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To SLI or not?

post #1 of 100
Thread Starter 
Is it better to go to the SLI route with my current MSI Hawk GeForce GTX 560 Ti or should I upgrade it to a better single GPU solution?
post #2 of 100
I would upgrade to a better single card instead of SLI. If I was coming from a 560ti I would go for the gtx 670 or wait for the next gen. I guess that is what I'm currently doing with my gtx 570, waiting for the gtx 770 or 780.
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post #3 of 100
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by icehotshot View Post

I would upgrade to a better single card instead of SLI. If I was coming from a 560ti I would go for the gtx 670 or wait for the next gen. I guess that is what I'm currently doing with my gtx 570, waiting for the gtx 770 or 780.

Why? Isn't SLI good?
post #4 of 100
Quote:
Originally Posted by kevindd992002 View Post

Why? Isn't SLI good?

With SLI comes driver issues, problems with SLI in some games, microstutter, and not every game scales well in SLI. Not to say every person using SLI expiences these problems, they are just more likely to occur, especially microstutter which will not happen on a single card.

But SLI will give you a nice performance boost in most (pretty much all) games. Although many people on here including myself would recommend a single card.

Of course if adding another 560ti is cheap then it wouldn't be a bad buy to go SLI.

I would only personally go SLI if there was not a single card that could handle what I was throwing at it (i.e. if I was playing BF3 on ultra on triple monitors or somthing).
Edited by icehotshot - 6/25/12 at 7:56am
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post #5 of 100
You know what, I have been in the same boat for Single card over SLI... but I say if you can pick up another 560ti for cheap give it a shot.
Especially now with cards still being very good performers even a couple generations old, you can easily double your performance (or very near it).

I think SLI and Xfire have really matured lately and GPU's are finally scaling to almost %100.
I got a 2nd 470 coming next week thumb.gif for my first time with SLI.

If it goes sour then you can always sell your dual card setup and get a newer single card.
With much better drivers out and Profiles now available for just about every game, I think it is a pretty safe thing to try.
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post #6 of 100
It comes down to money and what your trying to get out of it. SLI runs very well. Personaly I would not worry about driver issues. I ran a SLI for over a year and never had a single issue.

If you can pick up a cheap 560 then an SLI may be your best route (If your PSU can handle it, and your case can cool it). Otherwise, like someone else said go for the GTX 670 card. Both solutions are nice. The 670 gives you more power in to the future as you can easily SLI that to at a later date, but if your current budget does not allow for it then it is not even an option.

Either way, you cant go wrong. If money didnt matter, go 670. If you want the biggest bang for the buck today not worrying about the future, then go for the SLI.
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post #7 of 100
a friend of mine has a rig with 2600K @4.6GHz, 8GB @ 1866, MSI TFII 560Ti 2GB SLI.......everything maxed on 1080p......not even BF3 multiplayer goes below 45FPS
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post #8 of 100
I love SLI, haven't had any real problems with it. I got the performance of a 680 for $420 (and that was before the 680 was even released btw). Microstutter is a small annoyance at worst, I don't even notice it unless fraps is running and I see the numbers decrease for a split second, but it's never affected my game, for instance my fps will drop from 61 to 44, not a deal breaker in my book and it's not like it happens constantly. SLI was big long ago and then went away, and now it came back and I am a firm believer that many games will support it well in the future.
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post #9 of 100
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by JTHMfreak View Post

I love SLI, haven't had any real problems with it. I got the performance of a 680 for $420 (and that was before the 680 was even released btw). Microstutter is a small annoyance at worst, I don't even notice it unless fraps is running and I see the numbers decrease for a split second, but it's never affected my game, for instance my fps will drop from 61 to 44, not a deal breaker in my book and it's not like it happens constantly. SLI was big long ago and then went away, and now it came back and I am a firm believer that many games will support it well in the future.

Why do microstutter exists anyway? Is there no fix for this?

If I were to upgrade my video card, what is the best bang-for-the-buck card today? Or is my card still the best bang-for-the-buck (which it was a year ago)?
post #10 of 100
It you can get a cheap second hand 560ti then its the best bang for buck upgrade you can make even thou it comes with the occasional annoyance. Also I would not be to worried about the scaling issues as thous happen usually with older or not so graphically intense games that a single 560ti could run maxed anyways.
Quote:
"Why do microstutter exists anyway? Is there no fix for this?"
The issue comes form when the card's have trouble running in sync, as in when one card need more time to render then the other but don't misunderstand micro microsutter does not happen that often and it really depends on the game engine used and the drivers. The only games that I have actually had microsutter in are cryengine games and thous where later fixed with a patch (do note that I run crossfire but is pretty much the same thing). Still there have been other issues in other games like the occasional flickering texture and so on.
    
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