SLI for Skyrim, MSI560Ti 448, extra VRam speed for 4-8K textures?

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GeekStacker

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First of all. Hello tomshardware. I am new to forums in general but i hope this is a good and non aggressive first post :)

Ok so heres my setup:
Case: Antec 900 with 200mm fan side panel mod.
Mobo: Gigabyte PH67A-UD3-B3
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500 with Coolermaster Seidon 120V
GPU: MSI GTX 560Ti 448 cores 1.2GB GDDR5 overclocked with Arctic accelero Hybrid II
RAM: DDR3 2x4GB Kingston 1333 MHz
SSD: Kingston SSD now v300 120GB
HDD: 2TB Hitachi
PSU: coolermaster 550 watt 80plus bronze.
Windows 8.1 Pro

I am planning on upgrading:
Motherboard to MSI Z97S SLI Krait Edition
RAM to Kingston HyperX Predator Beast 2 x 8 GB
And adding another MSI 560Ti 448 1.2GB. no watercooling (i know i have to declock primary card then)
1000 or 750 watt PSU to handle the extra card

So now thats in place, I would like to politely ask if this particular SLI setup will increase performance in Skyrim with a buttload of graphics mods like mostly all textures textures 8K-4k. I know that Vram speed and amount is quite important when dealing with textures.

Heres what i am specifically trying to accomplish in skyrim with a sli setup of two 560ti 448s:
Stable fps at around 50-60 at 1680x1050 with 2xAA and x16AF with Ambient Occlusion set to performance because i dont think the difference between performance and quality is that important for AO.

These are the types of mods i am planning to install:
Skyrim 2k (2-8K textures)
Skyrim official texture pack.
SMIMM.
ENB (pretty sure its CPU intensive but not sure)(if it's cpu intensive will my CPU be able to handle SLI)
Realistic water mod (i am pretty sure this is shader related)
ENBoost (will it help with Vram? i am not sure i understood the ENBoost documentation)

I did some research but i am unable to find answers Directly for Vram speed in hz, any increase? maybe i am dumb :( heres the links to the articles i have read about SLI and vram in general:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1868829/sli-increase-vram-usage.html
http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/908471-performance-gain-by-sli/
http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/guides/introduction-to-sli-technology-guide#1
I have also googled for some other sli stuff but it was unfruitful as it gave me no more understanding of sli than the above links. I hope that some of you will be able to explain or point me in the the direction of understanding if SLI increases Vram speed in any way. so far what i have come up with is a big "Maybe it will, Maybe it Won't"
I do know that SLI does not double vram as stated multiple times on the internet.

Currently with just SMIMM, Official skyrim HD textures and a couple of 2k textures (real glacier) i am getting 46-60 fps with 2xAA 16xAF AO=performance AF=Quality

I guess i could always go with a newer card. But i've always wanted a SLI setup and i can get another 560 ti 448 really cheap (90$) and I'm soon upgrading motherboard anyways.

Did i mention how much i'd like a SLI system? :)

Also is this post in the right place?

TL;DR

First post.
Will SLI increase texture "swapping" speed on cards with low vram. Specifically for Skyrim 8K textures.

Thanks :)

- Peter









 
Solution
mapesdhs
It doesn't make the RAM faster. SLI spreads the load across two cards, either by alternate scan line rendering, alternate
frame rendering, or several other options for how to combine the processing power of both GPUs. The same textures are
sent to both cards. What he means about no advantage for high-res textures is simply that in SLI the amount of
VRAM visible to the application is the same. Adding another GPU for SLI does not increase the available VRAM, it will still
be 1280MB. This is why PR material for dual-GPU cards are lies, they all state on the packaging that the VRAM is the
amount from each card added together, but that's now hot SLI/CF work and they shouldn't be allowed to get away
with it (and this sort of query...
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Traciatim

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I think the main problem you will run in to is that the amount of VRAM you need for large texture packs and AA on adds up really quickly. I would think a better option would be is to buy a newer card with 3 or 4GB since with SLI you are still only going to have 1.2GB available, and as soon as you start attempting to use more than what you have your performance will plummet to really low levels.

Though, I'm not up on the specifics of VRAM usage for different texture packs, but I'm sure you can find recommended VRAM amounts online if you search hard enough.

As an example, the 970 can use 3.5GB effectively and is nearly twice as fast as your card and won't have any of the other issues that sometimes pop up in SLI configurations... plus it will use far less power than your single 560ti, let alone 2 of them.

Plus, are you going to see the advantages of crazy high res textures running on a lower res screen anyway? Rather than RAM, a PSU and second 560ti 448 core, why not get a 970 and a decent quality monitor?


 
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G

GeekStacker

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Hello and thanks for answering. You are probably right. I think im going for the 970 or 980 i dont know which is best right now. But does SLI increase "Texture speed" in any way? I understand that low vram is the problem but i just thought that if SLI somehow could increase the speed of the vram then it would be able to exchange the textures faster and then give a performance boost that way. But i guess it just doesn't work that way. About not being able to see the advantages of high res textures what do you mean?
 
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mapesdhs

mapesdhs

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Traciatim is right, 1.2GB is not going to be enough. Read through the Skyrim best-pics thread, lots of discussion on this.

I've benchmarked 560 Tis and 580s (your card is a reduced 570 IIRC, sits just above a normal 560 Ti), the performance in
SLI isn't really going to be that great TBH. You'd be much better off upgrading completely to a 970 or 980, that's what I'd
do (others will mention 290X, etc., which certainly have the speed, but they're too loud and use too much power for my liking).

Ian.

 
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mapesdhs

mapesdhs

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Jan 22, 2007
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It doesn't make the RAM faster. SLI spreads the load across two cards, either by alternate scan line rendering, alternate
frame rendering, or several other options for how to combine the processing power of both GPUs. The same textures are
sent to both cards. What he means about no advantage for high-res textures is simply that in SLI the amount of
VRAM visible to the application is the same. Adding another GPU for SLI does not increase the available VRAM, it will still
be 1280MB. This is why PR material for dual-GPU cards are lies, they all state on the packaging that the VRAM is the
amount from each card added together, but that's now hot SLI/CF work and they shouldn't be allowed to get away
with it (and this sort of query proves that such PR is bad).

Ian.

 
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G

GeekStacker

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Feb 10, 2015
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Thanks i understand now. Im going with a 970 or 980 and will leave my setup as it is until DDR4 becomes standard i think. The skyrim Best pics thread basically has all the mods that i need. Thanks for taking your time to answer this :) ima just google the thing about low res screen and high res textures and mark your answer as solution :)
 
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