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Recommendations for 4k, 980Ti, SLI? Pascal?

As per my other thread that i've asked to be closed/locked due to duplicate subject.

I have some money burning a hole in my pocket and i've come to the conclusion that upgrading my 3930K @ 4.5GHz to a Haswell-E isn't really worth it, nor is waiting for Broadwell-E if Skylake-E is going to require a new socket late 2016 - early 2017.

Therefore i am tempted to buy another 980Ti and Acer Predator XB281HK.

My experiences with SLI on the GTX690 were pretty good, though better than most people's SLI experiences with separate cards. How is SLI with G-Sync? Should i wait for Pascal and buy a better single card?

It looks from this thread that people are suggesting waiting for Pascal. It's going to be hard to hold of for so many months :p
 
Rossi~ said:
As per my other thread that i've asked to be closed/locked due to duplicate subject.

I have some money burning a hole in my pocket and i've come to the conclusion that upgrading my 3930K @ 4.5GHz to a Haswell-E isn't really worth it, nor is waiting for Broadwell-E if Skylake-E is going to require a new socket late 2016 - early 2017.

Therefore i am tempted to buy another 980Ti and Acer Predator XB281HK.

My experiences with SLI on the GTX690 were pretty good, though better than most people's SLI experiences with separate cards. How is SLI with G-Sync? Should i wait for Pascal and buy a better single card?

It looks from this thread that people are suggesting waiting for Pascal. It's going to be hard to hold of for so many months :p
Click to expand...

depends on your games you play but

I have a ROG swift 1440p & 4K both gsync.

ive compared both to each other.

my 980s play most games fine with 60fps like
Rocket League
Killing Floor 2
indie titles

However when it comes to Witcher 3
All high NO AA no, HBAO+ on 45-60fps 4K

even scaled setting games to 2560x1440 on my IPS panel looks better than the TN.

So what I would say is
Happy with 60hz? happy with Lower settings till pascal
Buy a Monitor now

Not happy with 60hz? not happy with lower settings?
Don't buy until 120hz.

I bought my 4K rog swift knowning that. I will be buying the 120hz version as soon as its out & I will be buying 2 pascal cards at launch/Ti time
 
Asa said:
I had no idea the coolers were sold separately. I've got a zotac reference card that makes so much noise I've resigned myself to using headphones at all times, so this sounds like a worthwhile upgrade to me.

Is it relatively easy to fit? Any problems/complications to be aware of?

Sorry for the hijack :)
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The Corsair ones not bad the EVGA is good too but I found it a bit fiddly in needing three hands. Also IIRC the instructions are not too clear about one of the cables where to route it and it can also easily get trapped when you put it together. I was a 980ti early adopter and when I bought it plus the price of the EVGA actually worked out cheaper than a lot of the custom cooled ones and even the 980ti EVGA Hybrid.


Rossi~ said:
Therefore i am tempted to buy another 980Ti and Acer Predator XB281HK.
Click to expand...

Nooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!
 
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Rossi~ said:
Bad decision?
If so, is there another suggestion for a g-sync UHD monitor for around the £500 mark?
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Fortunately not.

I`m sure it will be okay its one of the new batch. Just prey it doesnt go wrong and you have to deal with their shoddy customer service.
 
SLI is definitely worth it, but I wouldn't do it this late after release. The cards are still really expensive, and Pascal is 8 months closer than it was when the Ti launched.

My reference 980Ti's are clocked fairly heavily and GTA5 stresses them the most, pushing the cards to 81 and 79 C, respectively. This is with a fan profile set to max out at 70% at 80C, in a Bitfenix Colossus chassis. I have no noise complaints.
 
varkanoid said:
1. I have a reference Zotac 980ti and it was noisy so I replaced it with a EVGA Hybrid thus breaking warranty. Mad I know but I then had a near silent 4k capable PC. I was happy with the framerates I was getting. Really if with nvidia you need a 4k gsync monitor but they are few and far between quality wise. A single 980ti is ok for games if you keep AA off or lower, drop AO. I left everything else on ultra or at the highes. I tended to take off any motion blur as I hate it and it improved framerates.

3. With 4k SLI you need reference coolers to keep your PC cool. Custom coolers in SLI will bring heat. Both solutions will bring noise. Really for 980ti SLI @ 4k (UHD) you need to have hybrid coolers/AIO GPU Coolers. Thats my opinion based on experience coming from 970 SLI (with hybrids) and 980 SLI (with hybrids at 4k). Never did 980ti as I didnt think it was needed. Never had a problem with stuttering. Only thing you have to consider is not all games work with SLI.

4. For SLI 1000W is nice. I did run 970 SLI on a 750W but 980 SLI was on 1000W PSU. It was more than enough.

5. 6gb VRAM is fine for 4k now and immediate future. I am not one of the "oh you need loads of VRAM for the future" brigade. Think about it. If VRAM was an issue there wouldn't be 2gb VRAM cards now. Nvidia and AMD would be chucking out 6gb+ cards now.

If I were you and I had the cash I would save it and live with your current setup - see what 2016 brings. Wait for Pascal. If it is the single card that can appease the 60fps+ bridgade that everyone is hoping for then buy it. If not there will be second hand 980ti's out there to then consider SLI as peeps buy Pascal.
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Pretty much this. I used a single 980Ti on a 4K monitor and as long as you drop some of the more demanding (and thankfully useless) effects such as DoF and blur you will get 40-50 FPS depending upon the game. Witcher 3 was giving me 45-50 FPS overclocked to 1450 core.

If you are getting 30-40 FPS you are obviously running with settings maxed in your games. Drop MSAA to FXAA or MSAA, drop DoF, motion blur and don't use SweetFX for sharpening etc and your FPS will be playable.
 
smogsy said:
Above what settings I'm curious with witcher 2*980s get me 45-60fps on high/ultra
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I also game with 2x980's @ 1520/2001. Same range of fps as you mentioned. Hairworks and AA off. Everything else at max @ Ultra/turned on. Mostly above 55. In very demanding cut scenes it may drop 2-3fps below 50. Generally very smooth experience.
 
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JediFragger said:
You Sir, are deaf!!!! :p
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Well ive been adjusting the settings of GTA5, Witcher 3 etc. and my 980Ti fans do get noisy. Wasnt open-air coolers supposed to be quieter than reference? or do the manufacturers make such claims when the card is idle? I know hybrid would be much quieter. The card does have a lot of ventilation.

Also, in witcher 3 I saw GPU-Z said there where Performance caps (Perfcap); of PWD and VRel, and saw the TDP hit 101.2% (at one stage). I have not overclocked the card or anything - just brought it and stick it in. Is the card safe to run like that? as doesnt sound happy.... like the card is really pushing itself to keep up, but isnt still copping.
 
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