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Does GTX 1070 SLI look like a better buy than the GTX 1080?

jb7

jb7

jb7

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Indications seem to indicate that the GTX 1070 will be about half the cost of a GTX 1080, with 80% of the performance

So surely if you SLI two 1070's, you would get significantly better performance than a 1080 (provided the game supports SLI.. which most do these days) for the same price/slightly more than a 1080?
 
Mr crowley said:
I thought the same when the 970 and 980 came along. bad support, microstutter and bad scaling changed my mind
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I've literally had zero of these problems on my 970 SLI setup, which is what lead me to want to do the same with 1070's

The 8gb VRAM will definitely help compared to the 3.5gb in the 970s
 
fair enough. I was running an I7 3820 on an X79 mobo, with a coolermaster 850w power supply and no drivers would make it feel smooth enough for me, but maybe the cards themselves weren't the problem. I had updated the bios
 
I'm quite seriously considering a 1070 OC model (non-SLI) as a stop gap until true high end cards (unless they are priced too close to the 1080s) - paired with a G-Sync screen it should provide more than playable framerates for sub 4K gaming in the meantime.
 
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I agree that it looks like a much better buy, but I wouldn't touch an SLI setup with a barge pole personally, so if someone wanted the absolute fastest card around, the 1080 is simply it (for now).
 
Rroff said:
I'm quite seriously considering a 1070 OC model (non-SLI) as a stop gap until true high end cards (unless they are priced too close to the 1080s) - paired with a G-Sync screen it should provide more than playable framerates for sub 4K gaming in the meantime.
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This is the other option I'm considering.. a single 1070 until the 1080ti comes along
 
I envy the people with SLI who have zero problems.

Whenever I've had SLI there is ALWAYS something wrong. Whether it's inconsistent performance, weird particle effects bugs, stuttering...

I went with a single 980Ti last generation, going with a single 1080 this time around and won't be looking back.
 
Whether or not its a good idea depends entirely on the SLI support status for your favourite games.

I had zero problems with SLI 780's for years, but recently more and more titles havent supported it at launch, and to be frank it really ticked me off.

Doom is a recent example where not only SLI doesnt currently work, but on my SLI setup it flickered and made me really feel sick untill I turned SLI off for that game! :eek:

So my advice is, look at the current support for your favourite games before you decide.
 
I generally had very little problem with SLI through GTX260 and GTX470 setups but more recently I've seen a higher number of games that use effects incompatible with SLI and/or SLI scaling i.e. some games run "fine" with SLI but provide way more performance than needed in the simpler scenes and fall down in the more intense scenes due to effects that knock out SLI scaling combined with nVidia seeming to take the peddle off SLI support recently compared to what it was at the peak of my 470s so I've not bothered with SLI with the 780.

(As an aside with the clocks I'm running on the GHz edition I'm pretty close to the performance of average SLI scaling on a stock A1 stepping 780 heh).
 
I've found that 970s in SLI has worked very well on my rig, which has given me excellent performance for the price.

As mentioned above though, it depends on if the games you like support it. DX12's direct support for multi GPU setups will be interesting to watch too, as it may make such setups far more common given that the performance increases seem to be greater than SLI and work across all cards.
 
It seems dual card support will be even more dependant on developers going forward with DX12. It has put me of the idea along with the heat output. My 7970's heat the room to nice toasty 30°C, OK when I want to acclimatise for another trip to Africa!
 
I've always found it odd how some people swear by SLI and never have any problems, while others curse and bemoan it as though it's the worst thing you could ever do to your system! I don't think there's anything more contradictory or divisive when it comes to a PC set-up!! Ultimately game choice seems to be the biggest factor, plus a bit of know-how in terms of getting it all working correctly. :confused:
 
Legend said:
I've always found it odd how some people swear by SLI and never have any problems, while others curse and bemoan it as though it's the worst thing you could ever do to your system! I don't think there's anything more contradictory or divisive when it comes to a PC set-up!! Ultimately game choice seems to be the biggest factor, plus a bit of know-how in terms of getting it all working correctly. :confused:
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One factor is that multi GPU has always worked at its best with certain configurations - if you are getting 15fps with one GPU then even sticking another 3 in will still produce laggy performance with lots of microstutter or even full stutter, etc. much of the time whereas if you are for instance getting say ~50fps with one GPU and using another to hold a constant 60fps or using 2 GPUs to try and hit the cap on a 120+Hz display as much as possible there is much less noticeable issues like microstutter.

i.e. people who are using 2-4 GPUs top of the line GPUs to try and play 4K as best as possible will probably have a lesser opinion of multi GPU than those using a pair of mid-range cards to get 1080p or 1440p rendering as fast as possible.

Game choice and knowledge of how to get the best out of it certainly helps - back in the day it was quite rare that I couldn't delve into nvinspector, etc. and get atleast something half working in games that didn't support SLI very well out the box.

EDIT: For awhile nVidia used to publish additional SLI profile updates separately to driver updates under "Additional Software and Drivers" as well which seemed to have been missed by most people though looks like they've stopped doing that now.
 
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jb7 said:
Indications seem to indicate that the GTX 1070 will be about half the cost of a GTX 1080, with 80% of the performance

So surely if you SLI two 1070's, you would get significantly better performance than a 1080 (provided the game supports SLI.. which most do these days) for the same price/slightly more than a 1080?
Click to expand...

Yeah, this is my line of thinking. Will wait to see reviews, but I think this is where my money will be going.

However, I am not keen on using open air cooling in SLI and not paying FE prices. So looks like I might be stuck on using "cheap" blower versions.

Does anyone run SLI with open coolers and if so, are temps ok? I will be using a Lian Li D600 case, so plenty of airflow.
 
Not in SLI but I've had 2 cards with aftermarket coolers that blow air into the case running in my 540 air no problem - though the x16 ports on this board are 1 and 3 so space between them for another card.
 
Five.Stars said:
Yeah, this is my line of thinking. Will wait to see reviews, but I think this is where my money will be going.

However, I am not keen on using open air cooling in SLI and not paying FE prices. So looks like I might be stuck on using "cheap" blower versions.

Does anyone run SLI with open coolers and if so, are temps ok? I will be using a Lian Li D600 case, so plenty of airflow.
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The leaked (and since pulled) 1070 review had it only drawing as much power as a GTX 960. I briefly had two 960s in SLI just for funsies, which both had open coolers (EVGA SSC models). Temperatures weren't a problem at all. Not that there's any guarantee that the 1070 will run as cool as a 960 even if it pulls the same juice, given the node shrink, but I don't imagine it'd be much of an issue. Especially when you consider that I have pretty poor airflow, with a Define R4 using three undervolted fans and all the vent covers on.
 
Maximus VI Hero and the spaces are 1 and 3 as well (although drops both to x8 I'm sure). Had SLI 780Ti's but they were watercooled. Can't be bothered with the work involved in doing same again, so going to just run aircooled from now on. Although Hybrids might be an option.

Are there ever x70 hybrid version released?
 
Five.Stars said:
Maximus VI Hero and the spaces are 1 and 3 as well (although drops both to x8 I'm sure). Had SLI 780Ti's but they were watercooled. Can't be bothered with the work involved in doing same again, so going to just run aircooled from now on. Although Hybrids might be an option.

Are there ever x70 hybrid version released?
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EVGA did release a GTX 970 in Hybrid form. With this chip running warmer and using more power, could be a good chance one hopes of something similar.
 
I think this time a round depending on cost the 1070 sli might be the sweet spot.

then sell them on when the 1080 ti hits depending on performance. They will still be current gen so still desirable.
 
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