SLI noob here, need some advice please :) ...

[neoglow]

Hey guys, need some advice from the GPU Guru's!

Ok, Im completely new to SLI and have never tried it before, got a few questions.

Ive currently got:

EVGA GTX670 F.T.W 2gb
Asus P8 P67 Pro Mobo

Im weighing up the pros and cons of going SLI rather than buying a more up to date single card as I have found a couple of new games cant be maxxed out - Crysis 3 and Metro Last Light. (Im a graphics / smooth framerate whore!)

1. I understand that SLI dosent give you double the total GPU memory (eg not 2gb + 2gb = 4gb) But, what does it give you? Is it still only 2gb?

2. My Mobo (according to the manual) can do either single GPU at PCIe 16x or SLI at 8x and 8x PCIe. Is there such a thing as mobos that can do SLI in 16x and 16x PCIe?

3. Cost is obviously the main factor as buying one more card is cheaper than forking out on a single up to date card. Is SLI actually worth it or should I wait for the prices of the newer cards to drop?

4. Is there any other pro's and con's I havent thought of?

Thanks in advance for help, its mucho appreciated.

 

[no_1_dave]

1) 2GB

2) There are motherboards that do 16x and 16x in SLI. Doubt you'd notice a difference in game though.

3) IMO SLI is worth it. 2nd card adds about 90%, not quite double but better then anything else on the market at the moment

4)
Pros - Better performance, cheaper then selling & buying a new card

Cons - SLI profiles can (rarely) be late meaning a new release might not work correctly in SLI initially. More heat (670s not a problem though because they run quite cool), More power (but do you care? You can disable SLI in games that dont need it so save power if it bothers you).

IMO it's awesome.
I had SLI 470s, now I have SLI 670s.

Not worth it for 1080p unless you use 120Hz
very worth it for 1440p+

 

[Gregster]

All of what No1 Dave said but to clarify point 3, scaling is game dependant. Some you will see almost double performance and others, less. Also on point 4, they will get slightly hotter and the fans will work slightly harder and this will create more noise.

 

[neoglow]

Cheers for the advice guys. I think SLI is the way to go, I cant quite justify the asking price for a GTX 780 right now and if two 670's gives good performance then I'll go with that. Cant wait to try the games out with a new SLI setup.

 

[no_1_dave]

You should have more then 4GB ram by now too

 

[neoglow]

You should have more then 4GB ram by now too

Yeah that's the plan, add it to the shopping list! I'd been told that 8gb is the norm these days. Pay day tomorow! Woot!

 

[palaw]

What power supply have you got? Have you checked that will be enough for SLI?

 

[neoglow]

What power supply have you got? Have you checked that will be enough for SLI?

Ive got a Seasonic 620W, I need to measure the wattage with a wall socket thingy to see what it is drawing but I did it a while ago and it was quite low even when playing an intensive game like Crysis etc.

 

[no_1_dave]

Seasonic are a good brand so that should be fine for 670s