[hardocp] NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI Overclocked GPU Review

[wand3r3r]

An interesting article, well worth the read. It's not as straightforward as it appears.

Continuing our coverage of NVIDIA's new Maxwell architecture and its current flagship the GeForce GTX 980. Today we are going to look at overclocked 2-Way SLI performance.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014/11/11/nvidia_geforce_gtx_980_sli_overclocked_gpu_review/1

SLI and CrossFire Smoothness


This is an important topic when talking about SLI and CrossFire. In the past, AMD was the one in the hot seat with terrible CrossFire scaling, performance and smoothness. A lot has changed over the last couple of years, AMD now has a frame pacing technology as well as its new XDMA technology. These technologies combined have turned the tables and now CrossFire feels smoother than SLI. It still feels smoother even when compared to NVIDIA's new GTX 980 cards in SLI. While overclocked GTX 980 SLI is faster in framerate, the actual feeling and smoothness in games feels better on AMD Radeon R9 290X. AMD currently has the upper hand in this arena.

 

[RussianSensation]

Unbelievable. So $600 290X CF actually provides a better gaming experience overall than $1100 980 SLI when taking into account smoothness/frame times?! CF better than SLI, CF on last gen cards better than current gen SLI? No way....You can hear a pin drop.

NV's focus group will have to work extra overtime on this to push perf/watt and GWs to counter. :biggrin:

XDMA bodes well for 390X CF then. Should have no problem whatsoever wiping the floor with 980 SLI based on this review.

 

[Silverforce11]

Isn't NV scheduled to move to a similar approach (Pascal?), or something like NV-Link with even more bandwidth than XDMA.

 

[f1sherman]

yes, but so far NVLink looks like HPC market oriented effort

 

[SolMiester]

OMG!!, NV has been showing the way for years in Multi GPUs, and now AMD has finally been bought up to scratch kicking and screaming, we get NV detractors!...say it isnt so!
AMD sure got given leeway, too bad fans arent as generous with NV!

 

[f1sherman]

OMG!!, NV has been showing the way for years in Multi GPUs, and now AMD has finally been bought up to scratch kicking and screaming, we get NV detractors!...say it isnt so!

I remember that AMD guy, forgot his name...he kept posting:

slower, but smoother

while laughing all the way to hitting "submit reply" :biggrin:

 

[tential]

Looks like when AMD has time to actually optimize for a game things change.

NV works great for gameworks at time of launch but looks like AMD can catch up and surpass Nvidia with some time.

This is why followup reviews are so crucial, especially for those of us who don't preorder games.

Day 1 performance is funny to look at and argue about, but for thos eof us who aren't hardcore fans of a series, we need followup reviews to see how cards do in games 6 months after release when all sides have released their patches/drive updates.

 

[rtsurfer]

I remember that AMD guy, forgot his name...he kept posting:

slower, but smoother

while laughing all the way to hitting "submit reply"

I also remember reading an Nvidia guy posting

It's superior, but I ain't got it, so I ain't gonna acknowledge it

 

[Enigmoid]

Looks like when AMD has time to actually optimize for a game things change.

NV works great for gameworks at time of launch but looks like AMD can catch up and surpass Nvidia with some time.

This is why followup reviews are so crucial, especially for those of us who don't preorder games.

Day 1 performance is funny to look at and argue about, but for thos eof us who aren't hardcore fans of a series, we need followup reviews to see how cards do in games 6 months after release when all sides have released their patches/drive updates.

SLI is broken on this game. Not excusing it just clarifing the major reason for the performance deficit.

 

[toyota]

SLI is broken on this game. Not excusing it just clarifing the major reason for the performance deficit.

what? I thought SLI was trouble free?


btw they also have a 970 SLI 4K and Surround review up now. http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014...tx_970_sli_4k_nv_surround_review#.VG094JDF-PU

 

[Silverforce11]

what? I thought SLI was trouble free?


btw they also have a 970 SLI 4K and Surround review up now. http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014...tx_970_sli_4k_nv_surround_review#.VG094JDF-PU

This is where AMD's crap reference coolers hurt their image across many review sites, because the default reference cooler is inadequate it will throttle and reduce performance. Comparing to a custom card that holds its clock rate, the performance gap can be quite significant.

This review clearly show the reference R290 throttling very badly (large performance delta vs R290X) because its fan speed on default is 47% capped, while reference R290X has a higher 55% cap.

 

[Carfax83]

I always regard HardOCP's subjective opinions with a healthy dose of salt..

For example, I've seen HardOCP claim that certain settings were playable, but in my opinion (and even looking at the frame rate), the settings were totally unplayable.

That's why offering subjective reports isn't really a good idea in the first place. If they want to measure "smoothness," there are ways to do it ie FCAT.

When I first bought my G1 GTX 970s, it was true that the SLI performance was sketchy on the launch drivers. Looked like there were a few dropped frames here and there in certain titles.

But after the second driver update, and now the fourth (or is it fifth?), I don't notice those issues at all anymore. SLI feels absolutely buttery smooth to me.

Anyone else that actually owns SLI Maxwell want to chime in?

 

[toyota]

I always regard HardOCP's subjective opinions with a healthy dose of salt..

For example, I've seen HardOCP claim that certain settings were playable, but in my opinion (and even looking at the frame rate), the settings were totally unplayable.

That's why offering subjective reports isn't really a good idea in the first place. If they want to measure "smoothness," there are ways to do it ie FCAT.

When I first bought my G1 GTX 970s, it was true that the SLI performance was sketchy on the launch drivers. Looked like there were a few dropped frames here and there in certain titles.

But after the second driver update, and now the fourth (or is it fifth?), I don't notice those issues at all anymore. SLI feels absolutely buttery smooth to me.

Anyone else that actually owns SLI Maxwell want to chime in?

now didnt even you mentioned the other day that SLI was now broken in Watch Dogs?

 

[Carfax83]

now didnt even you mentioned the other day that SLI was now broken in Watch Dogs?

Yes, but that was a game issue. The last patch broke SLI completely.

I believe it's something only Ubisoft can rectify on their end. Before the last patch, SLI was working fairly decently and didn't have the performance problems it's having now.

The game is almost unplayable on my PC, although it works well in single card mode.

 

[toyota]

Yes, but that was a game issue. The last patch broke SLI completely.

I believe it's something only Ubisoft can rectify on their end. Before the last patch, SLI was working fairly decently and didn't have the performance problems it's having now.

The game is almost unplayable on my PC, although it works well in single card mode.

it does not matter whether its a game issue or not in the context here. I was just backing up what I said about there being a bit more issues with SLI in general than with using a single card.

 

[njdevilsfan87]

SLI is broken on this game. Not excusing it just clarifing the major reason for the performance deficit.

It's so broken it scales negatively with a third card, and even worse with a fourth. Watch Dogs is just never going to work right on Nvidia cards.

Good for AMD to fix their issue. I'm super excited for the 390X, and it could be the first AMD card I've owned since the X1900XT!

 

[3DVagabond]

OMG!!, NV has been showing the way for years in Multi GPUs, and now AMD has finally been bought up to scratch kicking and screaming, we get NV detractors!...say it isnt so!
AMD sure got given leeway, too bad fans arent as generous with NV!

What's happened in the past isn't relevant to buying decisions today.

I always regard HardOCP's subjective opinions with a healthy dose of salt..

Anyone else that actually owns SLI Maxwell want to chime in?

So you regard [H]'s subjective opinion with a grain of salt, but then request subjective opinions from owners on a forum...

...over a professional reviewer with over a decade's experience who, BTW, does run Maxwell SLI in his own system.

[H] voiced their problems with Crossfire before we had FCAT to do any analysis. FCAT just proved they were correct then. There is no reason to believe that their perception is any less accurate now.

Like you, I also wish we could have all of the FCAT and FRAPS frame time analysis now that we did when AMD were having issues. It might force nVidia to own up to it and address it like AMD did. Strange how all of the sites who were so keen before though seem to be not testing the same now. Now it's all about avg. FPS again.