Why is Nvidia killing SLI/NVLink?

[The Chicagoan]

Why is Nvidia killing these two? The 1000 series GPU's had no 1060 FE with SLI. The 2000 series GPU's has no 2070 with NVLink, so what's the deal? I was going to get a 2070 to upgrade from my 1070 FE, but now that I know it has no NVLink that ain't happening...

[vadim]

To protect its own high-end graphics from competition.

[Radioaktivist]

cause sli was to grab the cash off dumb kids in first place

[Cathulhu]

Because of the inherent unfixable problems that SLI has, like the microstutter when cards aren't in synch or the rather lackluster performance gain. You use twice the power but not twice the performance, not even close to that.

[FeilDOW]

Well of we could get away from DX11 and use DX12 with full mGPU support there will be no need for bridges while gaming.

[[☥] - CJ -]

Diposting pertama kali oleh FeilDOW:

Well of we could get away from DX11 and use DX12 with full mGPU support there will be no need for bridges while gaming.

Except not every game supports that and the first one to support it was Ashes of the singularity.

a game Dev actually has to include it with the product, being a DX12 game isnt enough.

Its no different than SLI, it isnt widely supported but SLI in itself is more broadly supported than DX12 mGPU support. But yes, mGPU support would in some cases be better.

[Monk]

Sli has only made sense with the top end cards for a while now, so it makes sense to restrict its use really, it kind of protects people from themselves.

With nvlink's massively increased bandwidth potential they are actually showing renewed interest in multi GPU, not less.

Plus, half the issues people who don't use sli like to complain about, sort of don't exist, however, their are situations where it won't work (largely unreal engine games) or when scaling can be minor or. In some cases negative to a single card option, this is where it only makes sense to use the fastest cards.

By the time you buy two 1070's you could buy a single 1080ti which in alot of cases will be faster than a pair of 1070's when sli works well, let alone when it doesn't, same goes for a pair of 2070's Vs a 2080ti, when the pair cost as much as a faster single card option. It's pointless to go with SLi.

I am clearly a fan of multi-gpu, however I also accept it's limitations and draw backs and won't complain (to much) when it has issues, when you had the tech available on lower end cards, it opened up an enthusiast option to let's say, less enthusiastic people, who might not understand it's limitations and then go complain non stop when they don't get double the performance from adding a second low tier card in the past.

So I see it as Nvidia keeping sli only where it actually makes any sense at all (let's be honest, it is a crazy enthusiast option only for those who want an ultimate no limits approach anyway).

[tacoshy]

The main issue is, that SLI is not supported by every game and does not double performance. Avg. You only see performance increases of 20%.
Some games get really good SLI support while others even reduce performance.

If you take the 20% performance increase I to account, it makes no sense to use SLI outside of the top end cards. I mean a GTX 1070 SLI performs something around a GTX 1080. In few cases about a GTX 1080 Ti.
In both cases a GTX 1080 Ti would be cheaper in the first place and work everytime without special support.

If you complain about RTX 2070 not being SLI capable, you would do something wrong in the first place... A RTX 2080 Ti would be cheaper while overall giving way better performance then 2 RTX 2070

[The Chicagoan]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Monk:

Sli has only made sense with the top end cards for a while now, so it makes sense to restrict its use really, it kind of protects people from themselves.

With nvlink's massively increased bandwidth potential they are actually showing renewed interest in multi GPU, not less.

Plus, half the issues people who don't use sli like to complain about, sort of don't exist, however, their are situations where it won't work (largely unreal engine games) or when scaling can be minor or. In some cases negative to a single card option, this is where it only makes sense to use the fastest cards.

By the time you buy two 1070's you could buy a single 1080ti which in alot of cases will be faster than a pair of 1070's when sli works well, let alone when it doesn't, same goes for a pair of 2070's Vs a 2080ti, when the pair cost as much as a faster single card option. It's pointless to go with SLi.

I am clearly a fan of multi-gpu, however I also accept it's limitations and draw backs and won't complain (to much) when it has issues, when you had the tech available on lower end cards, it opened up an enthusiast option to let's say, less enthusiastic people, who might not understand it's limitations and then go complain non stop when they don't get double the performance from adding a second low tier card in the past.

So I see it as Nvidia keeping sli only where it actually makes any sense at all (let's be honest, it is a crazy enthusiast option only for those who want an ultimate no limits approach anyway).

I'm also a fan of more then one GPU's but as much as I'd like to get the 1080, I kind of like SLI tbh. Having two GPU's in my PC just makes my PC look greater then just one, tbh. And I personally like my GTX 1070 a lot. I don't like getting rid of GPU's. Only because this is my first high end GPU. My first Founders card that I've been dreaming of getting since the GTX 780 came out in 2013.

[just.kamk /idle]

If we are going down the "2 GPUs for the bulky design" road, why not keep some older card for Physx then?
Opting for SLI outside of actual enthusiast cards is quite a waste of money & time.

[tacoshy]

Diposting pertama kali oleh kamk /idle:

If we are going down the "2 GPUs for the bulky design" road, why not keep some older card for Physx then?
Opting for SLI outside of actual enthusiast cards is quite a waste of money & time.

You could also use a broken card as dummy then...

However I cringing at the comment to fulfil the dream of having a Founders Edition Card. Outside of ppl the stripping the GPU for a water block I know nobody who would want a Founders Edition Card. It is not a good thing, it is a bad thing and with SLI the temperature is more important that SLI would make sense with a bulky FE.

Also imo GTX 1070 is not high end. It's something between that and mid range.
Of currently 9 versions (GTX 1050, GTX 1050 Ti, GTX 1060 3GB, GTX 1060 6GB, GTX 1070,GTX 1070 Ti, GTX 1080, GTX 1080 Ti, GTX Titan Xp) it actually is more in the upper mid range.

[The Chicagoan]

Diposting pertama kali oleh tacoshy:

Diposting pertama kali oleh kamk /idle:

If we are going down the "2 GPUs for the bulky design" road, why not keep some older card for Physx then?
Opting for SLI outside of actual enthusiast cards is quite a waste of money & time.

You could also use a broken card as dummy then...

However I cringing at the comment to fulfil the dream of having a Founders Edition Card. Outside of ppl the stripping the GPU for a water block I know nobody who would want a Founders Edition Card. It is not a good thing, it is a bad thing and with SLI the temperature is more important that SLI would make sense with a bulky FE.

Also imo GTX 1070 is not high end. It's something between that and mid range.
Of currently 9 versions (GTX 1050, GTX 1050 Ti, GTX 1060 3GB, GTX 1060 6GB, GTX 1070,GTX 1070 Ti, GTX 1080, GTX 1080 Ti, GTX Titan Xp) it actually is more in the upper mid range.

Not sure how that is cringy. I've always had bad hardware. I've never had the chance to have a founders card. Now I do... Don't you have things you've always dreamt of having? I'm sure you wouldn't want them called cringy. Respect other people's posts.

GTX 1050 and GTX 1060 is mid range. GTX 1070 and 1080 and the titans are high end.

[tacoshy]

It is cringy as Founders Editions are litterally the worst cards. It is not a premium thing as you might think. It is the cheapest with the worst coolers on the market.
It is not a sign for a good card but with a Nvidia design cooler that is loud and mostly inefficient. Any GPU with an aftermarket coolers will run circles performance wise around it.


A GTX 1070 is not a high end card. Nowhere close to it. Performswise it sits around 80-100% behind a GTX Titan or 1080 Ti.
GTX 1050. Is not mid range, it is low end.

[Monk]

While it's great you got a card you like and want, the founders editions, are largely crap Vs the aftermarket cards was likely tacoshys point.

As for where the 1070 sits in the stack, it's very much mid range, even more s now, this isn't a bad thing, but with 4 cards below it and 4 above it just in the pascal lineup, it's literally THE mid range card.

[Monk]

A 1070 CANNOT be made to match a 1080 with an overclock, the 1070ti gets very close, but still sits about 5% behind it.

A1050 is entry level low end, an R5 230 isn't even considered a gaming card, it's for media and obsolete.

Edit.

If you include the new cards, the 1080 has now dropped down to mid range technically.

[FeilDOW]

Diposting pertama kali oleh ☥ - CJ -:

Diposting pertama kali oleh FeilDOW:

Well of we could get away from DX11 and use DX12 with full mGPU support there will be no need for bridges while gaming.

Except not every game supports that and the first one to support it was Ashes of the singularity.

a game Dev actually has to include it with the product, being a DX12 game isnt enough.

Its no different than SLI, it isnt widely supported but SLI in itself is more broadly supported than DX12 mGPU support. But yes, mGPU support would in some cases be better.

I said that games need to start using DX12 with FULL mGPU support, meaning I know.

I'm case you didn't understand I was saying dx11/SLI needs to die, and dx12 mGPU is always better at scaling than SLI when implemented.