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Which 980ti for SLI?

Luman

Luman

Luman

Associate
Joined
29 Sep 2012
Posts
132
Would prefer non-reference. I know its somewhat a bad idea but my case will have adequate airflow and 2 slots between the cards for some breathing room.
 
My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,621.07
(includes shipping: £11.10)
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Those 3 are all epic and come with substantial coolers.

Gigabyte has the best support followed by EVGA, the MSI well I haven't seen the rep since the fan oil fiasco.
 
Ti in SLi can be hot and it can be noisy. Prepare thyself ;)

If I were to do it again I'd go with at *least* 1 Hybrid card for the top one to control the heat/noise better, both if possible :)

If you're buying from scratch then get 2 Hybrids for sure
 
stulid said:
My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,621.07
(includes shipping: £11.10)
​


​

Those 3 are all epic and come with substantial coolers.

Gigabyte has the best support followed by EVGA, the MSI well I haven't seen the rep since the fan oil fiasco.
Click to expand...


They seem like the best of the bunch but still not sure which would be better together in terms of cooling and noise. Anyone willing to share there experience with either of them?

JediFragger said:
Ti in SLi can be hot and it can be noisy. Prepare thyself ;)

If I were to do it again I'd go with at *least* 1 Hybrid card for the top one to control the heat/noise better, both if possible :)

If you're buying from scratch then get 2 Hybrids for sure
Click to expand...

Was thinking the hybrid would be another good choice especially cooling wise but how well do they overclock compared to the 3 above?
 
id go EVGA for warranty but yeah they can get hot in SLI. having owned 2x MSI 980TI's they got up to 85c while under heavy load with the fans on pretty much full speed.

Id personally get hybrid cards especially as the price isnt a massive amount extra. or one hybrid and one aftermarket. As the pipes and fans will get very messy with more than one. unless you can pop them in the front or something.
 
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Hybrid or reference.

No amount of good case airflow will make a non-reference a good choice for SLI.
Get two hybrids.

As far as clock goes every 980TI is virtually the same, it's a very efficient architecture that makes any "custom elite" silliness a joke (if you're not benchmarking).
 
stulid said:
My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,621.07
(includes shipping: £11.10)
​


​

Those 3 are all epic and come with substantial coolers.

Gigabyte has the best support followed by EVGA, the MSI well I haven't seen the rep since the fan oil fiasco.
Click to expand...

none of the above

sli = refrence with refrence cooler or hybrid or watercooling.
 
NoobCannon said:
none of the above

sli = refrence with refrence cooler or hybrid or watercooling.
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None? none at all?

What makes you say that as people have been using these custom cooled cards in SLI just fine before any Hybrid models came onto the market.

As long as the case is ok (which it should be if spending £1000 on gfx cards) then there will not be any issue using any of those three.
 
stulid said:
None? none at all?

What makes you say that as people have been using these custom cooled cards in SLI just fine before any Hybrid models came onto the market.

As long as the case is ok (which it should be if spending £1000 on gfx cards) then there will not be any issue using any of those three.
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I've had MSI Gaming 970s in sli (the most efficient card to date) and still swore never to do it again unless on water.

Yes it works, but when you have the option to go reference (build for it) or Hybrid, buying anything else is just looking for problems.
But if someone wants extra heat, more likely thermal throttling and noise, go ahead and have fun :D
 
stulid said:
What makes you say that as people have been using these custom cooled cards in SLI just fine before any Hybrid models came onto the market.
Click to expand...

There's definitely people out there who have used these open air cards in SLI, but how many will honestly say the heat/noise output is not a problem. I don't think it's necessarily best to recommend those cards in SLI, unless you've had first hand experience of doubling up the heat in your case and can honestly list the pros and cons. Hybrid or reference is the safest bet in SLI imo. One Hybrid coupled with an aftermarket card isn't the worst shout either.
 
RanxZy said:
There's definitely people out there who have used these open air cards in SLI, but how many will honestly say the heat/noise output is not a problem. I don't think it's necessarily best to recommend those cards in SLI, unless you've had first hand experience of doubling up the heat in your case and can honestly list the pros and cons. Hybrid or reference is the safest bet in SLI imo. One Hybrid coupled with an aftermarket card isn't the worst shout either.
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Im looking at what the OP said about having a good gap between the cards so they are not jammed tight against each other.

Also if hes looking at two hybrid cards then I can only assume he has a big case with plenty of room and a good number of large fans to help move x amount of litres of air per minute to expel hot air quickly.

Again that goes back to my comment about having a good case if spending £1000 on cards rather than trying to fit them into a budget case with 1-2 fans and a more compact size.
 
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18697139&highlight=username_NoobCannon

just don't do this :)

unless you got something like a 900d [huge case] or something with lots of fans I would only consider refrence with refrence cooler or hybrid or watercooling. I ran 2 7970's on air back in the day and it actually forced me into watercooling as I couldn't keep my clocks.

my case was a HAF 939 at the time so not exactly poor air flow either
 
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I've used sli with non ref cards a few times now, a two slot gap can help a good deal. Found this with windforce 670's on an Asus z77 v pro board. Temps were 75 and 67c. Same cards ran a bit warmer though in a single slot z87 Maximus 6 formula. The latter board was then used for sli 780, again windforce cards. A few times the top card did get to 83c, normally mid - high 70's. Bottom one never above 65c, 1-1 fan profile used.
 
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