Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Improvements with SLI ?
Hey folks !
Actually have a GTX 570 and was thinking on maybe getting another one.. Wondering though what kind of improvements I should expect on running 2 graphic cards.. Never done it before... I don't expect doubliing my fps, but would appreciate if anyone have any idea on what to expect with this..
Thanks !
Comments
First you need to make sure your power supply can juice up enough power for SLI / Crossfire. Performance wise, it's hard to tell. I'm not a huge fan of SLi / CrossFire and it's main feature is being able to run multiple monitors. If you run a SLi but are running on a old IDE HDD, you'll get more of a draw back. Everything depends on what other components are present in your build, going SLi is usually a sign that you're running at least a i5 processor tagged with 2 SSD (or more the better) Raid 0.
Having the choice between a SLi / Crossfire or more SSD's to put in my Raid 0, I'll take the SSD any day until I got 10 of them.
SLi are for those who want more monitors to have a bigger viewing experience when gaming without the massive FPS drop.
Expect a ~few~ games to do very well, once you tweak driver profiles or get an updated supported profile. Almost no new releases come with an optimized profile out of the box, it almost always takes a month or two at the best, and sometimes never if the game doesn't have a lot of financial support.
Expect ~most~ games to have a very slight improvement.
Expect ~some~ games to run worse, or not run at all, and require you to disable it to get them to run.
Expect your computer to make more noise, and to run hotter.
In short, it's generally a hassle and a headache that if you can possibly avoid, you are generally best served by avoiding it.
As someone who has spent the last 3 years with SLI/Crossfire, from my experience, never ever go for dual cards.
Most games i've played don't utilize the second card properly, and the optimization doesnt seem to be there either.
In some games, for instance, i get BETTER performance with SLI/XFIRE turned OFF, and only using one card.
When they are both on, i sometimes get lower FPS(not often) but what i get is alot of micro stuttering, where the cards seem to have lag transferring data from the first to the master card.
I'm sure others will weigh in, but im currently looking into getting a single card(even have a thread up asking for suggestions)
I've had nothing but trouble out of dual cards,
will NEVER run a dual card setup again
The Deep Web is sca-ry.
If you want to upgrade your video cards, get a new card to replace the GTX 570. Don't add another for SLI.
SLI is very, very dependent on video drivers, and Nvidia isn't putting much work into Fermi drivers anymore. Not only is it not their latest architecture, it's not even the one before that, so your card isn't going to get any driver updates beyond blatant bug fixes. And that means bug fixes like "game crashes even on single card", not like "SLI doesn't work".
Thanks for all the replies folks ! Will probably think again and check for a new card instead..
Much appreciated !
Its not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. it generally works straight out of the box with minimal issues.
Ive done it 3 times with: 5770's, GTX470's, 280X's
TSW - AoC - Aion - WOW - EVE - Fallen Earth - Co - Rift - || XNA C# Java Development
Some of us are sensitive to microstutter. IMO it's better to just buy mid to high end whenever it is applicable.
Yeah, it works... and 20-40% are probably typical numbers - it's very very rare to see something scale over 80% (although it does happen occasionally).
But if your paying 2x the cost to get 20-40% performance on average (and very inconsistent title to title, at that), that is an expensive upgrade. If there is a faster single card available, that is ~almost~ always a better investment.
In my opinion, SLI/CFX (I lump them both together, as both nVidia and AMD are roughly on par with regard to the technology anymore) are only really worth considering in two situations:
a) You need more speed/power, and there is no single GPU powerful enough. So you SLI/CFX the most powerful GPUs that are available in order to get that extra speed/power.
b) You happen to get a second matching card for free/extremely cheap, and it doesn't cost you anything/much to just pop it in and do it.
I have had an excellent experience using SLI 480's for a long time. Assuming your computer can handle it, I think SLI can be a good option... as long as you get the second card at a significant discount. Don't forget that you are reinvesting into older technology, so you had better be getting a good deal. Also, depending on which cards you are going with, make sure your case has room for both the card and the airflow required. Two cards can make things quite warm (especially my old 480s).
Knowing what games you are going to play can help as well. Some games handle SLI very well - like battlefield 4. Some games run better on a single card than SLI - like EVE.
I hope you live somewhere very cold. Where I live, I do not want my computer to double as a 600 W space heater under gaming loads.
I actually replaced them this past year because of the heat. On the bright side winters were awesome.
Excessive heat is a perfectly legitimate reason to recommend against SLI. And against GTX 480s.
Roses are red
Violets are blue
The reviewer has a mishapen head
Which means his opinion is skewed
...Aldous.MF'n.Huxley
I'm actually in the process of a new high end build and was thinking about going sli 770s which around the same price of a single 780ti and outperforms the single card by a decent amount to justify the extra power requirements and heat. I'm also going to be playing at 2560x1440 so even more of a reason to get some more graphics power. I havent made the decision yet of what i actually will do.
As for the OP, a 570 is pretty old at this point, im on a 6970 currently and which is equivalent to a 580 and i'd just recommend getting a newer card completely instead of adding a second 570. If you could get yourself a 770 for example that would probably be as fast or faster than 2 570s.
It may outperform a single 780ti in the few games that actually take advantage of SLI. The many other games that do not perform well with SLI or just flat out dont work with it you will actually be losing performance. As you will be running on one 770 when you have to disable sli.
Buy a single 780ti instead of two 770s. This is advice from someone who has tried SLI. Not all its hyped up to be for sure.
Yeah i've been looking into it a lot and i'll just buy a single 780 ti, should easily pull 60+ fps in most games with AA disabled since i really see no point for it at 1440p. I've always run a single card and think i'll just continue to do so and upgrade to a better single card when its available provided the gains are worth the difference i'd pay after selling the older card.
As a SLI user running 2 GTX660s to run a 1440 screen, I really think people should talk more straight. The SLI often comes close to doubling performance, and always in the games where you want that, namely AAA shooters.
You say very very rare. And then say happens occasionally about the same thing. It's abit anti-salespitch I reckon.
The Framerate is the good thing about SLI, you get more of them for less money. Then there are the issues. As a second time SLI user (with a single card config in between), I deal with them, it's not a big deal. I know how easy a single card is, and I also recommend that to any new build. But SLI is an option if you buy right and have at least some, user skills.
I agree with others on here.. yes some games will love having the additional card.. like Battlefield 3 and 4 they both use multiple processor cores and multiple cards really well.. but a lot of MMORPGs dont do either well..
You are better of saving up and bit and maybing picking up a geforce 770 or something else if you can afford a bit more
Just read up on the card you are thinking about and read numerous reviews to make sure it will do what you want it to do
Running SLI on 1440 resolution is overkill. Chances are if you would have just bought a 680 you would be getting close to, or the same FPS at that resolution. Without having to go through the hassle of dealing with SLI.
Unless you got the 2nd 660 at a huge discount or free you spent just as much as you would have going with a single high end card that would have done everything you needed, all the time, not dependent on SLI.
Today buying a GTX 760 will run you $250-300 ( depending on brand), A single GTX 780 is right at $500. ( non Ti versions of both). These are prices today off Newegg.
IMO spending the same amount of money to buy one GTX 780 is preferable to buying two 760s where your performance is depending on SLI drivers and profiles.
The one card is just more dependable and has a steady non fluctuating performance level for EVERY game, not just those that work with SLI.
That is pretty much why most people advise against SLI.
And yes I have had an SLI rig, and also why I use a single card solution now.
As a current user of two GTX 570's your both wrong and right. Barbarbar, you will NEVER see perfect scaling with SLI, you will be VERY luck to see 1.5-1.6x, while this is a bump it's a far cry from perfect scaling. There's also microstutter to contend with, and to say it isn't a major issue would be a lie. If you can handle the drop in fidelity from V.High to say, High... the framerates are often great.
As for JDNewell, SLI @ 1440P is definitely not a waste, as stated I run two GTX570's on an ASUS PB278Q monitor. With more recent games I can't max settings, in some cases medium settings are a challenge and frame rates are often an issue. Perhaps you should try using a 1440p monitor before commenting. Hell BF4 on a pair of GTX780's (non Ti) can be hit or miss at times. I don't think people grasp how much of a leap 1080p to 1440p really is, it sucks a ton of performance, and contrary to what many may believe AA is often necessary. The good thing about my monitor, being 27" 1080p doesn't look too washed out, and is used more often than not currently.
Main Rig --- i7 920 @ 3.6ghz//6GB Patriot XGS DDR3 1600@1804 mhz CAS9//HAF 932//Corsair HX1000//ASUS P6T Deluxe//2xMSI GTX570 Twin Frozr II SLI//64GB Patriot Torqx SSD// 1TB Seagate HDD
Secondary --- Macbook