2 Way or 3 Way SLI, Possible with current components.
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Last response: in Graphics & Displays
Paul Raver
May 16, 2013 11:06:54 AM
Being pondering about upgrading my current system.
For a SLI i will have to replace the mobo to begin with as i need multiple PCIe 3.0 slots.
This i will keep in terms of components:
i7 3770(none K)
16GB Corsair Vengeance LP 1600MHz
ASUS GTX 660 DCII OC
Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme
Antec DarkFleet DF30
In any case i would need 3.0 PCI Express slots and a better PSU.
Dual would be a Corsairs CX 750, 3 way i am not sure(advice please)
And i would need a PCI 2.1 slot for my audio card, probably a problem for a 3 way SLI setup.
And does my Antec DF30 have enough airflow to go 3 way SLI, 2 way should not be a problem
For SLI 2 way or 3 Way i will get more ASUS GTX 660 DCII OC.
Been looking at this mobo for 2 way sli: ASUS P877-C LK
Not sure what Mobo would work with audio card if your going 3 way sli.
Budget slightly above 600 euros.
Advice and comments please, better/other components?
Just go 2 way SLI or 3 way SLI with the right components.
For a SLI i will have to replace the mobo to begin with as i need multiple PCIe 3.0 slots.
This i will keep in terms of components:
i7 3770(none K)
16GB Corsair Vengeance LP 1600MHz
ASUS GTX 660 DCII OC
Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme
Antec DarkFleet DF30
In any case i would need 3.0 PCI Express slots and a better PSU.
Dual would be a Corsairs CX 750, 3 way i am not sure(advice please)
And i would need a PCI 2.1 slot for my audio card, probably a problem for a 3 way SLI setup.
And does my Antec DF30 have enough airflow to go 3 way SLI, 2 way should not be a problem
For SLI 2 way or 3 Way i will get more ASUS GTX 660 DCII OC.
Been looking at this mobo for 2 way sli: ASUS P877-C LK
Not sure what Mobo would work with audio card if your going 3 way sli.
Budget slightly above 600 euros.
Advice and comments please, better/other components?
Just go 2 way SLI or 3 way SLI with the right components.
More about : sli current components
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Paul Raver
May 16, 2013 11:16:11 AM
but the real question is what resolution are you playing at? if its 1920x1080 or 1920x1200, youre really just spending a lot more than you need to if you go three way. 2 way 660s will get you pretty far. i am currently using that set up. when im only playing on one monitor they handle anything with ease. i havent played crysis 3 yet, but on bf3 and bl2 it is overkill
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The GTX 660 Ti supports 3-way SLI; however, you gain only a few percentages (1-3%) in performance gain for a 3-way SLI over a 2-way SLI. It has terrible scaling and you'll run into more driver, resolution, etc. issues. Just not worth it. You can't even tell the difference in the few percentage increase outside of benchmarks.
The 650W is sufficient for a 2-way GTX 660. Here is a good list: (not really in any particular order, but the top 5 are really good)
1. Seasonic (all)
2. XFX (all)
3. Corsair (TX, HX, AX)
4. PC Power & Cooling (Silencer MKIII)
5. Antec (EarthWatts, High Current Gamer)
6. Thermaltake (TR2, Toughpower)
7. Be Quiet! (Dark Power Pro, Straight Power)
8. Enermax (Platimax, Revo87)
9. NZXT (Hale90)
10. Rosewill (Capstone, Hive)
11. Silverstone (Strider, Strider Plus)
12. Super Flower (Golden)
The 650W is sufficient for a 2-way GTX 660. Here is a good list: (not really in any particular order, but the top 5 are really good)
1. Seasonic (all)
2. XFX (all)
3. Corsair (TX, HX, AX)
4. PC Power & Cooling (Silencer MKIII)
5. Antec (EarthWatts, High Current Gamer)
6. Thermaltake (TR2, Toughpower)
7. Be Quiet! (Dark Power Pro, Straight Power)
8. Enermax (Platimax, Revo87)
9. NZXT (Hale90)
10. Rosewill (Capstone, Hive)
11. Silverstone (Strider, Strider Plus)
12. Super Flower (Golden)
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Paul Raver
May 16, 2013 11:43:39 AM
carowden said:
but the real question is what resolution are you playing at? if its 1920x1080 or 1920x1200, youre really just spending a lot more than you need to if you go three way. 2 way 660s will get you pretty far. i am currently using that set up. when im only playing on one monitor they handle anything with ease. i havent played crysis 3 yet, but on bf3 and bl2 it is overkillksham said:
The GTX 660 Ti supports 3-way SLI; however, you gain only a few percentages (1-3%) in performance gain for a 3-way SLI over a 2-way SLI. It has terrible scaling and you'll run into more driver, resolution, etc. issues. Just not worth it. You can't even tell the difference in the few percentage increase outside of benchmarks.The 650W is sufficient for a 2-way GTX 660. Here is a good list: (not really in any particular order, but the top 5 are really good)
1. Seasonic (all)
2. XFX (all)
3. Corsair (TX, HX, AX)
4. PC Power & Cooling (Silencer MKIII)
5. Antec (EarthWatts, High Current Gamer)
6. Thermaltake (TR2, Toughpower)
7. Be Quiet! (Dark Power Pro, Straight Power)
8. Enermax (Platimax, Revo87)
9. NZXT (Hale90)
10. Rosewill (Capstone, Hive)
11. Silverstone (Strider, Strider Plus)
12. Super Flower (Golden)
Currently using a iiYama ProLite E2473HDS(24Inch) and a 19Inch Dell(cheap old)
My 24 Inch is my work space, games etc display.
The 19 Inch is for browsing/tools/temps itunes display.
I use 1920 x 1080 native res on everything on the main display.
Considering getting a second 24inch, iiYama E2473HS-GB1 LED LCD
For games: Crysis 2(perhaps 3), Total War Series, Skyrim, WarFrame, World of Tanks, World Of Airplanes(closed Beta), Ghost Recon Future Soldier etc.
So 3 way SLI is more of a novelty, still in development not that much difference in performance?
Current vendor where i get my parts only has the Corsair PSU's that you would recommend.
And i forgot to mention i use a ASUS GT 630 as dedicated PhysX card, nor sure if that makes sense/works with SLI.
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Paul Raver said:
So 3 way SLI is more of a novelty, still in development not that much difference in performance?
Current vendor where i get my parts only has the Corsair PSU's that you would recommend.
And i forgot to mention i use a ASUS GT 630 as dedicated PhysX card, nor sure if that makes sense/works with SLI.
yeah its just not a huge gain.
you can use the other card for physx still with sli, but honestly that is probably slowing you down. that particular card doesnt have a ton of cuda cores and might actually hurt performance. that might not be the case with one card but i wouldnt really keep it around when you do a multi card set up
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Paul Raver
May 16, 2013 11:48:56 AM
Paul Raver
May 16, 2013 12:07:21 PM
ksham said:
Am I missing why you need SLI/CrossFire? Wouldn't one Sapphire Vapor-X Radeon HD 7970 GHz or one Asus GTX 670 or one GTX 680 be sufficient?Want to try SLI heard good things about scales up right 2 way that is.
My preferred brand is NVidia since i use PhysX in games and applications.
So SLI it is, i heard some flaws with CF as well so i am not feeling comfortable going ATI/CF atm.
I could sell the current mobo, and 2 cards or trade in and get a new mobo and 2 GTX 660Ti or better.
The whole point of this exercise is performance increase currently some what low.
Thinking about getting a 120MHz screen if i can find a proper one.(120FPS in mind)
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WithoutWeakness
May 16, 2013 12:13:46 PM
One issue right off the bat. You mention that you want to run the ASUS GTX 660 DCII OC. The GTX 660 only has 1 set of SLI fingers per card, meaning that you can only run a max of 2 cards in SLI. You would need at least a GTX 660 Ti to run 3-way SLI, as the card has 2 sets of fingers and can be run in 3-way SLI. If you meant to type GTX 660 Ti or only plan to run 2 cards, then move on to me next point.
For 3-way SLI I would suggest at least a solid, quality 850W unit, if not larger. Something like Corsair's HX850 or AX860(i) would have enough connectors for 3 cards and provide enough for they system and all 3 cards under load. Anything in the 1000W+ sector with at least 6 6-pin or 6+2-pin connectors would do nicely as well, but isn't necessary for the cards you've chosen.
The motherboard you've chosen is a little on the budget side given the other components you've chosen but will still work for 2-way SLI. For 3-way you will need to buy a much more expensive board, as Nvidia SLI requires at least x8 per card in SLI to be enabled across all cards. You would need a board that has at least 3 PCIe 3.0 x16 lanes and can support at least x8/x8/x8 switching with a PLX chip. The list of Z77 boards that can support 3-way SLI and fit in the case you've chosen is small and all of them are fairly expensive. They can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/dy2o797 and here: http://tinyurl.com/bt3kfxh.
Unless you can increase your budget a few hundred dollars, I would stick with 2-way SLI.
For 3-way SLI I would suggest at least a solid, quality 850W unit, if not larger. Something like Corsair's HX850 or AX860(i) would have enough connectors for 3 cards and provide enough for they system and all 3 cards under load. Anything in the 1000W+ sector with at least 6 6-pin or 6+2-pin connectors would do nicely as well, but isn't necessary for the cards you've chosen.
The motherboard you've chosen is a little on the budget side given the other components you've chosen but will still work for 2-way SLI. For 3-way you will need to buy a much more expensive board, as Nvidia SLI requires at least x8 per card in SLI to be enabled across all cards. You would need a board that has at least 3 PCIe 3.0 x16 lanes and can support at least x8/x8/x8 switching with a PLX chip. The list of Z77 boards that can support 3-way SLI and fit in the case you've chosen is small and all of them are fairly expensive. They can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/dy2o797 and here: http://tinyurl.com/bt3kfxh.
Unless you can increase your budget a few hundred dollars, I would stick with 2-way SLI.
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WithoutWeakness said:
One issue right off the bat. You mention that you want to run the ASUS GTX 660 DCII OC. The GTX 660 only has 1 set of SLI fingers per card, meaning that you can only run a max of 2 cards in SLI. You would need at least a GTX 660 Ti to run 3-way SLI, as the card has 2 sets of fingers and can be run in 3-way SLI. If you meant to type GTX 660 Ti or only plan to run 2 cards, then move on to me next point.For 3-way SLI I would suggest at least a solid, quality 850W unit, if not larger. Something like Corsair's HX850 or AX860(i) would have enough connectors for 3 cards and provide enough for they system and all 3 cards under load. Anything in the 1000W+ sector with at least 6 6-pin or 6+2-pin connectors would do nicely as well, but isn't necessary for the cards you've chosen.
The motherboard you've chosen is a little on the budget side given the other components you've chosen but will still work for 2-way SLI. For 3-way you will need to buy a much more expensive board, as Nvidia SLI requires at least x8 per card in SLI to be enabled across all cards. You would need a board that has at least 3 PCIe 3.0 x16 lanes and can support at least x8/x8/x8 switching with a PLX chip. The list of Z77 boards that can support 3-way SLI and fit in the case you've chosen is small and all of them are fairly expensive. They can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/dy2o797 and here: http://tinyurl.com/bt3kfxh.
Unless you can increase your budget a few hundred dollars, I would stick with 2-way SLI.
we've discussed most of this already
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Paul Raver
May 16, 2013 12:28:21 PM
carowden said:
i guess i'll be the first one to say it, but if youre going to spend all of this money, why not wait juuuust a little longer and see if you can afford 1 gtx 770 (gtx 680) or maybe a couple of 760ti/760 when they arrive? WithoutWeakness said:
One issue right off the bat. You mention that you want to run the ASUS GTX 660 DCII OC. The GTX 660 only has 1 set of SLI fingers per card, meaning that you can only run a max of 2 cards in SLI. You would need at least a GTX 660 Ti to run 3-way SLI, as the card has 2 sets of fingers and can be run in 3-way SLI. If you meant to type GTX 660 Ti or only plan to run 2 cards, then move on to me next point.For 3-way SLI I would suggest at least a solid, quality 850W unit, if not larger. Something like Corsair's HX850 or AX860(i) would have enough connectors for 3 cards and provide enough for they system and all 3 cards under load. Anything in the 1000W+ sector with at least 6 6-pin or 6+2-pin connectors would do nicely as well, but isn't necessary for the cards you've chosen.
The motherboard you've chosen is a little on the budget side given the other components you've chosen but will still work for 2-way SLI. For 3-way you will need to buy a much more expensive board, as Nvidia SLI requires at least x8 per card in SLI to be enabled across all cards. You would need a board that has at least 3 PCIe 3.0 x16 lanes and can support at least x8/x8/x8 switching with a PLX chip. The list of Z77 boards that can support 3-way SLI and fit in the case you've chosen is small and all of them are fairly expensive. They can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/dy2o797 and here: http://tinyurl.com/bt3kfxh.
Unless you can increase your budget a few hundred dollars, I would stick with 2-way SLI.
Not sure if a GTX 7** is worth it, there gonna be some what pricey since there a new release.
We covered the 2 way SLI/3 Way SLI part and the opinion is that it is not worth the hassle, and not much of a performance increase, you are right though
So i will need a 650/750 high end PSU, and Corsair is the only proper suggested PSU at my current vendor.
But in terms of Mobo's what would you get? take into account i need 2 x PCIe 3.0 slots and a PCI 2.1 slot for the sound card.
I do not want to cheap out but i also do not have a intel K chip, so OC is limited on my i7 3770.
So in terms of a proper Z77 mobo for 2 way SLi, what are my options and get a good solid mobo?
And my budget is 600 EUROS so 774.96 DOLLARS perhaps some more if i sell the old components.
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WithoutWeakness
May 16, 2013 12:28:44 PM
carowden said:
WithoutWeakness said:
One issue right off the bat. You mention that you want to run the ASUS GTX 660 DCII OC. The GTX 660 only has 1 set of SLI fingers per card, meaning that you can only run a max of 2 cards in SLI. You would need at least a GTX 660 Ti to run 3-way SLI, as the card has 2 sets of fingers and can be run in 3-way SLI. If you meant to type GTX 660 Ti or only plan to run 2 cards, then move on to me next point.For 3-way SLI I would suggest at least a solid, quality 850W unit, if not larger. Something like Corsair's HX850 or AX860(i) would have enough connectors for 3 cards and provide enough for they system and all 3 cards under load. Anything in the 1000W+ sector with at least 6 6-pin or 6+2-pin connectors would do nicely as well, but isn't necessary for the cards you've chosen.
The motherboard you've chosen is a little on the budget side given the other components you've chosen but will still work for 2-way SLI. For 3-way you will need to buy a much more expensive board, as Nvidia SLI requires at least x8 per card in SLI to be enabled across all cards. You would need a board that has at least 3 PCIe 3.0 x16 lanes and can support at least x8/x8/x8 switching with a PLX chip. The list of Z77 boards that can support 3-way SLI and fit in the case you've chosen is small and all of them are fairly expensive. They can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/dy2o797 and here: http://tinyurl.com/bt3kfxh.
Unless you can increase your budget a few hundred dollars, I would stick with 2-way SLI.
we've discussed most of this already
Yeah I had the tab open for a while and then came back and wrote the reply without refreshing the page. It still stands I suppose but the advice given so far has been solid as well.
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Paul Raver said:
But in terms of Mobo's what would you get? take into account i need 2 x PCIe 3.0 slots and a PCI 2.1 slot for the sound card.
I do not want to cheap out but i also do not have a intel K chip, so OC is limited on my i7 3770.
So in terms of a proper Z77 mobo for 2 way SLi, what are my options and get a good solid mobo?
And my budget is 600 EUROS so 774.96 DOLLARS perhaps some more if i sell the old components.
A Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H or an ASRock Z77 Extreme4 can both stand despite the fact that you won't overclock. I don't know many good H77 boards.
600 euros for what? Not all for a motherboard right?
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Paul Raver
May 16, 2013 12:39:14 PM
ksham said:
Paul Raver said:
But in terms of Mobo's what would you get? take into account i need 2 x PCIe 3.0 slots and a PCI 2.1 slot for the sound card.
I do not want to cheap out but i also do not have a intel K chip, so OC is limited on my i7 3770.
So in terms of a proper Z77 mobo for 2 way SLi, what are my options and get a good solid mobo?
And my budget is 600 EUROS so 774.96 DOLLARS perhaps some more if i sell the old components.
A Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H or an ASRock Z77 Extreme4 can both stand despite the fact that you won't overclock. I don't know many good H77 boards.
600 euros for what? Not all for a motherboard right?
600 euros for mobo, PSU and 1 GPU card, if possible i want to explore the option of selling my old mobo/psu and 2 GPU's and get 2 better GPU's + Mobo + PSU.
But that depends on the outcome i need to ask i can trade in at my current vendor, i think it is possible but need to make sure.
Gigabyte/ASRock/MSI and ASUS are mobo i currently can obtain at my current vendor.
I go with ASUS but i will not turn down good advice on a good mobo from a different brand.
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Are these vendors okay? If not, could you link me to some that you have access to?
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LK ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£101.89 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card (£343.30 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£89.98 @ Dabs)
Total: £535.17
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LK ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£101.89 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card (£343.30 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£89.98 @ Dabs)
Total: £535.17
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
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Paul Raver
May 16, 2013 1:05:19 PM
ksham said:
Are these vendors okay? If not, could you link me to some that you have access to?PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LK ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£101.89 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card (£343.30 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£89.98 @ Dabs)
Total: £535.17
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
ASUS P9Z77-V LK was my initial pick as mobo, was mentioned it was a bit budget with the parts i have want to get, hence me asking what i could get instead of the P9Z77 taken into account i need 2 x PCIe 3.0 slots and 1 x PCE 2.1 slot for the sound card.
Asrock Z77 Extreme4 or MSI Z77 MPower was also mentioned as a good solid 2 way SLI mobo.
PSU i got the Corsair TX 650WATT Modular(2 way SLI taken into account)
And GPU probably end up getting another GTX 660 DCII OC or perhaps 2 x ASUS GTX 660 Ti DCII OC.
Depending on the sales of my components i need to replace/sell.
I want and need PhysX so i must use a NVidia GPU, unless i use hacked drivers for Hybrid PhysX.
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Grun214
June 10, 2013 7:06:13 PM
Paul Raver said:
carowden said:
you can only do 2 way sli with gtx 660sSo basically the people at who make these components are slacking of and deny me the fun of going 3 way SLI?
What does go 3 way SLI?
Corsair TX : Corsair TX 650WATT Modular or Corsair TX 750WATT?
According to the Geforce website you can link 3 for 3x SLI.
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Grun214 said:
Paul Raver said:
carowden said:
you can only do 2 way sli with gtx 660sSo basically the people at who make these components are slacking of and deny me the fun of going 3 way SLI?
What does go 3 way SLI?
Corsair TX : Corsair TX 650WATT Modular or Corsair TX 750WATT?
According to the Geforce website you can link 3 for 3x SLI.
this thread is a month old, but the 660 is only 2 way sli capable. 660ti is 3 way capable though
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