Watercool or Upgrade?

Dom1988

Dom1988

Dom1988

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Joined
4 Jun 2017
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32
Hi folks,

I've currently got a pair of 980ti's in SLI that I use for gaming at 1440p and as ever they do the job but as most of us here know, after a while it's not enough! I can't really overclock the cards much as space is fairly tight and temps start to sky rocket as soon as things get tough.

Simplest scenario, do I sell the 980ti's and upgrade to a 2080 (I'd love a Ti obviously but it's a bit above my budget) or do I have a look at watercooling the 980tis? I don't really want to invest serious amounts of money into it so have been looking at things like the Corsair H10/Kraken G12 adaptors paired to AIO coolers.

What say the people?

P.S. 1440p is where I intend to stay.
 
sli is going the way of the dodo.

"upgrade" i say, but tbh, more of a sidegrade if anything.
980ti sli is better in games that properly support sli, worse if they don't (which is becoming increasingly common)

but what will definitely be improved is smoothness, as you don't get the frame drops with a single card solution - which may be worth the expense all on its own
 
Another plus to the watercooling is I thought if I'm playing a title that doesn't support SLI I could probably get away with cranking the card up high on an OC whilst the 2nd card just sits idling.
 
Watercooling doesn’t really add much value in terms of performance. Most people watercool for fun, silence and low temps. You’ll squeeze a little extra performance, sure. But not compared to the same money spent on an upgrade.

I’d say upgrade all the way mate, but only pragmatically.

I love watercooling, and don’t think I’ll ever build a rig without it.
 
I have a 980ti cooled with a G10 and a 280mm AIO. Temps are low 50s and the card gets a decent overclock to 1472. I have another 980ti in a basic custom loop with a cheap gpu-only block (£10) and it's at low/mid 40s and 1492. Not convinced the cooling has made a difference between the two cards. Both systems are only used for Folding@Home.

I plan on moving them both to the same system and will see then if it's the silicon or the cooling. But this will be a completely custom loop in a Define S, two GPU-X Heatkiller blocks, two 280mm rads and the cards aren't used for gaming so aren't SLI'ed.
 
I went FE 2080 from 2 FE 980s which were water cooled. The main reason was the number of new games that just didnt support SLI. The 2080 performs about 10% better than full functioning OCd SLI 980s, without the SLI issues.

Now im going to water cool the 2080 :D

You can pick up 2080s for as little as £660 now, thats the same price as a 1080ti when it was in stock.
 
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