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I have to swallow my man pride to ask this.

FloppyPoppy

FloppyPoppy

FloppyPoppy

Soldato
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27 Jan 2012
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The king of the north!
Hey there guys recently i have been gradually building my system. As it stands im running

i5 4690k @ 4.6Ghz 24/7 stable max temps 54c under load
2x Asus 970 Strix cards that have been taken apart and re thermal pasted.
gigabyte gaming 5 motherboard
256GB SSD ( my old force 3 ) still rocking strong 27TB of use later.
850W Be-Quiet Power Zone PSU
monitor ROG Swift.

Now to my man pride. I upgraded to the ROG swift and added the second 970 at the same time, prior to this i had been using a nasty no name 1080p monitor that was just a awful experience with tearing ect. But the system 970 mainly was by far beefy enough for it and never came across this mysterious VRAM issue. I got into a slight bit of a "altercation" of sorts regarding the VRAM issue that as far as i could see didn't exist.

String said:
Considering that I had 2 of them and returned for a 980, then yes I think it's fair to say I understand how it works.
Click to expand...

String said:
No worries, mate.

If you run Shadow Of Mordor with everything maxed out, you might see the issues in action.

However, some people don't mind switching off some eye candy, and others want it all up full, so an informed decision is all people can aim for.
Click to expand...

This was settled without any problems and peacefully and a fortnight later i have to say, String you got me here. The stutter fest is awful can't even run some games on medium settings because of it. SORRY hope we can have many loving interactions in the future <3 :D

So now with my man pride at least 6" shorter, my question.

Sell 970sli on MM + buy titan X? Or 980 kingpin, what do you guy's think.

My mind is pretty much set on the removal of 970s at 1440p it's not a pleasant experience and IMHO doesn't do the swift justice and wan't to know a solid recommendation to keep this system running the latest titles for a good few years :D

All help appreciated :D
 
I sold my 2 970 G1's because of the same issue although not a rog swift.
I got a 980 G1 which i know i have taken a hit on performance but at least its smooth. Titan will be pricey but if you have the money then wait for it.
 
I RMAed mine (4K was a mess) in the timebracket allowed from OCUK. Currently on my older R9-290s running 4K like a charm.

The Titan-X will be much better performance wise but we will have to see the price tag.
 
Returned my two 970's and simply settled @1440p with a overclocked 980. Couldn't be happier. Sli 970 especially on 1440p and above is a mess. Sell up and remember to read up.
 
I also retuned my 970 but my budget doesn't go as far as a 980 so I am tuck back at my old GPU.

I am currently waiting to see what AMD release.
 
Oh dear :( I wanted to beleieve it wasn't going to be an issue and held off returning my 970. With a 1440p coming are you confirming that it's silly to 970 SLi?
 
Apology accepted, and here's my latest loving interaction... :p

Sell up your 970s and go 980, it's your only choice really.

AMD cards can be ruled out because no matter what the near future has to offer with them they won't support G-Sync. Your ROG Swift might not like your 970s, but it'll hate anything from AMD. :)

Titan? I ruled it out for a couple of reasons...

Firstly, it is highly unlikely to outperform 980 SLI but it's highly likely to cost around the same, if not more. Yes it has heaps more VRAM, but unless you plan to change out your Swift for a 120hz 4K screen then you simply won't need it. Yes, the future and all that but remember that in the unlikely event that your 980(s) exceed their 4gb they will not act as your 970s did.

Secondly, resale value. Put simply, if someone has £750 to spend on a year old Titan then they have £900 to spend on a new one. If you put some effort in, you can pick up a 980 for £425-ish and you'll find it a lot easier to sell on than you will a Titan. The amount of people looking for a Titan in their system is a lot smaller than the amount looking for a 980, no?

At 1440p, a single 980 will give you roughly 45fps on a AAA maxed out. SLI will give you 80-90fps. The Swift should keep it smooth regardless.

Good luck, and I'm sure your man pride will recover soon!
 
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3t3P said:
What problems were people having with 970 sli at 1440?
Low fps?
Click to expand...

Low fps, total stutterfest and games completely unplayable... but only when the game is requesting more than 3.5gb of VRAM and (I think) less than 4gb. This is why some people play games at 1440p that don't require so much VRAM and end up thinking there isn't an issue with these cards.

There's a gazillion posts about it on this forum alone, so probably best to search around rather than discuss further in this thread if you want to know a bit more detail.
 
Didn't have any stutter issues with 970 SLI and ROG Swift except for Far Cry 4 and that stuttered no matter what I did, still stutters with 980 SLI.
 
I never had a problem with a single 780 on my swift at 1440p 144hz and that had 3gb memory. I played a very heavy modified Skyrim too.

I love how any issue is blamed on 970's vram.
 
Different architectures are different LambChop, you can't assume the 970 would be fine because a 780 is. The 780 will report less available space likely causing a change in what is cached and for how long or how aggressive GC is. Also the 780 doesn't have multiple partitions to individually run out of space and/or struggle for bandwidth, never mind one of them being much, much slower and both of them being reduced bus width.

The 970's vram might not be to blame, I have no proof either way, but the comparison you're using is pretty meaningless. Also, many people are reporting problems with the 970 in this kind of scenario and saying the 980 doesn't have it, suggesting it's the differences between the cards that are responsible, the most significant of which is the vram (again, this doesn't prove the vram is to blame, but it's a much more relevant comparison!)

Edit:
pgi947 said:
The front page scaling on my phone read this as 'I have to swallow my man...'

:D
Click to expand...

:o lol! Your phone is clearly NSFW...
 
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Lot of the time its drivers or something else. Yet if you read the threads in this section now people are back to recommending 970 (and SLI) over other solutions.

I know the source may be arguable about its reliability and reputation but in CustomPC mag in their GPU roundup this month they do mention the vram issue but then go onto to recommend for 4k the best solution is 970 SLI.

At least when the AMD GPU's are out the AMD bias balance of order will be restored ;) and the 970 vram issue will be further buried.
 
Arcane said:
Didn't have any stutter issues with 970 SLI and ROG Swift except for Far Cry 4 and that stuttered no matter what I did, still stutters with 980 SLI.
Click to expand...

You can't use Ubisoft titles as a test medium, it's pointless.

String said:
Low fps, total stutterfest and games completely unplayable... but only when the game is requesting more than 3.5gb of VRAM and (I think) less than 4gb. This is why some people play games at 1440p that don't require so much VRAM and end up thinking there isn't an issue with these cards.
Click to expand...
 
LambChop said:
I never had a problem with a single 780 on my swift at 1440p 144hz and that had 3gb memory. I played a very heavy modified Skyrim too.

I love how any issue is blamed on 970's vram.
Click to expand...

Maybe it's the cut down 256bit bus + the cut down memory. Whatever it is I feel sorry for 970 owners who thought they were getting good value for money compared to Amd alternatives. The 290 with good aftermarket cooler was the better choice despite a bit more power usage.
 
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