GTX 1070 vs 2 x GTX 970.

[Shih Tzu]

Hi all... got a quistion, does a GTX 1070 preform better then 2 GTX 970 in sli ? i im playing on a 4K monitor.

[SisboCrisbo™]

in my opinion i would say that a 1070 is better because it has 8gb vram as opposed to the 3.5gb you get with a 970 and sli would not double the vram so you would still only have 3.5 so a 1070 in my opinion anyways would be a way better option and plus a 1070 uses way less power and outputs less heat then 2 970's and a 1070 would cost less then 2 970's also you would have to worry about scaling and in some games sli dosent scale correctly and only uses 1 card anyways the only reson to get 2 970's really at this point is if you want your rig to look cool but other than that i see no point especially at 4k

[Matt]

In my experience of having computers since 2003, SLI is objectively bad.

[Talkie Toaster]

Originally posted by Matt:

In my experience of having computers since 2003, SLI is objectively bad.

It depends what you play and your budget, I've been running SLI constantly since the days of the GTX 460 and had a great experience with most of the games I play, though yeah there are plenty of titles out there that won't work at all or very well with SLI - Assetto Corsa isn't one of them, SLI works incredibly well straight out of the box even though it isn't officially supported by Kunos.

Originally posted by J Kjaergaard:

Hi all... got a quistion, does a GTX 1070 preform better then 2 GTX 970 in sli ? i im playing on a 4K monitor.

It depends if you already have a 970, and you can grab another cheap then they work very well in SLI with Assetto Corsa - I run a pair of them at max settings (apart from reflection frequency) at 1440p 60FPS no problem, they perform the same (ish) as a 980Ti.

Though for 4K I would suggest going for the 1070 or even the 1080 if you have the funds, a single card is almost always better than SLI on the grand scale of things and the extra VRAM will be much better for more modern titles at higher resolutions.

[SVK_VooDoo]

Currently i own 1070 and im totally sattisfied. Playing on 2560x1440 with everything set to max and Nartural mod PP im about 45-60 FPS. no problems even when 14ppl drifting around me. before i had 2x690GTX and had many issues with SLI (one of cards was overheating, randomly PC restarts or display freezes)

[Shih Tzu]

Okey... thanks guys... i dont know what card i will spend my money on yet, becourse the 1080 is very espenisve... Thanks !

[Matt]

I'm not saying SLI is broken and doesn't work, I understand it's a viable option, it's just a bad option and a single strong GPU historically is always better. This isn't even mentioning driver issues and many new games simply not having SLI support at release.

[波 wavve彡boi 9 5 波]

buying a better/newer card is better than doubling up an old one. SLI and crossfire were designed to sell more cards and look good on paper.

[BRT Cobra]

sli is never a great option tbh id go with just one card every time but a good one

[Mr Crisp]

Jeez are people still misrepresenting the VRAM on the GTX 970?

It has 4gb, alright- remove the heatsink and count the chips, it totals 4gb- 3.5gb and 0.5 gb split, for a reason. This 0.5gb on its own it 1/7th the speed of the 3.5gb but with the 3.5gb given priority, the 0.5gb is actually still `4x as fast as the mem speed through the PCI-E and system memory.

All gaming systems today already have multiple pools of graphics memory – what exists on the GPU and what the system memory has to offer via the PCI Express bus. With the GTX 970 and its 3.5GB/0.5GB division, the OS now has three pools of memory to access and to utilize. Yes, the 0.5GB of memory in the second pool on the GTX 970 cards is slower than the 3.5GB of memory but it is at least 4x as fast as the memory speed available through PCI Express and system memory. The goal for NVIDIA then is that the operating system would utilize the 3.5GB of memory capacity first, then access the 0.5GB and then finally move to the system memory if necessary.

Source: http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/NVIDIA-Discloses-Full-Memory-Structure-and-Limitations-GTX-970

A line has well and truely been drawn under the `970 memgate`- lets just move on.


I'd buy the 1070, 8gb VRAM and single card will always be arguably less hassle than two or more.

[dgeesio & ronMctube]

2x 970 gtx = 1080 performance.

so in theory the 970 gtx sli is faster but they have lower vram which is at higher resolutions not really a good idea. especially as 970s have 3.5 vram and 0.5 at a slower speed.

so at 4k ideally id go with a 1070 gtx and its higher vram.

thing is ideally at 4k you really want 2 cards or more.

[Major_Troubles]

IF you already have an SLI-capable motherboard, buy a 1070 now. Then you still have the option of adding another 1070 later at some point.

4k monitor -> you need more than 4GB VRAM.

[BOT 飘渺の堡包酱[体虚]]

1070 and you add another 1070 next year when it's cheap.

[lolschrauber]

Originally posted by SVK_VooDoo:

Currently i own 1070 and im totally sattisfied. Playing on 2560x1440 with everything set to max and Nartural mod PP im about 45-60 FPS. no problems even when 14ppl drifting around me. before i had 2x690GTX and had many issues with SLI (one of cards was overheating, randomly PC restarts or display freezes)

why would you use dual gpu sli. dual gpu cards alone give you trouble sometimes

[Shih Tzu]

I owen 2 gtx 970 already, i just want too know if a 1070 i more power full, then 2x970. I due not having problems running SLI.

[BOT 飘渺の堡包酱[体虚]]

Originally posted by J Kjaergaard:

I owen 2 gtx 970 already, i just want too know if a 1070 i more power full, then 2x970. I due not having problems running SLI.

Then you should get the 1170.