have" features/magic into the mix, I can always exercise EVGA's step up program.

I ultimately decided on the Classies as an EK waterblock currently exists for them. I also liked the dual BIOS option and when it comes to the warranty, I trust EVGA quite a bit more so than I do ASUS - I've done a couple RMA's with EVGA in the past and never had issues with them. EVGA is better at supporting BIOS/software updates/tweaks and seems to have a more active forum... and lastly, the Classies also sport a beefed up VRM section. They cost a wee bit more than the ASUS DCU II's, but once under water, I'm thinking there will be more OC potential there.

HOODedDutchman, your point about not really needing AA at 4k resolutions is a sound one - heck I really don't even notice it all that much switching it on/off at 2560x1600... it's the folks @ 1080p that really need it and where it really makes a difference.

Anyway, should be a really nice performance bump over my existing SLI'ed GTX 480's. :D
 
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I've been happy with my EVGA SC 780 Gtxs in Tri Sli, they have the reference coolers and I have zero problems, they all run at 1160/6800 since launch. I'm definetly set until Maxwell Launch, it's true that some games see no benefit or small gains with the 3rd card but it's nice having that extra horsepower for the games that do.
 
Well, my 780Ti Classies arrived today and I popped one into my case to see what kind of performance increase it brings to the table... (Going to have to wait until the weekend for the second card install as I have two waterblocked GTX 480 cards to remove from my loop first - they are just hanging out the side of the case for now - but blocking the second card install.)

Here's what my two GTX480's in SLI produced on the Valley benchmark:

GTX_480_SLI.jpg


And here's what the single GTX 780Ti Classy did (stock - no extra overclocking):

GTX_780Ti.jpg


That's a nice 20% bump as to average frame rate using just one card. Impressive! That second 780Ti is going to really jack performance up to the next level. :D

Guess I'll be listing my waterblocked GTX 480's in the for sale section soon... :)
 
You made me happy. My overclocked 780 nearly matches your stock overclocked 780ti :D.
2lnbrc.jpg

Prob makes you wish u went 780 tri sli lol
 
Well, it's hard to make an apples to apples comparison with Unigine or 3dmark of any variety. RAM speed, CPU speed, etc all affect the final score. So it may not be completely useful to compare a PC with a different processor to another - even something like a 2600k vs a 4770k, generally the 4770k at a clockspeed within 300mhz will win by a good margin.

This is especially apparent in 3dmark11; although 3dmark has a "graphics only" score which pinpoints the GPU in particular. Most sites tend to focus on the overall score, though.
 
xoleras said:
Well, it's hard to make an apples to apples comparison with Unigine or 3dmark of any variety. RAM speed, CPU speed, etc all affect the final score. So it may not be completely useful to compare a PC with a different processor to another - even something like a 2600k vs a 4770k, generally the 4770k at a clockspeed within 300mhz will win by a good margin.

This is especially apparent in 3dmark11; although 3dmark has a "graphics only" score which pinpoints the GPU in particular. Most sites tend to focus on the overall score, though.
Click to expand...

If you look at both are specs we have same cpu and motherboard and same amount of ram. Although ram speeds may be different. Also you are wrong about valley or heaven benchmark. If they are set to extreme preset it will make no difference. I've run it with my ram at 1333 and cpu at stock and still got the same score (maybe .1fps difference). You are correct about 3dmark tho. On performance preset cpu or cpu speed can make a large difference on overall score and graphics score. Graphics score gets effected because CPU can bottleneck at performance preset.
 
Ok, finally got the waterloop trimmed down (to remove the old cards) and inserted the second GTX 780Ti into the mix:

SLI780Ti-2.jpg


SLI780Ti-1.jpg


SLI definitely gave me a nice bump in performance - these suckers scream!

SLI_GTX_780Ti.jpg


GPU performance got a huge bump up compared to the old SLI'ed GTX 480 setup! One card runs a wee bit hotter than the other under heavy load (~10C hotter) but temps are fine. (Hot card peeks at around ~76C) At idle, one's at 20C and the other at 25C.

Going to put them both into the water loop by late Spring and then mess with a bit more voltage and see how far they OC.
 
If u have a tri sli bridge lying around you can use the 1st and 4th slot and have a full 2 spaces between the gpus. That should lower the top cards temps a bit.
 
One card simply runs a bit hotter than the other - pretty much the norm in an SLI setup. (Also the cooler card has a ASIC of 70.3, the other 62.6, so that most likely is the biggest reason why one runs a wee bit hotter than the other.) I currently have a double space (2 slots) of separation between the two classies. I seriously doubt adding more space between the two cards would help serve to lower the temps noticeably in my particular situation. (Note that I've got a combined total of 11 Scythe Gentle Typhoon 1850's all working in unison to evacuate the air out of my case - heat build up due to emissive radiation and/or poor ventilation simply isn't a problem! :) )

Once both classies go under water, all temp concerns will become a complete non-issue for me anyhow - till them, I can live with my current setup.

Also, it looks like the Titan Black specs are now officially out:

Base Clock: 889 Mhz
Boost Clock: 980 Mhz
Memory Clock: 7008 Mhz
Memory: 6Gb GDDR5
384 Bit Bus
2880 CUDA Cores
240 TMUs
48 ROPs
250W TDP
6pin + 8 Pin Power Connector

So it looks like my decision to go with the non-reference design 780Ti's was a sound one as other than the uptick to 6Gb of VRAM, there really isn't much to speak of as to any added gaming performance. (The extra ~$250-300 per card cost also still seems a bit much for what is being offered... I was hoping the Titan Black would have delivered a bit more, but as it stands, it really just caught up to the 780Ti as to matching it in stream processor/texture unit count. Unless someone offers a non-reference design Titan Black with beefed up power/OC ability, I seriously doubt those with 780Ti's would want to pursue it... and with Maxwell just around the corner, their really isn't a compelling reason to consider upgrading to it.
 
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Obviously three GK110 gpus are going to be faster than two.

I would like to see a clock for clock comparison on GTX780 vs 780ti.
 
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