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Honest options on SLI, issues?

HazardO said:
I have had multiple SLI setups. My only advice is never buy a single card with 2 GPUs.

9800GX2 = bad
GTX275 SLI was great
GTX470 SLI was great
GTX670 SLI was great
GTX970 SLI is great.

TBH you'll want a monitor with at least 120Hz if you are going 980 SLI though.
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There was an issue with the 9800GX2 cards - can't remember exact details now but some component on the board got too hot (had no air flow) causing the 9800GX2 to start stuttering after awhile - think they increased the fan size or aperture on the later ones to fix it but my 8800GT SLI setup just ran so much better.

Multi GPU these days generally just works but you will find some games don't like it or drivers with properly working multi GPU support for that title take a while to appear after the game release. As always though if you need multi GPU just to get 30fps your going to have a pretty ropey experience regardless whereas generally if your getting reasonable FPS with 1 card and using the 2nd to hold 60fps solid as much as possible then you'll have a fairly decent experience.
 
SLI'd 780ti's here and to be honest it was a bit of a waste of money. I'm happy I did it but wouldn't do it again. I had major problems with Far Cry 4 and lots of the other games I play don't even use 2 cards. BF4 was a big improvement though.
 
Early SLI was a bit hit and miss really. I used to get a lot of flicker in Fallout 3 and a few other games.

It's better now, and miles beyond Crossfire, but it still has its caveats. I would suggest you use cards with blower coolers to get that heat out of the case. Other than that? you should be fine.

Bringing UBI games into this really isn't fair on Nvidia or AMD IMO. It's up to the devs to get SLI and Crossfire working before the game launches and most don't care.

Nvidia and AMD then have to fix it with drivers.
 
Curlyriff said:
I am having issues with SLI 980's at moment. Driver update to the latest has caused the biggest issues tbh with random black screens and a lot of games I play are still not supporting SLI. Others have stutter issues.

My 780's I had before were more stable tbh so not sure if it is the drivers or the cards themselves as I haven't looked into it enough. I often just play with one card now, only on certain games do I enable SLI.
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Have more or less the same spec as you and are having no issues at all, everything is running just as it should no crashes etc.

4790 @4.6 2.30v
Gigabyte OC Force
4X4GB 2400Mhz Teamgroup
SLI EVGA 980 Superclock ACX 2.0
Driver Version 344.75.
 
- Farcry 3 and blood dragon don't load with SLI enabled
- COD:AW stutters (any resolution)
- Borderlands 2 @ 4k stutters & crashes with SLI after about 2 mins.
- Middle-Earth is stuttering @ 1440p onwards
- Wolfstein works fine
- XCOM works (but obviously doesn't require a 2nd 980)
- Killing Floor doesn't support it but that's not a worry as it's not needed
- Metro LL works fine and is actually better than the 780 6GB in SLI
- War Thunder worked fine last time I played

Latest Driver 347.09

Edit: Also, not saying you will have these issues, just the mix of components above and the current driver appear to give these problems for myself.
 
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HazardO said:
I have had multiple SLI setups. My only advice is never buy a single card with 2 GPUs.

9800GX2 = bad
GTX275 SLI was great
GTX470 SLI was great
GTX670 SLI was great
GTX970 SLI is great.

TBH you'll want a monitor with at least 120Hz if you are going 980 SLI though.
Click to expand...

Nothing trumps the stutter I had with quad crossfire and a pair of 4870X2'S
 
It's very much a mixed bag.......was Crossfiring for years since the 4870X2 and basically progressed with Crossfire through the AMD cards up until a 7970 setup, and was frequently aware of the issues that arise with dual-GPU setups. That said I was also aware of the great benefits top be had operating at the high end of settings etc. But it was a bit trial and error to get some titles working effectively, or a case of waiting for driver updates etc.
Last year, I decided to go back to Nvidia for the first time in a long time and one of my reasons was to go SLI with a couple of Titan Blacks, and to try out 4k setup. Now I understood that 4k would be sometimes too much of a leap for modern titles without some compromise in quality, but in most cases I'd be happy to drop the res if required, so I was also using the GPUs at more 'normal' conditions of play. Don't think it's too much to ask for a SLI setup to be pushing around 1600p or 1440p without many issues.
TBH.......I've encountered just as many issues with SLI as with Crossfire. Usual instances of stuttering, unexplained frame rate drops etc with certain high-profile titles, plus the usual idiosyncrasies when dealing with constant driver updates etc. When it works it's great, but it's just a method of build that requires maintenance a little too often at times.
Down the years of Crossfire, I've always said that 'next time' I'd just go with a single card (only to cave in), and I've probably had the same thought with the Nvidia cards at times if I'm being honest.
 
So annoying, I remember a time when a top end card could max every game, then Crysis came along and cards made less and less of a impact as time went by. I like having higher than 1920x1080, but it don't half make it hard to keep 60FPS minimum sometimes. :( Well I guess when that Acer IPS(equivalent) 144Hz G-Sync comes out that will help dampen that problem at least.
 
SLI is fine, my only recommendation would be to make sure the games you want to go on support it before you make the leap. The vast, vast majority of triple A titles do, but there have been a small handful this Xmas that haven't.
 
almighty15 said:
Maybe if you were living in 2013 but AMD has seriously caught up to Nvidia and many would even argue that with the new Crossfire system AMD actually offer a better experience.
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Well I own a 7990 and a Titan Black SLI set up and I would take the Nvidia one all day.

I bought my 7990 in early 2014 and it took three months just for a driver to come along that actually worked properly.

Nvidia inherited SLI from 3DFX years ago and have been putting in the effort with it.

I even managed to get a quad SLI system up and running with two 295 single PCB. Heat sucked, but the drivers scaled quite well.

I've heard all of this "But the latest AMD driver fixes everything !" before. That's why I own a 7990 but tbh? I'm still not convinced. Switching on frame pacing drastically reduced overall FPS to the point where the scaling was actually quite lame.

That may have changed now? who knows? but I won't be finding out, especially with AMD's attitude toward their potential customers.

I had the "But the latest drivers !....." BS when I owned two 5770s and it was never actually fixed. Amount of people swearing up and down it did, though.

Michaeljcox24 said:
SLI is fine, my only recommendation would be to make sure the games you want to go on support it before you make the leap. The vast, vast majority of triple A titles do, but there have been a small handful this Xmas that haven't.
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Nvidia usually always sort it out. AMD probably do too.
 
I was the same as you, sold my sli 770's for a single 970 @ 1440p and wasn't happy, bought another 970 and now its a blast... well apart from the fact that the Inno3D HS/FAN is absolute ****e so bought a couple of Accelero Mono PLUS's which I cant praise enough, never above 60c and no more throttling, amazed!

As for SLI performance, cant fault anything I have played at all, performance is stella, and I have gone from No#60 in the OCUK Firestrike extreme top 100 to No#35.

Im running what would be regarded as an 'OLD' 2500k too, clocked at 4.6GHz, I would prolly do a bit better in benchies with hyper-threading but whatevs.

7fLI1AG.jpg
 
There is no way you will get me to use 2 way SLI

GCFpd43.jpg


The NV Death Star ready for action.

Anyone know the way to planet Radeon.

:D:D:D:D
 
Kaapstad said:
There is no way you will get me to use 2 way SLI

GCFpd43.jpg


The NV Death Star ready for action.

Anyone know the way to planet Radeon.

:D:D:D:D
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Pffftt...

To scruffy, what is the 1980's? Fluorescent chunky laces ;)

AND Master Kaapstad, I have done Water and Phase change and see no need with the 900 series as they run pretty cool if they have a decent Air solution as I have proved to myself after purchasing the Mono's (I did burn the factories with liquid metal so this was a positive lesson) - never above 60c whatever conditions, and never throttling.
 
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970 SLI is relatively cheap for what you get, it's also very easy to live with, it's an easy recommendation really.
 
It only uses one card as it has absolutely no SLI support.
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Maybe, but it has no adverse affect when I have had SLI on. Loads fine, no stutter etc and FPS have been plenty high enough @ 4K so haven't tried disabling SLI. Although others have had major issues while SLI is enabled so just thought I would say, works fine for me although not sure about actually adding any performance or not.

Will check tonight when home.
 
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