Upgrade from GTX 690 to GTX 980?

Darkshadw · Sep 23, 2014

Hello again!

I was wondering if it would be a good choice to update from a GTX 690 to a GTX 980. Is it worth the money? Could I run these in SLI? (I don't have much knowledge about Nvidia's SLI, I know AMD doesn't care much about different cards).

Thanks,

Sapphire ~

Alpha3031 · Sep 23, 2014

No, and no, it's more of a side grade. I'd wait till a 990 or similar, you can find a tier list here http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/t/graphics-cards/ , on the last page of the "Best graphics cards for the money [Month] [year]" a worth while upgrade should be 3 tiers up.

rockie_ · Sep 23, 2014

SLI only for cards of the same type . Its not worth the mony going to GTX 980 from GTX 690

Darkshadw · Sep 23, 2014

Alpha3031 :

What do you mean with tiers? Sorry, I'm new to this >:...

Gam3r01 · Sep 23, 2014

You would lose performance depending on resolution: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_980/26.html
You would need to SLI 970s or 980s to be a worthy upgrade. That or wait for the newer Maxwell cards to drop.

Alpha3031 · Sep 23, 2014

Darkshadw :

Go to the "Best Graphics Cards of [month] [year]" (currently September 2014) and go to the last page. you will see a table. Find your card. Go three cells up. That will be a good upgrade. (not that there currently isn't a three tiers up, so no good upgrades)

tianyuyym · Nov 19, 2014

I would say yes. I just upgraded from 690 to 980 because of the Vram bottleneck. When I play games such as Watch Dogs, ACU, Far Cry 4, Vram really became an issue. Gtx 690 only has 2 gb, and many of the modern games require 3gb or more to run at 1080P ultra high. If you like play those kind games, I would suggest you upgrade it. Trust me, it's definitely worth it.

Crazyassdrummerboy · Dec 3, 2014

tianyuyym :

GTX690 has 4gb of Vram... you just "upgraded" for absolutely no reason

The only thing worthy of an upgrade to right now would be the titan and titan black cards, but yeah.. money is an issue there haha

tianyuyym · Dec 3, 2014

Crazyassdrummerboy :

lol。Do research before you say anything. Yes. 690 has two gpu. And each of them have 2gb vram. But sli does not double vram. I wonder if you ever have a 690.

Crazyassdrummerboy · Dec 3, 2014

tianyuyym :

Crazyassdrummerboy :

lol。Do research before you say anything. Yes. 690 has two gpu. And each of them have 2gb vram. But sli does not double vram. I wonder if you ever have a 690.

lol at one point i had 4 of em SLI'd together.. that plus gtx690 out performs all the newer cards still anyway

as other posters have said.. wait for the next 90 card

RobCrezz · Dec 3, 2014

Crazyassdrummerboy :

tianyuyym :

lol at one point i had 4 of em SLI'd together.. that plus gtx690 out performs all the newer cards still anyway

as other posters have said.. wait for the next 90 card

You are just talking bullshit. You cannot SLI 4x 690, and each GPU on the 690 has only 2gb effectively, hence the vram bottleneck at high resolutions.

Stop trolling.

Alpha3031 · Dec 3, 2014

Time for mods to close this thread...

tianyuyym · Dec 3, 2014

Crazyassdrummerboy :

tianyuyym :

lol at one point i had 4 of em SLI'd together.. that plus gtx690 out performs all the newer cards still anyway

as other posters have said.. wait for the next 90 card

And even if you have 4 of them together you still only get 2gb of VRAM. I see you googled that. Not arguing that problem again. But if you do a little more research. You should See that there are so many other 690 users have the same issue when play games such as watch dog, acu, far cry 4 etc (2gb not enough since the game requires 3gb or more).

Automatiic · Dec 3, 2014

Lol Crazyassdrummerboy got schooled.

Alpha3031 · Dec 3, 2014

It's been 3 months since this question has been asked, and the best answer was selected is there really any need to continue posting?

marat2k6 · Jan 28, 2015

GTX 690 outperforms 980 for sure. speaking from experience. since 690 is cheap to get now, i ended up getting a 2nd card making it quad SLI. here my setup if u think im bsing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HbFUfb-tFM

Crash55 · Mar 25, 2015

I just got a 4K monitor and currently have a single GTX690. I would like to wait till next yera to build a new rig. It looks like I should grab a second GTX690 for now instead of buying a new card?

Pc6777 · Mar 25, 2015

the gtx 690 was pretty much the titan card back then imo... a 980 may help a little but not much, get a titan then you will see improvement or sli gtx 970's or 980's...

bystander · Mar 25, 2015

As a 680 SLI user (slightly better than a 690, but pretty much the same), I do run into some new games that make me wish I had a single 980. Yes, 680's have more raw power, but the VRAM is not enough for mod'ed Skyrim, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and other new games like Far Cry 4.

Crash55 · Mar 26, 2015

bystander :

But the question is should I grab a second 690 - so a little less than 4 680's now and get whatever the current flagship is a year from now when I redo the whole system or get a new card now or simply wait and play at lower res for a while?

bystander · Mar 26, 2015

I would not spend more money on 690's. Either wait as is, or start over with 980's.

Crash55 · Mar 26, 2015

Then I guess waiting is my best answer. Two $600 cards is more than I want to part with at present. $300 for a second GTX690 though was possible

Upgrade from GTX 690 to GTX 980?

Honorable

Honorable

Splendid

Honorable

Titan

Honorable

Reputable

Reputable

Reputable

Reputable

Expert

Honorable

Reputable

Reputable

Honorable

Honorable

Distinguished

Honorable

Champion

Distinguished

Champion

Distinguished

Share this page