nVidia GTX 980 or 770 in SLI?

Sum Yung Ho · Sep 19, 2014

Hi guys,
I'm currently running a EVGA GTX 770 2GB SC ACX edition card with a 4K monitor. I'm deciding to upgrade either a GTX 980 or add another 770 for SLI soon. Also I'm currently using a Thermaltake 750W bronze certified psu. I'm mainly upgrading this to run BF4 in 4K at avg 60fps. Which is better for the money and any performance differences? If I do get another 770, can my 750W psu handle 770 in SLI?

legend001523 · Sep 19, 2014

Well your psu can handle dual 770, but assuming that the 980 is similar to the 780ti, sli 770 is better, but only just, therefore it'd be better to go for a 980, mainly because that gives you the option to sli later on, and not all games support dual gpus so a single card is less hassle, plus the 980 will support dx12 out the box

StintheBeast · Sep 19, 2014

I'm in the same exact situation right now. Will definitely be going with the 980. 4gb of vram in a single card and 3 displayport!! That's awesome.

holyrage · Sep 19, 2014

if u want to run 4K res id go with the GTX 980 Coz of the 4GB of ram but IMHO id wait for AMD R9 390/390X

laviniuc · Sep 19, 2014

legend001523 :

+1

totally agree. it's also a matter of price/what deal you can make. if you can get your local shop to upgrade your old 770 to 980 and pay just the difference it's a good deal. without it's a bit expensive to buy the 980 at its launch price (usually goes down in price a bit after the initial launch) and you're left with the old 770 with nothing for it to do. on the other hand. 770's should be getting cheaper now as the new 900 series comes out. so it depends really on what you can afford and what you're willing to spend

Ellensar · Sep 19, 2014

I would've gone with another 770. They had the best bang for your buck when it comes to sli, definitely surpassing a lone 980. But if you're going to be running a 4K monitor, you'd need at least the 4 GB version. Since this constitutes an upgrade, you might as well get the GTX 980. I'm sure 4GB is the standard with these cards.

MasFBailey · Sep 20, 2014

honestly, id say two 770's, ive got the 4gb version adn havent met a single game that i cant max out. modded skyrim can hit 3.6 gb vram and they still don't lag. only problem is sli is more hassle and hotter temps

AngryGoldfish · Sep 20, 2014

I'm in a similar position except I don't want to run a 4K setup just yet. I may want to upgrade to 2K next year some time when more software is released to better fit the resolution and pixel density, but for now I'm happy with 1080p. I'm either going to buy a second Gigabyte OC 770 in a couple of months, or sell my current 770 before the prices dip too far (I'm hoping to still get €200-220 in a few months time) and pick up a 980 with the money. I've worked it out that, for a dual 770 setup I'd be paying around €635 overall, while for a single 980 setup I'd be paying €665 overall. This price includes buying the 770 back in February for €335, selling it for €200 and then picking up the 980 for €530 or whatever it is going to be.

€335 (original 770 purchase) - €200 (selling the 770) = €135 + €530 (980) = €665

vs.

€335 (original 770) + €300 (770; maybe the price will drop further than this) = €635

Although two 770's might be more powerful, I have zero need for it on a 1080p monitor, and I'd rather a single GPU setup to make sure my AX760 isn't pushed too far too regularly and wear out the transformer. Although I should be able to run two 770's OC with the Corsair AX760, I may not be able to safely add another hard drive, other peripherals like a sound card, two more sticks of RAM, and overclock the CPU. Also, I'll always be limited to its 2GB of RAM and there will be no run for expansion, so when I do want to go 2K late in 2015, I'll have to ditch them both and invest in either a 980 or two 970's.

I think selling my 770 in a few months and buying a 980 at the same time makes the most sense, since I'll have a machine better suited to 2K next year, plus room for expansion. It's more expensive and more hassle, but it'll also save me money on electricity bills and I'll safer about leaving only a couple fo stock fans in the PC since two 770's will output more heat than a single 980, though I'd say I'm being overly cautious there.

kylerjobe · Sep 23, 2014

I also have the 770 2gb SC ACX. I want to play at higher resolutions too, right now 1080p is about as much as it can do on Ultra presets. I think the 2gb of VRAM is the limiting factor. Good news in my situation is that I am still eligible for the EVGA Step up program so I have already applied to trade it for a 970 reference for only 20 bucks.
Hopefully it will benefit the OP a little bit too when I ask all of you what your thoughts are on the 770 SC ACX vs the 970 reference. It's a no-brainer right?

Lascar · Sep 23, 2014

1. do not go with gtx 770 in sli, waste of money. Get a gtx 980. more performance, better power efficiency, better thermals. And way more vram just in case. That is if you didnt own a card.

2. For your scenario, you do not want to waste your 770. So if you already have the PSU to hols an SLI setup go for it. However in this case you have a 750w bronze to run 2x 770 which is definitely not what i recommend.

conclusion: SLI 770 with that PSU, i would not risk it. Which would lead you to buying a good PSU rated at 850w minimum and buying the 770 card. What i would recommend here so that you do not have to break your wallet too much.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127751&cm_re=gtx_770-_-14-127-751-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151102

I do not have much experience with 4k gaming however. but with this you will not be future proof. What you can do is well just take the 980 or wait some more for high end card that should come soon. Your wallet decides

Swede69 · Sep 23, 2014

My 2x 770 SC Acx sli kill the 980 GTX. I would wait till the next process comes out. But yeah I beat tge 980 by 25-30 fps in every game benchmark with my 770 sli.

AngryGoldfish · Sep 23, 2014

Swede69 :

If the 770's are 4GB then fine, but more and more games are going to start demanding 3GB to reach higher resolutions and anti-aliasing. My 2GB 770 is going to start lagging there before anywhere else. Its clock speed is fine and it scales well with a second 770, but I'll always be limited to 2GB. That's why I would recommend against buying a second 770, unless it's really cheap, or if it's a 4GB version.

MasFBailey · Sep 24, 2014

Lascar :

1. do not go with gtx 770 in sli, waste of money. Get a gtx 980. more performance, better power efficiency, better thermals. And way more vram just in case. That is if you didnt own a card.

2. For your scenario, you do not want to waste your 770. So if you already have the PSU to hols an SLI setup go for it. However in this case you have a 750w bronze to run 2x 770 which is definitely not what i recommend.

conclusion: SLI 770 with that PSU, i would not risk it. Which would lead you to buying a good PSU rated at 850w minimum and buying the 770 card. What i would recommend here so that you do not have to break your wallet too much.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127751&cm_re=gtx_770-_-14-127-751-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151102

I do not have much experience with 4k gaming however. but with this you will not be future proof. What you can do is well just take the 980 or wait some more for high end card that should come soon. Your wallet decides

two 770's have a lot more performance than a single 980

AngryGoldfish · Sep 24, 2014

MasFBailey :

Not to be disagreeable, but I haven't seen any benchmarks yet that directly compare a 980 vs 770's in SLI, yet I have seen two 780's in SLI being beaten by a 980. Now, I know that was probably due to driver conflictions and poor support for SLI in that particular test, but that's my point: a single 980 might be more efficient than two 770's in many tasks. For raw performance, sure 770's will be more powerful, but in practical applications a 980 might equal or surpass 770's in SLI, yet with less heat output, less power draw, and room for expansion. I'm not saying all this is 100% true since I haven't seen any benchmarks, but based on what I have seen, I don't think 770's in SLI will be have a lot more performance than a single 980. I think it will depend on the situation.

lookanlearn · Sep 25, 2014

Post us your 770 for our PhysX.

azzazel_99 · Sep 25, 2014

Show me a 980 beating 780's in sli I would love to see that considering the 980 didnt exactly blow the doors off a single 780.

AngryGoldfish · Sep 25, 2014

azzazel_99 :

http://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/1628-nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-game-fps-benchmark-review/Page-3?showall=

Again, bear in mind this was just one reviewers testing, and it was not perfect. It is why benchmarks should be not always be considered definitive. There are too many variables to make outright claims when we're into this kind of territory. SLI is still somewhat finicky, whether people accept it or not, because as you can see, in one test a single 780 beats two, something that should not happen.

azzazel_99 · Sep 25, 2014

1 780 beating 2 in sli makes any test that person did invalid lol. Clearly that's not a proper test so those charts are worthless. That's insane by those standards the 980 would probably beat 2 780ti in sli lol.

Lascar · Sep 29, 2014

MasFBailey :

Lascar :

two 770's have a lot more performance than a single 980

I did explain the scenarios. And if you read his post carefully at last line he asks about his psu. Which is exactly why i explained about his PSU and the sli setup.

AngryGoldfish · Oct 4, 2014

azzazel_99 :

Sorry for the late reply.

That's my point. SLI does not always scale in certain rigs as perfectly as some lead others to believe. For the most part it's a functional, and in fact the only way to reach high rates on higher resolutions, but bottlenecks are really hard to distinguish, and they're more common than people say, in my opinion. It's the same thing with CPU cooler reviews and benchmarks. They're so inconsistent; you can't trust them.

Thomas Zakrajsek · Nov 10, 2014

Ellensar :

Have you ever used SLI? It sucks because a lot of games don't support it well leading to worse performance. I know you wouldn't want to believe it, and neither did we, but for many games we got worse frame rate with two 770s than with a single 770.

azzazel_99 · Nov 11, 2014

I have sli and i can tell you the majority of games out right now support sli. Even for the ones that dont just turn off sli or usually there is a patch or update that comes out to support it. The not being supported argument is just about invalid these days.

ante martic · Dec 19, 2014

I had asus gtx 770 2gb than buy new psu 750w and get another gigabyte gtx 770. before few days sell it for 500 eur and buy for 600 eur g1 gtx 980. overclock it 200 mhz and work it perfect. And I can tell you on unigine benchmark get more fps with gtx 980. I play battlefield 3 at 2560x1080 everything maxed and my fps are about 120 fps like it was on gtx 770 sli. So don't go for other gtx 770 sell one you have and get gtx 980 for future games and upgrades

azzazel_99 · Dec 20, 2014

bf3 is old and doesnt really take a powerful system to run at high fps. My gtx560ti classified ran that game at 90fps + on ultra. Your arguement is invalid sir lol. the 980 is a nice card but for $600 vs another $200-$250 for a 2nd 770 to sli, the 770 is a much better bang for the buck.

ante martic · Dec 20, 2014

azzazel_99 :

yes but at resolution 2560x1080 with gtx 770 sli I get 55 fps at unigine benchmark and now I get 57 fps. and better bang for bucks??? is it?? yes today but if go for longer time it's not. For about two years get another gtx 980 and it will be enough it will be cost about 300-350(maybe more not less) and if you go with gtx 770 sli after two years should againg give 600-700 dollars. and what is better?

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