Single 680 or dual 660?

[RadiclDreamer]

I'm toying with the idea of doing a dual 660 setup with my next build, but my last experience with sli was less than stellar, i believe it was with a set of 7800s from evga and it seemed like the performance in most games was just awful.

I'm reading things now that show there is almost zero performance hit on the second card, that almost all games roughly perform double. Is this true? Does a game have to support sli for me to get the benefit or is this a driver side solution?

It seems for the price a pair of 660 would be much better

 

[BrightCandle]

The drivers do need to support it. Some games have it before they are released, some take longer. If you play in a beta for example you often find poor scaling by default, but you can setup the profile yourself and get something working.

SLI isn't 100% perfect in the current generation, I still see microstutter for short periods as well as having poor or negative scaling in a few games. But for the most part it works as its meant to.

Personally I would say the 680 on its own is the best starting place, it'll produce reliable performance, but the dual 660's are quite likely to outperform it when all is well, the question is are you willing to play some titles on a single 660 when it doesn't work out?

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Not really willing to play on a single 660 honestly, thats why I had asked

I've been a gamer for 26 of my 30 year life and im at the point where i just want to have stuff work and be completely reliable, I work and have kids so i dont really have the time to dick with things to get them just right. You've answered my question, but on the upside it will be another 2-3 months before i rebuild so lets hope the 3770k and 680 either come further down in price or are replaced by something newer by then.

 

[lehtv]

Neither. If you're gaming on 1080p, a single fast GPU is all you need. 680 isn't worth it over 670, and 660 SLI is unnecessarily powerful and power hungry.

 

[ShintaiDK]

I would pick single GPU over dual anyday.

 

[nsafreak]

Single GPU over multi GPU any day of the week here. Just too many issues with CrossFire & SLI and so many times where the game simply does not support the functionality at all or has really poor scaling. I say just go with a single GTX 670 and call it a day.

 

[f1sherman]

I'd just take 680 and go kill me some noobs xD. But that's me. How about you?

Do you feel like you have plenty of no-issues-what-so-ever.
You have some stability, or compatibility to spare? Surplus of free time, looking for another hobby?

If so go SLI by all means. Or CF if you are really adventurous

 

[RaistlinZ]

670 is like 5% slower than a 680, and a lot cheaper. I'd go that route.

 

[Fx1]

Get a 7970. Its the same price as a 670 GTX and you can clock it to 1200mhz and its faster than a 680 GTX

Win
Win
Win

 

[The Alias]

Get a 7970. Its the same price as a 670 GTX and you can clock it to 1200mhz and its faster than a 680 GTX

Win
Win
Win

doesn't need to be 1200 to beat a 680 more like 1ghz ish once it hits 1200 it's pretty much untouchable by any other single gpu at their max clocks except maybe a golden 7950 at 1300ish .

All that being said the best bet for 1080p is a 7950 like this : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202003 the value is unmatched period .

if you want the best experience period the best option would be this : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...D=3938566&SID= (when it comes back in stock) I've overclocked this baby personally to 1350 @ 1.200v using a platinum seasonic 860w for minimum ripple .

As it now, in terms of price to performance there isn't a reason to buy a nvidia card right now . gcn cards respond better to overclocking way better than equivalent nvidia cards, not to mention gcn cards feature voltage control whereas nvidia silicon can't take any extra voltage beyond 1.175 as they'd suffer from electromigration damaging the gpu over time . One last thing, related to power delivery, nvidia cards this gen tend to feature fewer vrm phases which generally means power delivery will tend to ripple more and the magnitude of said ripples will be greater . (see here : http://www.overclock.net/t/719397/on-ripple-and-its-effects-on-overclocking )

 

[Fx1]

doesn't need to be 1200 to beat a 680 more like 1ghz ish once it hits 1200 it's pretty much untouchable by any other single gpu at their max clocks except maybe a golden 7950 at 1300ish .

All that being said the best bet for 1080p is a 7950 like this : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202003 the value is unmatched period .

if you want the best experience period the best option would be this : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...D=3938566&SID= (when it comes back in stock) I've overclocked this baby personally to 1350 @ 1.200v using a platinum seasonic 860w for minimum ripple .

As it now, in terms of price to performance there isn't a reason to buy a nvidia card right now . gcn cards respond better to overclocking way better than equivalent nvidia cards, not to mention gcn cards feature voltage control whereas nvidia silicon can't take any extra voltage beyond 1.175 as they'd suffer from electromigration damaging the gpu over time . One last thing, related to power delivery, nvidia cards this gen tend to feature fewer vrm phases which generally means power delivery will tend to ripple more and the magnitude of said ripples will be greater . (see here : http://www.overclock.net/t/719397/on-ripple-and-its-effects-on-overclocking )

SLI is more consistent than CF, thats a pretty good reason tbh

 

[The Alias]

SLI is more consistent than CF, thats a pretty good reason tbh

what's the point of sli below a 660ti ? the 660 is slower than the 580, the 590 (580 sli minus a few mhz ) is only slightly faster than the 7970 ghz ed but the 7970 can oc 20% higher than stock and past both 660 sli sytems and 580sli systems

 

[Fx1]

what's the point of sli below a 660ti ? the 660 is slower than the 580, the 590 (580 sli minus a few mhz ) is only slightly faster than the 7970 ghz ed but the 7970 can oc 20% higher than stock and past both 660 sli sytems and 580sli systems

Because 2 £175 GPU's in SLI are nearly always Faster than 1 £350 GPU and normally by 30%+

That being said sometimes it doesnt work out that way. But 2 660 GTX in Sli should be better than 1 680 GTX at FPS anyway

 

[The Alias]

Because 2 £175 GPU's in SLI are nearly always Faster than 1 £350 GPU and normally by 30%+

That being said sometimes it doesnt work out that way. But 2 660 GTX in Sli should be better than 1 680 GTX at FPS anyway

but here you see a dual gpu 590 which is a little less powerful than sli660s would get trounced by a 7970 oc'd, or did you not notice there was only a 3% advantage at 1080p ?

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

but here you see a dual gpu 590 which is a little less powerful than sli660s would get trounced by a 7970 oc'd, or did you not notice there was only a 3% advantage at 1080p ?

The GTX 590 was nowhere near the performance of GTX 580 SLI, sure they were GTX 580 GPUs but they preformed at lower clocks and acted more like GTX 570s.

Two GTX 660s should be consistently better than a GTX 590.

 

[Dice144]

I have been always of the mind get the fastest single card your budget can allow. Then if you get extra money SLI/Crossfire down the road. Less driver issues/headaches.

 

[Shmee]

I have been always of the mind get the fastest single card your budget can allow. Then if you get extra money SLI/Crossfire down the road. Less driver issues/headaches.

This makes sense to me. Get the 680 or 7970, if you upgrade your display later or a new game comes out where you need it, go crossfire or SLI. IMO crossfire or SLI makes most sense when they are on high end GPUs where you cant buy a single on and have better performance.

 

[Ketchup]

This makes sense to me. Get the 680 or 7970, if you upgrade your display later or a new game comes out where you need it, go crossfire or SLI. IMO crossfire or SLI makes most sense when they are on high end GPUs where you cant buy a single on and have better performance.

Yet another agreement on this.

 

[The Alias]

I have been always of the mind get the fastest single card your budget can allow. Then if you get extra money SLI/Crossfire down the road. Less driver issues/headaches.

agreed

 

[Fx1]

I have been always of the mind get the fastest single card your budget can allow. Then if you get extra money SLI/Crossfire down the road. Less driver issues/headaches.

When the 6990 was the top GPU which was nearly 600 GBP i went with 2x 460 GTX 1GB cards for about 320 GBP

This resulted in as high FPS as the 6990 at the time for nearly half the price.

Fastest single GPU ISNT the best option because of the law of diminishing returns. look at the 670 GTX v the 680 GTX 3% difference for 25% increased cost.

Nvidia SLI drivers for me for the last 2.5 years have been trouble free.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Thanks to everyone that contributed, good to see a good discussion can still be had without flamewars

 

[Borealis7]

sorry for linking to "That Site", but they just made the comparison a few weeks ago:

http://alienbabeltech.com/main/?p=32679&page=3

also: http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_geforce_gtx_660_twinfrozr_iii_review,25.html

 

[scooterlibby]

Just moved to 2560x1440 resolution and am definitely taxing my 2 GTX580's. I am thinking V-RAM is part of the issue and wonder if it would be a bit better with 2 660's instead. Are they about the same performance as a 580, but with more V-RAM?

 

[JimPhreak]

GTX 670 FTW edition. I've had two that both clocked to 1290+ Mhz.