Best Graphics Card or SLI for 800$

aces19

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What is the best graphics card, or SLI combination of graphics cards for 800$ or so? Keep in mind it has to beat my current choice, the Zotac 980 ti amp extreme edition (680$).

Thanks, answer away ;)
 
Solution
It would appear his preliminary choice is the Zotac 980 Ti but before pulling the trigger, OP wants to consider other options.

Twin 970s is about 20% faster than a 980 Ti when both are overclocked "bawlz to the wall". To do the 970s tho you will need to bump the PSU size up from a 650 to a 750 watter. In many cases, At "out of the box" settings, the advantage is a bit wider because nVidia has artificially capped the performance so as not to have it too close to the 980. The 980n Ti is a great overclocker with all of the major non-reference designs getting 26 to 31% OCs. The 980 Ti has a max temp of 92C and throttling kicks in at 85C giving you a nice 7C cushion.

The 970 which has a max time of 98C, you would expect it to start...

aces19

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Sorry if I was unclear: I don't already have the card, I am now expanding my budget though. The best card I have researched was the zotac, and again, I am expanding my budget. (went from i7 to i5 cpu)

Oops, I accidently clicked the vote down button on your solution. Sorry.
 

doubletake

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Hate to break it to you, but the only one trolling here is you. Your comprehension failed you hard. He was quite clear in that a 980Ti was his current CHOICE, not his current card.

OP, there honestly isn't much better than a 980Ti at the moment. The only SLI config that would fit that budget would be 2x 970s, and that really isn't any better than a 980Ti in most games unless you absolutely prefer higher FPS over potentially higher quality settings due to more usable VRAM (3.5 vs 6GB).
 
It would appear his preliminary choice is the Zotac 980 Ti but before pulling the trigger, OP wants to consider other options.

Twin 970s is about 20% faster than a 980 Ti when both are overclocked "bawlz to the wall". To do the 970s tho you will need to bump the PSU size up from a 650 to a 750 watter. In many cases, At "out of the box" settings, the advantage is a bit wider because nVidia has artificially capped the performance so as not to have it too close to the 980. The 980n Ti is a great overclocker with all of the major non-reference designs getting 26 to 31% OCs. The 980 Ti has a max temp of 92C and throttling kicks in at 85C giving you a nice 7C cushion.

The 970 which has a max time of 98C, you would expect it to start throttling about 90C leaving a 8C cushion ... but nVidia set it to start throttling at just 80C and a totally overboard 18C cushion.

Most of the builds of late we have been involved in of late have been 970s with 1 card (1080p), 970s in SLI (1440p) or 980 Tis with 2 cards (1440p or 3440 x 1440). As has been shown time after time after time, again and again, VRAM is a non issue below 4k resolution.

http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/213069-is-4gb-of-vram-enough-amds-fury-x-faces-off-with-nvidias-gtx-980-ti-titan-x

Every test site that has tries to "create" a problem with the 970 's 4GB has had a very hard time trying to do so.

http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/middle-earth-shadow-of-mordor-geforce-gtx-970-vram-stress-test.html
 
Solution

iamacow

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zotac makes crap, I don't know where you heard that they are the best. I would say EVGA is the best company because after all you have to base it off of customer services too. If the card dies, who will pick up the bill? If its in warranty EVGA will take the card no questions asked and give you a newer card.

If you are talking about out of the box performance, the 980 Ti is limited to around 1500mhz~ core clock so it doesn't matter what card you have unless your going LN2 or Water cooling.

Lastly, you can buy 2 used 980 Ti on ebay for $500 each, or 3x 980s for $1000. I personally have bought 4 980s at different times for $350-400 each.