6gb 780 sli upgrading to 4gb 980 sli.

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steven467

steven467

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Hi I'm curious if you guys think it would be a sound upgrade. I can use the evga step up program and basically get the cards for free, the only thing bothering me is the lower VRAM. I play at 4K so VRAM is pretty important, skyrim for example already pushes that 4gb boundary. Though I know the raw performance bump would be nice. Thoughts, concerns, thanks!
 
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geofelt
Skyrim mods do certainly use up lots of vram.
So far as I know, less vram is a performance issue, not a functional issue.
Here is one older test of 2gb vs 4gb:
http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Video-Card-Performance-2GB-vs-4GB-Memory-154/
Performance differences, even at high resolutions are minimal.

The GTX980 cards are intrinsically more powerful, and I would expect that to overcome any differences in vram.

If you plan on using the evga 90 day trade up program, I think the available GTX980 cards will be basic GTX980 versions, not the possible follow on upgrades.
Still, I think I would go for the GTX980 trade in.
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Wolfshadw

Wolfshadw

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[strike]To my knowledge, there are no 6GB video cards. Two 3GB cards in SLI do not combine to 6GB. Video Memory does not stack, so anything using more than 3GB is borrowing memory from your system.[/strike]

That said, if you can use the Step-Up program and get two 4GB GTX980s for an SLI configuration at no cost, I'd say go for it.

-Wolf sends
 
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NBSN

NBSN

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Honestly I would definitely do that. While the performance gains themselves are not really huge like I was hoping...the technical gains are. The HDMI 2.0, better temps, less TDP, etc. Since you are using the Step UP program, that is what actually makes it worth doing in my opinion. Depending on the date that you purchased your current GPUs, and the date that is the last available for you to use the Step Up Program, I would honestly consider waiting til closer to the end date in case they bring out a better GPU that may have more VRAM.

I purchased a GTX 780 Ti SC ACX in December of 2013...and would really like a 980 or better GPU. Since I am just gaming at 1080p ultra right now I plan on just waiting to see if a 990 comes out with the 900 series...otherwise I will probably wait for the 10,000 series or whatever around 2016.
 
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NBSN

NBSN

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There are actually 6 GB cards... here is an example:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487040
 
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Wolfshadw

Wolfshadw

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I did not know that. Thank you!

-Wolf sends
 
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geofelt

geofelt

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Skyrim mods do certainly use up lots of vram.
So far as I know, less vram is a performance issue, not a functional issue.
Here is one older test of 2gb vs 4gb:
http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Video-Card-Performance-2GB-vs-4GB-Memory-154/
Performance differences, even at high resolutions are minimal.

The GTX980 cards are intrinsically more powerful, and I would expect that to overcome any differences in vram.

If you plan on using the evga 90 day trade up program, I think the available GTX980 cards will be basic GTX980 versions, not the possible follow on upgrades.
Still, I think I would go for the GTX980 trade in.
 
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steven467

steven467

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Thanks for the answers guys, I have 36 days to decide tho the step up model is blower style I believe that is better for sli. So you guys have no concerns with 4gb VRAM at 4K for the future?

Edit or the smaller bus and memory through-put. 7ghz 256 bit vs 384. ThankS.
 
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NBSN

NBSN

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No concerns from me. Heck, they were designed for 4K, hence the HDMI 2.0
 
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