670 SLI Upgrade? (BF4)

superxero044

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Dec 14, 2011
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I am running 1440p with a 670 (2GB).

With the current prices available for 670 I am VERY tempted to aqcuire a second one.

Does anyone have 670 SLI (2GB) and BF4?

Everyone keeps talking about VRAM but I already have the 670. If I upgrade to a 280x (which is more expensive than buying a second 670) from what I can tell it wouldn't be near as fast as 2 670s.

Any advice is appreciated.

THANKS :)
 

smackababy

Lifer
Oct 30, 2008
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I have 670 SLI but I game on 1080p. I haven't hit an issue with the VRAM, however, if I were to buy a card today, I'd try and get something with more VRAM.

You will get better framerates with another 670 vs a 280x, however, you might end up hitting the cards VRAM limits in future games sooner rather than later.
 

snouter

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Jan 5, 2008
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I have two 2GB GTX760 in SLI and am running BF4 with mostly ultra settings on 1440p with no real issues that I can tell.

The 670 and 760 are pretty close in performance if I am not mistaken.
 

Termie

Diamond Member
Aug 17, 2005
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FWIW, I've been debating this for the past week or so, and just purchased a GTX780.

The power of 670SLI is very tempting, especially with hot deals on the 670, coming in at $220AR, but I've seen enough evidence from enough sources to have concluded that at 1440p/Ultra, 2GB of VRAM is not enough.
 

raghu78

Diamond Member
Aug 23, 2012
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sell the GTX 670. for BF4 get the king - R9 290X. 64 ROPs and massive 512 bit memory bus. makes a difference at 1440p with MSAA. Mantle is going to propel this card to a a whole new level of performance. already its the top dog in DX11.

http://www.techspot.com/review/734-battlefield-4-benchmarks/page4.html
http://www.sweclockers.com/artikel/17810-prestandaanalys-battlefield-4/3#pagehead

if you are on a tight budget wait till R9 290 launches on Nov 5th. slap a custom cooler and overclock it to 1.2 Ghz. :biggrin:
 

superxero044

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Dec 14, 2011
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I have two 2GB GTX760 in SLI and am running BF4 with mostly ultra settings on 1440p with no real issues that I can tell.

The 670 and 760 are pretty close in performance if I am not mistaken.

This is what I was looking for. I know that I would be better off with 290x or 780 but I really just want something that isn't so expensive to hold off until next gen. Thanks for the confirmation that it works OK. 760 and 670 are very similar afaik.

:)
 

Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
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sell the GTX 670. for BF4 get the king - R9 290X. 64 ROPs and massive 512 bit memory bus. makes a difference at 1440p with MSAA. Mantle is going to propel this card to a a whole new level of performance. already its the top dog in DX11.

http://www.techspot.com/review/734-battlefield-4-benchmarks/page4.html
http://www.sweclockers.com/artikel/17810-prestandaanalys-battlefield-4/3#pagehead

if you are on a tight budget wait till R9 290 launches on Nov 5th. slap a custom cooler and overclock it to 1.2 Ghz. :biggrin:

The 290X is definitely a good bit faster than a 670 single, but 670 crossfire is a good bit faster than a single 290X. Yes, even for 1440P Ultra settings. Hell, 760SLI 2GB even beats 290X at 4K. $ for $, it'd be crazy to go 290X for the OP. SLI 670 is also considerably quieter than a 290X reference.

Perhaps when the special edition 290s hit the streets this will change. Most 670s are also OC editions that are 99% of a 680 in performance (which is in turn basically identical to 770 performance). So 670OC SLI ~= 770 SLI = >>> Single R290X.

I'd say the exact same thing to someone with a good 7950OC or 7970GE. CF another one, it will be better than a single 290 by a pretty good margin.

Ditto going to a 780 or 780ti. CF or SLI a 670/760/7950/7970 FTW. With the prices for high end cards so stupid of late, I can't remember a time like this where SLI and CF were so dominantly ahead in performance and value.

Literally the only reasons to go something like 780ti/R290 is if you *MUST* have a single card due to your mobo/case setup, or you have enough ludicrous $$ to run them SLI/CF for ludicrous performance. Obviously CF/SLI 780Ti/290X is going to be out of reach of the cheaper stuff, but at an utterly insane markup.

But look at the $ value. I can get 7970GEs for less than $300, but let's call it $300ish. How much is a 290X? Okay, so which gives better performance for around $600? Ah yes, the 7970GE. OC the 7970GE with a good vendor choice, and the gap gets pretty huge as well.
 

superxero044

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Dec 14, 2011
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Thanks for the info. I bit the bullet and got the MSI 670 that's 220 AR on newegg.

Now just to deal w/ the slow shipping from not Amazon Prime!
 

Childs

Lifer
Jul 9, 2000
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FWIW, I've been debating this for the past week or so, and just purchased a GTX780.

The power of 670SLI is very tempting, especially with hot deals on the 670, coming in at $220AR, but I've seen enough evidence from enough sources to have concluded that at 1440p/Ultra, 2GB of VRAM is not enough.

I'm in the same boat. I am thinking dual 770 4GBs, for the simplistic reason that 4GB > 3GB. I shouldnt have to deal with VRAM issues for even longer. Just getting another 680 2Gb will probably be fine, but I dunno. I dont want to be nickle and dimed on this crap and have to get new cards next year.
 
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raghu78

Diamond Member
Aug 23, 2012
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The 290X is definitely a good bit faster than a 670 single, but 670 crossfire is a good bit faster than a single 290X. Yes, even for 1440P Ultra settings. Hell, 760SLI 2GB even beats 290X at 4K. $ for $, it'd be crazy to go 290X for the OP. SLI 670 is also considerably quieter than a 290X reference.

Perhaps when the special edition 290s hit the streets this will change. Most 670s are also OC editions that are 99% of a 680 in performance (which is in turn basically identical to 770 performance). So 670OC SLI ~= 770 SLI = >>> Single R290X.

I'd say the exact same thing to someone with a good 7950OC or 7970GE. CF another one, it will be better than a single 290 by a pretty good margin.

Ditto going to a 780 or 780ti. CF or SLI a 670/760/7950/7970 FTW. With the prices for high end cards so stupid of late, I can't remember a time like this where SLI and CF were so dominantly ahead in performance and value.

Literally the only reasons to go something like 780ti/R290 is if you *MUST* have a single card due to your mobo/case setup, or you have enough ludicrous $$ to run them SLI/CF for ludicrous performance. Obviously CF/SLI 780Ti/290X is going to be out of reach of the cheaper stuff, but at an utterly insane markup.

But look at the $ value. I can get 7970GEs for less than $300, but let's call it $300ish. How much is a 290X? Okay, so which gives better performance for around $600? Ah yes, the 7970GE. OC the 7970GE with a good vendor choice, and the gap gets pretty huge as well.

first have a look at the min fps on R9 290X at sweclockers- 44 fps at 1440p Ultra 4x MSAA. the GTX 770 SLI, GTX 690, R9 270X CF and GTX 760 SLI all have lesser min fps. its very easy to see that the 2GB VRAM is an issue and they are struggling and are inconsistent.

secondly the R9 290X even in uber mode throttles. you can bet the card is clocking at 900 - 950 mhz. overclock the card to 1100+ mhz with 75% fan speed and you will see it push easily avg 65 - 70 fps and min fps at 50+

only R9 280X CF is decisively better because it has 3GB VRAM. but still at the end of the day CF still is not as consistent as single GPU. then there is the Mantle factor. why go multi GPU when a single R9 290 with Mantle is going to play BF4 1440p Ultra 4x MSAA well above 60 fps.
 

raghu78

Diamond Member
Aug 23, 2012
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Thanks for the info. I bit the bullet and got the MSI 670 that's 220 AR on newegg.

Now just to deal w/ the slow shipping from not Amazon Prime!

OP you are going to be VRAM limited. 1440p Ultra 4x MSAA is going to be a problem. you have been advised. anyway its your decision. good luck with whatever you choose
 

Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
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You don't need 4X MSAA at 1440P imho, it doesn't bring anything to the table that really matters. I have 4GB SLI 670FTWs, and run 1440, and I'd rather have more FPS. I've done A/B tests with a couple friends, and they can't tell the difference between 2X and 4X at 1440. Hell I can't tell the difference myself, even in screenshots, unless I use a magnifier on a distant straight object at an angle, and even then I wonder if I'm just imagining it.

2GB is not a problem either, my best BF3 buddy plays at 2560x1600 with a 6990, and with the most minor tweaks he is still completely smooth. I haven't seen his box playing BF4 yet, but he says it's just as good.

One can't deny that for $220 he's in great shape with BF4. After all, one can constantly say "oh that's even better". You can even say a single 290X is garbage if you say you want solid 60FPS at all times and nothing less will do at max settings at 1440P completely maxed at everything. Of course that's not the case, but there's always something even better. The point is that his gaming experience will be terrific with his resolution and game as long as he doesn't go overboard with settings that have virtually zero value in IQ. He could probably still have a pretty good framerate with literally everything maxed, but a better framerate with a couple of things clicked slightly back would be better still.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-660-ti-memory-bandwidth-anti-aliasing,3283-12.html
 

guskline

Diamond Member
Apr 17, 2006
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I have 2 EVGA GTX670 FTWs in SLI in rig 1 below. (The FTW has a stock clock of 1006 vs 915 for the std 670 AND uses the PCB of the GTX680).

I'm running BF4 on an Achieva Shimian Lite 27" 2560 x 1440. It flys! I think the settings are on very high. When I get home from work, I'll set them on ultra and run my licensed version of Fraps and post the results.

My gpus are OC'd because I have water blocks on both. Off the top of my head, the core is OC'd by 60 and the memory by 400. Obviously this improves the performance numbers.

However, bottom line is that 670s in SLI, even stock, will get you decent fps even in BF4. I'll let you know how much of a hit they take when I ramp the settings to Ultra with 2560 x 1440.
 
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Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
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I have 2 EVGA GTX670 FTWs in SLI in rig 1 below. I'm running BF4 on an Achieva Shimian Lite 27" 2560 x 1440. It flys! I think the settings are on very high. When I get home from work, I'll set them on ultra and run my licensed versionof fraps. My gpus are OC'd because I have water blocks on both.

Bottom line 670s in SLI will get you decent fps.

Sounds great, so you are in agreement that OP has chosen well for $220? I think he's made a fantastic choice, never has been a better time to CF or SLI than now.
 

moonbogg

Lifer
Jan 8, 2011
10,635
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OP, you are running 1440p. You can expect good power from 670SLI, but if you experience any little freezes, sudden FPS loss or anything like that, try lowering the texture detail and AA settings. Those are the Vram killers.

EDIT: To clarify, from the OPs perspective, he couldn't have made a better choice since that 670 was only $220. I would have done the exact same thing and see what kind of value next gen delivers.
 

Termie

Diamond Member
Aug 17, 2005
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Here's my thinking - yes, 670SLI is very powerful, and yes it will average well above a 290/780/Titan. But so far all the benchmarking I've seen that includes minimums demonstrate that the 690 (and by extension 670SLI) has some very big drops at 1440p/1600p ultra.

Do you need ultra settings? Of course you don't. But by the same token, you don't need SLI if you're not going to use ultra. My single OC'd 670 averages 57fps at 1440p/high and uses 1800MB of VRAM. At Ultra it averages 45fps and uses 1950MB.

Does the OP just want much higher averages, or does he want smoother gameplay at his chosen resolution/settings? Because from what I've seen, 2GB of VRAM is going to be an issue if he's pushing the settings, and why else would he upgrade if that's not what he's looking to do?

He already made the purchase, so he can be the judge of the results. I do hope he comes back to tell us how it performs - ideally reporting back on performance with one 670, and then on two.
 
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raghu78

Diamond Member
Aug 23, 2012
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Here's my thinking - yes, 670SLI is very powerful, and yes it will average well above a 290/780/Titan. But so far all the benchmarking I've seen that includes minimums demonstrate that the 690 (and by extension 670SLI) has some very big drops at 1440p/1600p ultra.

Do you need ultra settings? Of course you don't. But by the same token, you don't need SLI if you're not going to use ultra. My single OC'd 670 averages 57fps at 1440p/high and uses 1800MB of VRAM. At Ultra it averages 45fps and uses 1950MB.

Does the OP just want much higher averages, or does he want smoother gameplay at his chosen resolution/settings? Because from what I've seen, 2GB of VRAM is going to be an issue if he's pushing the settings, and why else would he upgrade if that's not what he's looking to do?

He already made the purchase, so he can be the judge of the results. I do hope it comes back to tell us how it performs - ideally first one one 670, then on two.

exactly . run at high settings at 1440p on a single GTX 670. its definitely playable.
 

superxero044

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Dec 14, 2011
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Here's my thinking - yes, 670SLI is very powerful, and yes it will average well above a 290/780/Titan. But so far all the benchmarking I've seen that includes minimums demonstrate that the 690 (and by extension 670SLI) has some very big drops at 1440p/1600p ultra.

Do you need ultra settings? Of course you don't. But by the same token, you don't need SLI if you're not going to use ultra. My single OC'd 670 averages 57fps at 1440p/high and uses 1800MB of VRAM. At Ultra it averages 45fps and uses 1950MB.

Does the OP just want much higher averages, or does he want smoother gameplay at his chosen resolution/settings? Because from what I've seen, 2GB of VRAM is going to be an issue if he's pushing the settings, and why else would he upgrade if that's not what he's looking to do?

He already made the purchase, so he can be the judge of the results. I do hope he comes back to tell us how it performs - ideally reporting back on performance with one 670, and then on two.

You make pretty good points, and I hope I don't end up regretting my decision. If I am not too distracted by having too much fun in BF4 with my new setup I will report back with results. I have a couple friends who want me to run benches so if I do that I will post them here.

Thanks for all the info guys! Even if there's not 100% agreement this is an awesome community.
 

guskline

Diamond Member
Apr 17, 2006
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Here's some frap data for BF4 runs on Ultra with 2xAA in rig 1 below:


2013-11-01 21:27:50 - bf4
Frames: 860 - Time: 4563ms - Avg: 188.472 - Min: 174 - Max: 199
2013-11-01 21:27:55 - bf4
Frames: 14100 - Time: 146359ms - Avg: 96.338 - Min: 27 - Max: 202
2013-11-01 21:31:36 - bf4
Frames: 479 - Time: 2391ms - Avg: 200.335 - Min: 199 - Max: 201
2013-11-01 21:31:41 - bf4
Frames: 4092 - Time: 36110ms - Avg: 113.320 - Min: 13 - Max: 201
2013-11-01 21:32:43 - bf4
Frames: 4335 - Time: 76578ms - Avg: 56.609 - Min: 25 - Max: 196
2013-11-01 21:34:01 - bf4
Frames: 3296 - Time: 36671ms - Avg: 89.880 - Min: 74 - Max: 113
2013-11-01 21:34:38 - bf4
Frames: 2394 - Time: 32282ms - Avg: 74.159 - Min: 17 - Max: 102
2013-11-01 21:35:12 - bf4
Frames: 6241 - Time: 90656ms - Avg: 68.843 - Min: 25 - Max: 96
2013-11-01 21:36:44 - bf4
Frames: 6954 - Time: 104140ms - Avg: 66.775 - Min: 3 - Max: 94
2013-11-01 21:38:29 - bf4
Frames: 64684 - Time: 865281ms - Avg: 74.755 - Min: 16 - Max: 107
2013-11-01 21:52:55 - bf4
Frames: 7388 - Time: 121516ms - Avg: 60.799 - Min: 0 - Max: 121

Hope this helps.
 

poohbear

Platinum Member
Mar 11, 2003
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Hello, i run 670 SLI @ 1440p & everything @ Ultra but MSAA is off. It runs @ a constant 57~60fps and i couldnt be happier.:) with 2x MSAA fps drops to 45ish fps, and 4xMSAA it drops to 35ish & i dont notice much of a difference. I dont understand why u'd need AA @ 1440p though, u realize it was created for the jaggies @ lower resolutions right? It was never created for higher resolutions as everythings already crisp.:)
 

superxero044

Member
Dec 14, 2011
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Got the 670 in the mail today. In BF4 with MSAA off I am getting MUCH higher FPS than before. When I have more time I will try to make some graphs - btw how should I go about making them?