Should I just get a single GTX 770?

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bingaloman

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I have been debating on whether I should get SLI GTX 760 or a single GTX 770.

I only plan on playing games on one monitor at 1920x1080 resolution and hope to be able to max games coming out in the near future. An SLI setup of GTX 760 would cost me around $500, where a single GTX 770 would cost about $380-400.

Should I just save the extra $100 and buy a single GTX 770?

Thanks!
 
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Here are examples of your #1 (Crysis 3) and #2 (Far Cry 3) worst-case scenario games (below) in terms of a single GTX 770 versus GTX 760's in SLI (assume the 760's in SLI perform like a Titan). If you can live with that performance level, understanding that it's "worst-case" and all other games will run faster, then save some money. You can always keep some in reserve for a year or two later when you can add a second discounted GTX 770 for a nice upgrade. I

On the other hand, if you play Crysis 3 and want full settings at an FPS rate higher than the mid-30's, then get the GTX 760's in SLI.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GTX_770/13.html
crysis3_1920_1080.gif


farcry3_1920_1080.gif
 
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bingaloman

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The only concerns I have about SLI 760 are the temperature concerns and also I read that not all games support SLI, so in some games the other card is wasted I guess.

And by going with a single 770, it will always be utilized.

Is this correct?
 
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Those are not major concerns at all. Here's Guru3D's conclusion and recommendation:

Final Words & Conclusion
As always it is nice to see what kind of number a SLI combo manages to out in terms of framerates. Interesting is that two of these cards are priced roughly 40% lower then say a GeForce GTX Titan, yet you'll hover at roughly the same performance. Fact remains though that SLI is not for everybody. Even yours truly rather would have the fastest single GPU based graphics card over a SLI solution. But fair enough, over time NVIDIA has done a great job, micro-stuttering is a thing of the past and there are hardly any driver issues. And with triple A game titles, NVIDIA will have a driver for you at launch day ensuring your multi-GPU solution is supported.

The Recommendation
If you are going to stick with one monitor then the reality is that with graphics cards so powerful only 2-way SLI is a viable solution (you use the hottest games that are GPU limited).
•Our recommendation as such is simple, with a single monitor setup like 1920x1080/1200 your maximum number of GTX 760 cards should be a maximum of one or just go for a GTX 770 or 780.
•Now, if you have that nice 30" monitor with a 2560x1440 or 2560x1600 resolution, that's where a 2nd card could make the difference alright.

Noise & Heat
Depending on your configuration the temperature target protection of the GeForce GTX 760 will keep these cards at 80 Degrees C. As explained, in a poorly ventilated chassis this can have an effect though, since the temperature is the top priority the cards could clock down a bit once they want to pass that 80 Degrees C target. Noise wise really it's as good as it can be. Up-to two cards you can hear a bit of airflow under full GPU stres and with three cards in the same conditions you'll be able to hear a fair bit of airflow. Nothing rather irritating or annoying though.

I do want to make clear thoughy that custom cooled board partner cards can be much more silent and cool much better as well. This is just a remark on reference design cards.
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/geforce_gtx_760_sli_review,19.html

index.php
 
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Sangeet Khatri

Sangeet Khatri

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Get a single 7970. It performs equal to a 770 and is 100 dollars cheaper right now. So get that one instead. You know.. the performance is almost same and the price difference is quite a lot.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($289.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $289.99
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-08-19 03:06 EDT-0400)

This offers performance on par with the 770 and it is cheaper to crossfire two 7970's in the future rather than spending another 400 dollars for getting another 770.

--> 770(now) + another 770 (in the future) = About 400 (now) + 350 (future price falls) = 750
--> Two 760 SLI (now) = 2 x 260 = 520
--> 7970(now) + Another 7970 (in the future) = 290 (now) + 250 (in the future after new series of cards would be launched very soon) = 540 only.

So in long time terms you are getting more performance from two 7970's rather than spending more for two 760's or getting a 770 now.

So better get a 7970 now and add another later down the road. It would be much more better.

Also with AMD new drivers the crossfire is not on par with SLI, so there are no complaints about Crossfire anymore. So, just get it
 
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You need to check up on your facts regarding Crossfire versus SLI. The 13.8 drivers did not fix everything. They do not help with DirectX 9 games (Skyrim, COD, etc.), OpenGL games (Rage), or multiple monitors/high resolutions. Even in those games where the frame pacing works, it's still not as smooth as SLI.

And finally, the 13.8 drivers do nothing for the age old, on-going problem that AMD has providing proper game profiles. In TechPowerUp's review of the 7990, they had the following comment regarding Crossfire game support:

"However, we've also seen many games that do not scale well, and they make up a significant portion of our tests. Out of eighteen titles, five did not scale, or worse, showed negative scaling. These are not small titles, but big AAA games: Assassin's Creed 3, Batman: Arkham City, F1 2012, StarCraft II, Skyrim, and World of Warcraft. What really surprises me is that this long list is the same as the one we had with our reviews of HD 7990 "New Zealand" implementations by board partners, like the ASUS ROG ARES II and PowerColor Devil 13. So either AMD does not care or can't fix CrossFire support with these games millions of people play."
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7990/31.html

So when an AMD fan comes on a thread where the decision is between a pair of Nvidia options, the AMD fan tends to think that its merely a question of money. The Nvidia fan realizes that there is much more to it, and having a card that runs smoothly with good driver support adds much more overall value.
 
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Sangeet Khatri

Sangeet Khatri

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That review is done using the old drivers and it does not tell the current condition of the 13.8 drivers. The drivers used in that test is 13.5 which is way older than 13.8. So I am talking about new drivers here.

You can see their test configurations here at

4m9BfOq.png


So that review is completely irrelevant on the current "AMD Catalyst 13.8 Drivers"
 
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Sangeet Khatri

Sangeet Khatri

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Okay, I read the newer drivers review (last time it was based on the drivers news) and I came to this conclusion :

1. If you are playing older games with DX9 then there can be some problem. In that case just disable one GPU because they would be able to play without problem even with a GPU because they are old and does not push the GPU enough.

2. If you are playing with single Monitor then you do not need to worry. The DX11 and DX 12 games should be just fine.

3. If you are going multi monitors then go for the 770 SLI instead. But for single monitor the 7990 should be good enough.

And since you wrote that the games that are coming in the future which means you will never play DX9 games as all the newer games would be DX11. So chill.. you should not have no problem with single monitor.
 
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determinologyz

determinologyz

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+1 i would rather have a gpu running smoothly in sli with great drivers then to have half baked crossfire issues and even on single ati cards im not to fond of. Im not saying amd is horrible but they do need work and when people try to explain this the non believers come up with every other reason to spice it up when clearly theres a few issues going on

 
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