Worth getting a second GTX670?

[Amraam]

Is it worth me getting a second GTX670? I have no plans for a big upgrade as all I play is Mass Effect and Skyrim. My rig plays these fine, but I could use a bit more graphics power for all the mods I'll be adding to Skyrim. If I can grab a used one for £140, would it be worth it or false economy?

EDIT: Sorry posted in wrong section, mods please feel free to move to graphics cards.

 

[Adam_101]

If you can I would save up abit and go for a 780ti/290 or see which new ones are out in a couple months. . A mate in the same predicament did this (went for a 780ti) and far as I can tell he is happy!

 

[Amraam]

I think that monitor/tv you have has a refresh rate of 60hz? If so I wouldnt add a second 670 to it id save the cash up abit and go for a 780ti/290 or see which new ones are out in a couple months. . A mate in the same predicament did this (went for a 780ti) and far as I can tell he is happy!

Just out of curiosity, why is SLI not got good for 60hz screens?

 

[Adam_101]

with that example (I think purely from a financial/new cards coming out point of view) 2 670 would have probably worked just fine for him, but the extra bit of cash saved pushed him to get the 780ti. Nothing wrong it from what I've seen tho , I think long as you have vsync on itll reduce the screen tearing etc you may get.

 

[Amraam]

with that example (I think purely from a financial/new cards coming out point of view) 2 670 would have probably worked just fine for him, but the extra bit of cash saved pushed him to get the 780ti. Nothing wrong it from what I've seen tho , I think long as you have vsync on itll reduce the screen tearing etc you may get.

Thanks. I used to be a firm believer in VS, but I think it depends on the game. I hate tearing also, but the input lag in Skyrim was unbearable.

 

[Havana_UK]

GTX670 is more than capable of rendering Skyrim at 1080p regardless of the mods you run (generally speaking) but you will run out of RAM before you run out of GPU grunt, and SLI wouldn't help you in that situation.

 

[Adam_101]

Thanks. I used to be a firm believer in VS, but I think it depends on the game. I hate tearing also, but the input lag in Skyrim was unbearable.

No problem, I had actually read an article yesterday on if 3x760s (760 being about the same as 670) were better the sli 780, it wasn't judging by its results, but was interesting none the less!

 

[OLDPHART]

I think that monitor/tv you have has a refresh rate of 60hz? If so I wouldnt add a second 670 to it id save the cash up abit and go for a 780ti/290 or see which new ones are out in a couple months. . A mate in the same predicament did this (went for a 780ti) and far as I can tell he is happy!

Horlicks ,my refresh rate is 60Hrtz running SLI 670's 4GB 2560x1440 Sam 971D monitor no problems at all, Ghost, BF4, NFSPD Rivals, BOPS 11 to name just a few.

2x SLI 670 more than competes with a 780.

 

[Adam_101]

Edited my original reply - think it was misleading lol by no means meant if you have 60hz not to go for it! Simply look at all options.

 

[Amraam]

GTX670 is more than capable of rendering Skyrim at 1080p regardless of the mods you run (generally speaking) but you will run out of RAM before you run out of GPU grunt, and SLI wouldn't help you in that situation.

I'm running lots of texture mods, so yes VRAM will help, but most of them aren't super hi res. It's more the use of ENB that kills my performance - I'm a sucker for DoF and ambient occlusion etc so the extra grunt will help there, no?

 

[Amraam]

Also, In 2 weeks I will have the opportunity to buy a used MSI Power Edition GTX670 from a friend for £150. From most accounts, 2xGTX670 is quite a bit better than a single GTX770 so it seems like a good bang for buck upgrade. Now, will I be OK using MSI GXT670 with a Gigabyte GTX670? I understand that the faster one will downclock automatically - my current card is just at stock speeds (windforce x3 speed).

 

[setter]

Horlicks ,my refresh rate is 60Hrtz running SLI 670's 4GB 2560x1440 Sam 971D monitor no problems at all, Ghost, BF4, NFSPD Rivals, BOPS 11 to name just a few.

2x SLI 670 more than competes with a 780.

Good wee bit faster than a 780 as i know from experience. But the 2gb 670's will become vram limited in some games. The gpu grunt is certainly there. If you have the 4gb models theyre much better.

I ran x2 gigabyte wf 670's, best to put your faster card in the top slot, but theyll run at their own speeds individually. My better card boosted to 1189mhz at stock, the other at 1150mhz.

 

[Adam_101]

2x670 should be faster then a 780, but that article was 3x760 against sli 780.

 

[Amraam]

2x670 should be faster then a 780, but that article was 3x760 against sli 780.

Thanks for the advice all. I'll have a think. I've got a few options now. Yeah VRAM is a concern, but I feel the games that will be the big problem would be the likes of Crysis 2 etc which I never play. I typically tend to stick to what I like a lot, and that have 'replayability' liek Skyrim, Mass Effect, STALKER. Old titles basically. Out of those, I can only really see a heavily modified skyrim maxing out 2GB of VRAM. Am I right in saying the extra grunt will help keep the FPS up when using an ENB for SSAO etc? Or are those features still very VRAM intensive? I only play at 1080p as well.