Cant Decide on SLI and Need some help

trevo

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Aug 18, 2014
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I have been looking around the forum today and see a lot of thread that discuss SLI and the draw backs and the benefits Etc. but they all seem to be conflicting. IE one post SLI causes Micro Stutter, another says that's only an issue with 3 way SLI. One thread say SLI will cause massive overheating, others say with 2 thats not really an issue.

Here is my rig
MB - Asus Z87 Plus LGA 1150
CPU - I5 4670k
GPU - Asus GTX-770 DC2OC 2gb
Ram - 8gb G.Skill Ripjaws
PSU - Corsair HX Series 850W
SSD - 250gb Samsung 840 EVO
HD - 1TB Seagate Baracuda
Chassis - Corsair Carbide 300R
Cooler - Arctic Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2

I want to add a second GPU and want to know what issues I may run into knowing what my PC looks like today. Is SLI as unsupported as people seem to say? I mean if its so readily available wont PC Game makers want their games accessed by everyone?

Any advice would be appreciated.
Cheers.
 

Alex Kelly

Honorable
It'll work just fine with your setup! The Asus 770 has no trouble staying cool in SLI, although micro-stutters are common in some games.
A single card solution is always better but considering you already have one 770, adding another is a good option.

If you can sell your 770 and buy a 780ti, that would be a better option. But if you can't be bothered to sell your current card, SLI would work just fine.
Hope I've helped. :)
 
As long as you have good case airflow, cooling shouldn't be an issue. As far as game support, the best thing to do is check specific game websites and forums to see what's officially supported and what actual user experiences have been using SLI with that particular game. Personally, I've never had any issues with stuttering, tearing, etc, but I may not be playing the same games or using the same settings.
 

trevo

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Aug 18, 2014
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Awesome. Thank you. I considered selling the 770 I have now, but meh, Id rather keep it, get a second one, and then wait 3 years to build from scratch again. I was just beginning to fear SLI as I see so many people saying its not a good solution.
Thanks for your advice!

 
PC game makers want the largest possible audience for their games so they can sell more.
They will not willingly require 6-8 core cpu's or dual cards if they can help it.

SLI( or crossfire for amd) requires some code from the game and some code from the graphics driver to work. That support will be there for the most popular games, particularly those that are graphics intensive. Most, but not all.

sli works by combining the output from two different graphics card into one image.
When the cards are not exactly the same speed, there will be tearing on the screen. It will be less noticeable with stronger cards.

My take is to avoid the use of dual cards if you can. Mostly any single monitor will be fine with a strong card.
If you are into triple monitor gaming, or perhaps a 4k monitor, then dual gpu's will be appropriate.

On heat, two cards generate more heat. The top card will usually run hotter because it gets less cooling air. Blower type coolers can help with this. A good motherboard like yours will separate the slots to reduce this problem.

You certainly can add a second GTX770. I might wait for the upcoming GTX880 and see if it might be better to sell your GTX770 in favor of the new card.
 

Alex Kelly

Honorable


No worries at all! If I were you, I'd definitely sell your card and wait for the 880 as suggested above.
Although, it does suck not having a working PC with a GPU for a few days/weeks. So it's up to you.
There are some issues with SLI, but it only gets better with driver updates. It's still a good option. :)
 


I've been running SLi rigs since the 7900GT's and have yet to have all these "issues" that you mention, if a bit of forethought is put into it there is no reason for SLi to be avoided even on a single 1080 monitor.