Upgrade: 980Ti SLI or 1080Ti (4K 60fps gaming)

[college_student]

Hi folks,

I mostly play titles likes AC: Syndicate, SW: Battlefront, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and likely will play the new AC: origins when its out, the new SW: Battlefront II when it's out, and pick up ME: Andromeda.

I want to play at 4K (60 FPS) at as max a setting as my setup will allow.

I current have a 5930K (OC'd to 4GHz via a Noctua U12S), DDR4-2400 RAM, and one 980Ti. I have a 850W PSU, and an AsRock Extreme 6 mobo.

I want to know if it is better for me to get a second 980Ti or just go with a 1080Ti?
My only objective here is frame rate at 4K (with as max settings as possible).

Many thanks!

 

[24601]

Always go with highest single card performance before thinking about SLI/Crossfire, especially since this generation of Nvidia cards have zero price premium for high performance.

 

[college_student]

Always go with highest single card performance before thinking about SLI/Crossfire, especially since this generation of Nvidia cards have zero price premium for high performance.

Thanks for the reply, but I should have mentioned that I can get the second 980Ti for almost $200 cheaper. I only really upgrade once every ~4 years so I don't mind spending the 200, but only if it's justified. But I also feel like I don't want to "waste" the 980Ti that I already own...

Thanks.

 

[24601]

Thanks for the reply, but I should have mentioned that I can get the second 980Ti for almost $200 cheaper. I only really upgrade once every ~4 years so I don't mind spending the 200, but only if it's justified. But I also feel like I don't want to "waste" the 980Ti that I already own...

Thanks.

According to Ebay, you can sell your 980 Ti for ~340-360 USD and after shipping and Ebay fees you will have ~290 USD while not having to deal with SLI/Crossfire at all.

Running 4k 60hz is already a pain in the ass, trying to meaningfully do it with 980 Ti SLI is a fool's errand for all the reasons why SLI/Crossfire suck (And the reasons are numerous).

 

[Carfax83]

24601 hit the nail on the head. Definitely 1080 Ti. Multi GPU is too problematic, and far less guaranteed than single GPU in terms of performance. And this is coming from someone that used SLi for about 7 years straight. Though be advised that a single 1080 Ti won't be capable of maxing out every game at 4K 60Hz.

 

[Grubbernaught]

I too am running a 5930k and upgraded from 980ti SLI to a single 1080ti and I can most definitely say that I am happy with the result.

SLI support is just too inconsistent across most titles these days to bother with anymore, and this is coming from someone who ran SLI for the previous 4 generations.

 

[guskline]

Sell your GTX980TI and move up! I just put a GTX1080TI (water cooled Gigabyte Aorus Extreme WB and WOW!!!!!!!!!!!) in my 5960x rig and HOLY SMOKES is it a BEAST. I have a GTX980TI SC in my 6700k rig and it is a solid card but I agree with Carfax83.

 

[college_student]

Thanks all for the replies. Maybe I should look at ebay and see what I can get for my 980Ti.

I too am running a 5930k and upgraded from 980ti SLI to a single 1080ti and I can most definitely say that I am happy with the result.

SLI support is just too inconsistent across most titles these days to bother with anymore, and this is coming from someone who ran SLI for the previous 4 generations.

What made you want to upgrade from the SLI solution? Also now what you've gone from 980Ti SLI to a single 1080Ti how big of a difference (positive or negative) do you see? I think your experience is the most directly relevant to me. Do you play any of the titles I listed in the original post?

Thanks again all.

 

[2is]

I think it's a no brainer to go with the 1080Ti. It's about 70% faster than a 980Ti so even in games that scale well with SLI, the performance will be pretty close, with the 1080Ti still boasting better frame times. Nearly double the VRAM will also be quite beneficial especially at 4k even for current titles and even more so for future ones. Then there's the titles that don't scale well or at all which are becoming more often lately.

A 980Ti SLI setup would have close to zero benefits over a single 1080Ti. And for all those disadvantages, you also get double the power draw. $200 is a small price to pay IMO.

 

[IEC]

1080 Ti owner reporting in. Definitely go with the 1080 Ti. Bonus if you get a nice one with good power delivery and OC it.

SLI sucks.

 

[moonbogg]

I ditched my 980ti SLI for single 1080ti and its WAY worth it. SLI might have been pretty decent back in the day, but not anymore. SLI straight up sucks and that 1080ti is often faster than both my 980ti's were anyway due to poor SLI scaling, driver overhead, optimization issues, blah blah. No longer an issue and no more headache.

 

[Grubbernaught]

Thanks all for the replies. Maybe I should look at ebay and see what I can get for my 980Ti.



What made you want to upgrade from the SLI solution? Also now what you've gone from 980Ti SLI to a single 1080Ti how big of a difference (positive or negative) do you see? I think your experience is the most directly relevant to me. Do you play any of the titles I listed in the original post?

Thanks again all.

Sorry for the late reply, working nightshift atm.

I mainly upgraded because the lag time for decent SLI support in most games was taking so long I was done with them by the time it hit.

Unreal engine 4 doesn't support SLI either, which instantly excludes a whole raft of titles coming out.

And as 2is pointed out, unless the scaling is REALLY good, you are not going to lose out on performance regardless.

I have also found that playing in surround is much faster than with the SLI setup. Witcher 3 and Deus Ex MD in particular

SLI is a non starter for VR if you are interested in that kind of thing too.

Also I am a tech hussy, so if it is new and shiny I am attracted to it like a bird trying to build a tech nest.

Now bring on 144hz 4k Gsync HDR already.

 

[moonbogg]

Oh yeah, 2is reminded me about the extra heat as well. I can keep all my rad fans and pump on lowest settings now that I don't have 500 watts of GPU heat being dumped in the loop.

 

[casiofx]

Definitely 1080Ti:
1) No SLI issues.
2) No heat issues.
3) No power issues.
4) Easily overclokable and not much issue for 2&3.
5) Bigger 11GB VRAM.
6) Benefits from pascal architecture from maxwell (simultaneous multi projection etc)
7) Lower noise (because one card?)
8) The bragging rights of owning the fastest geforce atm.

 

[Carfax83]

Unreal engine 4 doesn't support SLI either, which instantly excludes a whole raft of titles coming out.

Actually it does. Gears of War 4 had a multi GPU update a few months back, although the UE4 version used in Gears of War 4 isn't in the mainstream builds yet. DX12 should actually make multi GPU adoption and implementation easier I believe due to DX12's multi adapter.

 

[cytg111]

Thanks for the reply, but I should have mentioned that I can get the second 980Ti for almost $200 cheaper. I only really upgrade once every ~4 years so I don't mind spending the 200, but only if it's justified. But I also feel like I don't want to "waste" the 980Ti that I already own...

Thanks.

Look into sli supported titles, microstutter, sli scaling and the fact youd be a generation behind youd be eol'ed sooner than with a 1080ti.
I think on the performance curve alone youd be home safe with a 200usd premium for the 1080..

 

[Grubbernaught]

Actually it does. Gears of War 4 had a multi GPU update a few months back, although the UE4 version used in Gears of War 4 isn't in the mainstream builds yet. DX12 should actually make multi GPU adoption and implementation easier I believe due to DX12's multi adapter.

I had a feeling I should have read up before I threw that out there, as I was going off memories of the engine release a long time ago.

My statement about VR isn't exactly true either, I think 2 or 3 titles support liquidVR

But my interpretation (which is hazy at best) of dx12 multi adapter is that it puts the onus of sli/crossfire support onto the developer which imho could lead to less support rather than more.

 

[college_student]

Hmmm thanks so much guys. I'll try to look into selling my 980 Ti then. If I can get a good price for it then I'll upgrade. Thanks everyone

 

[moonbogg]

I had a feeling I should have read up before I threw that out there, as I was going off memories of the engine release a long time ago.

My statement about VR isn't exactly true either, I think 2 or 3 titles support liquidVR

But my interpretation (which is hazy at best) of dx12 multi adapter is that it puts the onus of sli/crossfire support onto the developer which imho could lead to less support rather than more.

Gears of War might as well never have supported SLI. How many people didn't already finish the game? I finished it forever ago long before Mgpu was supported.