780 SLI vs 980

[Crow47]

I'm itching for a new upgrade for my rig, and like the title says, I'm debating between another 780 or selling my current one and buying a 980. I've read the review on the 980 here at OCC, and so far none of the newer features really speak to me. Prices on second-hand 780's are already falling online, making the acquisition of a second card for SLI very cost-effective. What would you do?

[El_Capitan]

I would crossfire another GTX 780. If a used GTX 780 is selling for $300, two GTX 780's in SLI is going to outperform a single GTX 980 by say, 70%, for 55% the cost. Or, if you sold the GTX 780 for $300, and upgrading, you're upgrading performance by 30% for 55% of the cost.

 

The next refresh (i.e. the GTX 1080, if they're going to still use that naming convention), would be the worthwhile upgrade from a single GTX 780. You might see higher power consumption, but maybe another 30% increase over the GTX 980 (which might be a 100% increase over the GTX 780).

[wevsspot]

Cappy really meant "SLi" not Crossfire 

 

But you get his point.  I'm a multi-gpu fanatic, so for me the easy answer would be another 780 and SLi 

[ClayMeow]

Neither. I would honestly just wait until NVIDIA's next wave if I were you.

[WarWeeny]

I would crossfire another GTX 780. 

 

I wouldn't do that, that could be quite harmful for the system. xD

 

 

@Topic

 

I wouldn't buy a new card just yet, there isn't a game that the 780Ti cannot handle.

If you do not like the new features on the 9xx series, then why even consider it when the card is somewhat of a side step upgrade?

 

What would your reason be to upgrade, when there is not a real reason to do so?

[l1il]

The difference in between the two is around 20% framerate improvement. It can be considered a good amount, except if you are already in the 60FPS rate. Frametimes don't drop significantly with the 980, so that involves no difference in lag spikes or fluidity.

 

The only reason you actually have to upgrade is if you have 2560x1440 (or similar), 4K or Surround monitors. In that case, I would actually go SLI, as there will be a more definitive improvement. Your 850 W power supply is built to support that load. I wouldn't doubt a Seasonic design either. It will be a better bang for the buck. With DX11, SLI is well implemented since a couple of years (hint to AMD) and bugs only happens in DX9 or older (Skyrim is an example). What CAN happen is lesser improvements of SLI if rocking a game with that red logo.

 

I must say I am impartial to graphics card manufacturers (don't say ah this one did that, the other one didn't, as in the end, they only want the p3ople ca$h), but this optimized for, is a PITA.

 

In conclusion, else than very high numbers of pixels to push, keep rig as is, as everyone said. Or wait for a game to make your rig put a knee down (no Skyrim joke plz) THEN upgrade. It will be more gratifying for you e-peen (lol) to see that a game is fluid now and it wasn't previously.

[IVIYTH0S]

I'm always one (well now I am) who advocates single card systems over dual card systems. Obviously the 780SLI will have more potential, but the 980 will be more efficient, quieter, and less problematic!

 

I'd say wait for the 980Ti to launch and go with that if you're unhappy with your current card (unless AMD comes out of left field with a beast)

[Crow47]

Well really I am a fan of dual card systems so that is why I am considering a second 780. I do feel the need for a little more performance because on some of the more bleeding edge games the 780 is not able to maintain 60 fps at 1440p. 

 

Is the 980 really that much faster? I remember seeing that in FireStrike, yes, it was a good deal faster but that is one synthetic benchmark. Could've sworn the gap was much narrower in actual games. The reason I would get the 980 is because it does offer some newer technologies but I'm not sure if any of them are worth caring about as of now.

[wevsspot]

I've had a few fairly simple rules (and less expensive philosophy) for quite a few years now.  Match GPU horsepower requirements to your screen resolution, PQ expectations and the apps / games that you need it for.  I'll almost always buy a couple of the 2nd best performing cards from the previous generation of cards and run them in multi-gpu.  This is almost always less expensive than buying the king of the hill card from the current generation of cards.  Examples in my upgrade paths;

 

Two GTX 460 cards instead of one GTX 580 card

Two GTX 570 cards instead of one GTX 680 card

Two GTX 670 cards instead of one GTX 780 card

 

With the exception of the VRAM limitation on the above examples, I've never once regretted saving the money......................

[El_Capitan]

In my opinion, I do not notice microstutter for SLI/Crossfire unless they are underperforming. The only negative in my opinion, is that SLI/Crossfire sometimes isn't supported for new games that come out, and you have to wait for either a new patch for the game that will support it, or new drivers.

 

Otherwise, the games I play at the resolution and refresh rate of my monitor, is what matters in my decision-making. I play most games on my 30" at 2560x1600 at 60Hz. I play a few games on my 27" at 2560x1440 at 110Hz. A single GTX 780 is fine at 2560x1600 at 60Hz. However, if I want to utilize the high refresh rate of 110Hz for twitch-beneficial games, then I need to SLI/Crossfire two cards. A single GTX 980 won't get 110 FPS at 2560x1440 for most games, but two GTX 770's or R9 290's will.

[Black64]

I hate SLI and CF, wait until the next "titan" comes out.

[WarWeeny]

  However, if I want to utilize the high refresh rate of 110Hz for twitch-beneficial games, then I need to SLI/Crossfire two cards. 

 

Because lowering settings isn't an option