Dual 970 or 1070?

Monstermunch · 30 Apr 2017 at 11:17

About to build a new rig.

Already have an EVGA Gtx970 which isn't that old and can get hold of an identical one for £140 and SLI them or I could wait a while and go for a 1070?

smogsy · 30 Apr 2017 at 11:21

as much as 970 are good dependings on your resolution 3.5GB will become weaker and weaker as time goes on. for 1080P+ 1070. for 1080P 970s should last pretty well

but it depends if you want the downsides to SLI

Minibiker · 30 Apr 2017 at 11:32

I was going to do this in my new build (SLI) but many people have said that doing that has a lot of Cons to it... I've decided to save some more cash and go for a RX480 or 980ti

Monstermunch · 30 Apr 2017 at 11:40

smogsy said:
as much as 970 are good dependings on your resolution 3.5GB will become weaker and weaker as time goes on. for 1080P+ 1070. for 1080P 970s should last pretty well

but it depends if you want the downsides to SLI

My monitor res is 3440x1440...

Never SLI'd before except if you could the original 3DFX using Glide... Now i'm showing my age

smogsy · 30 Apr 2017 at 11:58

Monstermunch said:
My monitor res is 3440x1440...

Never SLI'd before except if you could the original 3DFX using Glide... Now i'm showing my age

i would not even consider 970s in that case
ive SLIed almost all my rigs but at 3440x1440 3.5GB Vram will be your downfall few months year down the line.

few Examples
Witcher 3 Maxed @ 3440x1440 is using 3.2GB VRAM
Overwatch youll be fine at 1.8GB

Depends how long your wanting to keep 970s. but 1070 will last you much longer

Monstermunch · 30 Apr 2017 at 12:12

smogsy said:
i would not even consider 970s in that case
ive SLIed almost all my rigs but at 3440x1440 3.5GB Vram will be your downfall few months year down the line.

few Examples
Witcher 3 Maxed @ 3440x1440 is using 3.2GB VRAM
Overwatch youll be fine at 1.8GB

Depends how long your wanting to keep 970s. but 1070 will last you much longer

Honestly, I was just thinking about getting another 970 until the next gen cards are released and then buy new.

I don't do a massive amount of gaming but would like to have a go at Player Unknowns Battlegrounds. I have Overwatch but don't see the point of it tbh, it might be first person but it ain't a shooter... more like a first person version of Heroes of the Storm. (I hated that as well)

james.miller · 30 Apr 2017 at 12:12

970 isnt fast enough to run The Witcher 3 maxed out at that res anyway, the amount of memory is irrelevant.

smogsy · 30 Apr 2017 at 13:10

james.miller said:
970 isnt fast enough to run The Witcher 3 maxed out at that res anyway, the amount of memory is irrelevant.

his talking about 970 SLI which would be able to do Ultra

but my point is 970 SLI will be held back by Memory on newer games before you can use all its power

TTomax · 30 Apr 2017 at 13:48

Go for 1070,never SLI if you have a single gpu on similar performance.

tekkas · 30 Apr 2017 at 14:09

1070 or wait for vega i have sli 970s and its not very good anymore can't run ultra at over 144hhz on a lot of games

i can run the witcer 3 ultra everything on sli 970s but only at 1080p 60 fp cant get above 100

opethdisciple · 30 Apr 2017 at 14:12

james.miller said:
970 isnt fast enough to run The Witcher 3 maxed out at that res anyway, the amount of memory is irrelevant.

Actually nope. I ran the game all bells and whistles with a few things turned down that didn't make much difference anyway. I think Hairworks 2x was all that needed turning down at 1200p.

Don't buy a second 970. It's a waste of money. Wait for Vega and either get a new AMD card or get a 1070/1080 when the price drops.

james.miller · 30 Apr 2017 at 14:51

opethdisciple said:
Actually nope. I ran the game all bells and whistles with a few things turned down that didn't make much difference anyway. I think Hairworks 2x was all that needed turning down at 1200p.

OPs monitor is 3440x1440, over twice as many pixels.

his talking about 970 SLI which would be able to do Ultra

I didn't think it was maintain decent minimums at that resolution but you may know differently

smogsy · 30 Apr 2017 at 15:03

james.miller said:
OPs monitor is 3440x1440, over twice as many pixels.

I didn't think it was maintain decent minimums at that resolution but you may know differently

just googled absolute max including 8X AA hairworks 45fps, i know putting hairworks on 2X vs 8x on my 1080TI give me a 40% increase

tommybhoy · 30 Apr 2017 at 15:09

970 is about the worst gpu to use for mgpu due to the memory config.

Personally after 2 SLi/4 CrossFire setups in my time, it's really not worth the hassle at all.

Mgpu introduces you to less gaming time and more fixing time because of all round general crap mgpu support, and very few titles scale really really well anyway especially due to new effects, engines atc and trying to get an answer out AMD/Nvidia when/if a profile is coming can be like drawing teeth if you are desperate to play titles on release.

Monstermunch said:
Honestly, I was just thinking about getting another 970 until the next gen cards are released and then buy new.

I don't do a massive amount of gaming but would like to have a go at Player Unknowns Battlegrounds.

Here is a link to trying to get SLi working on Player Unknowns Battlegrounds if you decide to go SLi, works for some not others.

http://forums.playbattlegrounds.com/topic/5351-sli-fix/

BinnsY · 30 Apr 2017 at 16:01

I switched from a 970 to a 1070 for VRAM issues at 2560*1440, it was a good card in it's time but for anything beyond 1080p now it's pretty much useless unless you are willing to drop texture quality significantly. Because of this it just isn't worth considering in SLI anymore.

Monstermunch · 30 Apr 2017 at 17:33

tommybhoy said:
970 is about the worst gpu to use for mgpu due to the memory config.

Personally after 2 SLi/4 CrossFire setups in my time, it's really not worth the hassle at all.

Mgpu introduces you to less gaming time and more fixing time because of all round general crap mgpu support, and very few titles scale really really well anyway especially due to new effects, engines atc and trying to get an answer out AMD/Nvidia when/if a profile is coming can be like drawing teeth if you are desperate to play titles on release.

Here is a link to trying to get SLi working on Player Unknowns Battlegrounds if you decide to go SLi, works for some not others.

http://forums.playbattlegrounds.com/topic/5351-sli-fix/

Cheers, will take a look.

However Player Unknowns BG isn't optimised yet and is actually very CPU dependant, still in early access and will certainly be configured better as any patches roll out etc.

Interesting to hear that SLI/XFire still has bugs and issues after all this time.

I think I'll wait for the new gen of cards to be released before buying a single big card or I might buy an RX580 or something.

Monstermunch · 30 Apr 2017 at 17:51

That is unless ATI bring a bigger/better version out soon!

Wow, have the prices on the 1070 gone up or something? I could swear they were around £300 on release or just over and now most are nearly £400!

Dunno about anyone else but if I was gonna spend that kinda money I would find a little more and just get a 1080 instead at only £100 more!

Sasahara · 30 Apr 2017 at 18:45

1070 has always been around the £400 mark on release with a few at £380, now with prices starting at £360 and a lot more at £380 it has got a little cheaper, around £20-40 less.

Fishpan · 6 May 2017 at 14:34

single 1070 - way less power consumption and less heat being dumped in the case. Always will advocate a higher range single gpu than sli of a previous gen gpu.