Two 760's SLI or one 780? Not like the other threads.

[pabloottawa]

OK folks here is my dilemma.

I'm looking to run BF4 on ultra with a consistent FPS count over 60 on ONE 120Hz monitor. My specs are high enough on the CPU, power and memory side and currently I'm running 2 560Ti's flawlessly but for BF4 it's bottlenecking at the cards.

My pros and cons for both options are:

760 SLI is powerful! Benchmarked, it consistently scores far better than Titan BUT, they are only 2Gb cards and do not stack in SLI (two 2GB cards DO NOT equal 4GB).

One GTX 780 is not as powerful as 2 760's but it has 3Gb of memory which is ideal for running BF4 and everyone says that this card would be better because I can SLI it later on BUT, these cards are already scarce as it is and I'm not sure I'll be able to get another 780 in a years time.

So given these parameters what would you do?

 

[rolli59]

I would go with the GTX 760's but if the ram worries you then you can go 4GB cards http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-card/#c=142&r=4096&sort=a5

 

[cookybiscuit]

I don't know why everyone has panic attacks over VRAM. If it has better FPS than higher memory cards in benchmarks, what will happen when you get it home and run it and the same res and AA settings?

It will beat the card with higher VRAM, just like in the reviews.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

How much RAM are you seeing used ?

 

[Mousemonkey]

I'm trying to work out why this thread is any different to all the other threads asking the same or similar question.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Yes, we see this at least a dozen times per day and every time I post the link showing no difference between 2 GB and 4 GB, someone posts the BF4 "Recommended 3 GB VRAM". I'm curious if this was just thrown out there off the cuff or if the game actually shows a difference in FPS w/ > 2 GB

http://alienbabeltech.com/main/gtx-770-4gb-vs-2gb-tested/3/

 

[Pete_the_Puma]

You did not mention the most important thing! What resolution are we talking about?

At 1080p?

A single GTX 770 should be enough. I would argue GTX 780 is wasted on a 1080p. In Tomshardware review of the 780 they did not even bother with any benchmarks at 1080p.

At 2560x1440? Then i would argue for a 780 with a second 780 down the road
This option gets my vote as you can now get 2560x1440 displays at around 300$ and they look much better than low def 1080p

 

[pabloottawa]

It's different because there's a lot of people saying "I want if for this or that on 2 monitors and such and such. I'm being a little more specific and I want to keep running it all on just ONE monitor but I'm getting the feeling that most of you are not falling for all the VRAM hype.

If I knew without a doubt that in 6 months to a year the 780's would still be in stock then I'd go 780 for sure.

Another question is; how long do you think 2 760's would last running the latest up and coming games compared to a 780?

 

[cookybiscuit]

It's different because there's a lot of people saying "I want if for this or that on 2 monitors and such and such. I'm being a little more specific and I want to keep running it all on just ONE monitor but I'm getting the feeling that most of you are not falling for all the VRAM hype.

If I knew without a doubt that in 6 months to a year the 780's would still be in stock then I'd go 780 for sure.

Another question is; how long do you think 2 760's would last running the latest up and coming games compared to a 780?

What makes you think the 780 wont be in stock a year from now? You can still buy 500 series cards.

 

[rolli59]

2x760 will last just as long as the 780 on single monitor gaming for the single fact they have more horsepower http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/geforce_gtx_760_sli_review,16.html In any case when the time comes that they become obsolete we will be at least on the second or third generation from here and you will want to upgrade anyway.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

You did not mention the most important thing! What resolution are we talking about?

At 1080p?

Hes talking 120 Hz .... so I took that as pretty much limiting the discussion to resolutions no greater than 1920 x 1080. At least as far as I'm aware, no maunfacturer is offering a 120 Hz panel at 2560 x 1440 as yet. I have seen the Korean "overclockable" IPS ones but that's hardly mainstream and the IPS panels don't do Lightboost.which kills the appeal.

http://www.blurbusters.com/faq/120hz-monitors/

 

[pabloottawa]

It's different because there's a lot of people saying "I want if for this or that on 2 monitors and such and such. I'm being a little more specific and I want to keep running it all on just ONE monitor but I'm getting the feeling that most of you are not falling for all the VRAM hype.

If I knew without a doubt that in 6 months to a year the 780's would still be in stock then I'd go 780 for sure.

Another question is; how long do you think 2 760's would last running the latest up and coming games compared to a 780?

What makes you think the 780 wont be in stock a year from now? You can still buy 500 series cards.

Because the next wave of cards are due to come out soon. All the manufacturers have stopped making them therefore as the price of the 780's drop, what's left of the stock will go quickly. I've seen this before and I doubt that in 6 months time, they will still be around. As for your comments about 500 series cards, that is all OLD STOCK. They are not making them anymore and I dare you to find me a brand new 580 or 590.


Oh yes, I almost forgot... I'm shooting for 1080P

 

[rolli59]

Most likely the 780 is going to be in stock for the next year there certainly is plenty of GTX680 in stock if we look closer. The GTX680 was launched on March 22 second 2012. Normally you see the final older cards disappear from the market between 6-12 months after their replacement is introduced.

 

[I3lood Eagle]

2 760... $500 range better performance
1 780... $650 range less performance/Can be SLI'd in the future
1 R9 290x... $600(speculated)/(fights with the Titan)/(New CFX tech for better Synchronization)
2 R9 280... $600(speculated)/(More than likely better performance than R9 290x)

And no I'm not an AMD or Nvidia fanboy, I just like comparative and price opportunistic fairness.
Hope this helped

Also we need to know your PSU specs... that would be helpful