Will any of these work well in SLI with my Zotac Nvidia 670 AMP Extreme?

Sokonomi · Sep 23, 2015

I currently have a Zotac 670 AMP extreme edition,
and would like to bridge the gap until nvidia starts spitting out Pascals.

[strike]I can buy two cards secondhand in my area;
ASUS GTX 670 DirectCU Mini OC
or
Gigabyte GV-N670OC-2GD[/strike]

Last two options were either already sold or not suitable, but I have another option;
Asus GTX670-DC2-2GD5

Would this match up nicely with what ive got? I realize its clocked slower than the zotac, but according to the SLI FAQ in this sub forum, apparently nvidia doesnt mind different clock speeds? Sadly I can no longer get a hold of another zotac like mine.

George Phillips · Sep 23, 2015

Any of these would work well with your existing Zotac GTX670. When it's SLI, the faster card will run slower to match the the slower card.

faalin · Sep 23, 2015

of the two i would go with the Gigabyte. It has a better overclock and cooler then the Asus card. I would also try and overclock the Gigabyte card to match the Zotac card, if not the Zotac card will slow down to the match the Gigabyte card when in sli.

George Phillips · Sep 23, 2015

That's right, after both cards run at the same speed as the slower card, you may then try to overclock both cards.

Compuser10165 · Sep 23, 2015

I would suggest get the gygabyte(it would be better for OC) if you can't find the zotac. Overclock the second card to match the first one (if you can't reach the neccesary clocks, downloack the first card a bit to match the second). You can also run them at different clocks but the faster card would downclock to match the slowest, so I recommend the first option.

P.S. Before I started to write the answer there was no response to your question, no you have three...

fudgecakes99 · Sep 23, 2015

It looks to me as though the g1 is using a custom pcb which is pretty good, because that means you'll probably get much much better overclocks then the asus card. Coupled with the fact it has 3 fans it'll probably use more power as well.

It almost looks to me as though that asus card is a low power version or maybe ment for an itx build.

Sokonomi · Sep 23, 2015

Hmm well the good news is thanks to you guys I now understand SLI, the slowest of the bunch will dictate clockspeed.
The bad news is the guy with the gigabyte card just messaged me back that it has already been sold.

Another option became available though, but the price is a bit steep (135 euros / 150 dollar).
Its an Asus GTX670-DC2-2GD5

The base clock on that one is awfully low (915MHz vs. 1098MHz) compared to my zotac..
Would that still be worth it?

fudgecakes99 · Sep 23, 2015

No i wouldn't do it, as it is you're only going to get about 1.5x times the performance over a single card. If you add on a what seems to me a low profile card. As the asus the stock clock specs are way lower then the gigabytes, the overall design tells me it's not meant to be pushed past it's stock specs. I think you're better off waiting for a better deal or selling your current card and using the extra cash to get a better card all together.

Sokonomi · Sep 23, 2015

The reason I wanted SLI is because people have been advising me against buying a new videocard now. Apparently it would be a waste because im so late for the 980 boat.

Initially I wanted to spend over 4000 dollars building a new monster gaming PC with a single 980ti that I would later upgrade with a second one in SLI, to brace myself for the imminent virtual reality era, so I could play star citizen maxed out on a HTC Vive VR set. But people told me that was a bad idea, and that I should wait for nvidias new pascal cards instead.

I just wanted to play Fallout 4 on a not-so-shitty PC while I wait. :')

Sokonomi · Sep 23, 2015

Another option presented itself;

Someone is offering a pair of MSI N670GTX-PM2D2GD5/OC
They are 965 / 1045 MHz, 2GB of VRAM, and have been used in SLI together.
The price hes asking is 150 euros for the both of them.
Ive asked him if he would consider selling one of them for 75, but I doubt he'll take it. :')

Would it be an idea to buy those, and then to sell my current zotac card?
I bet I could fetch back a good 125 bucks for my zotac, so it would be a 25 euro switch.

Personally im not a huge fan of those radial fans though, they tend to be a bit noisy.
But since I am gaming with a headset on 90% of the time anyway...

Thoughts?

fudgecakes99 · Sep 23, 2015

Sokonomi :

So you plan on waiting for pascal in 6 months? I just bought my 980 ti about a month or two ago. I don't think theirs a "window" that passed. It's still a fairly new card it released in june this year thats with the reference models i believe. New non-reference models, are still being released. That said. If you keep on waiting for the "next" best thing like i did. You're just going to end up hurting yourself.

New tech comes out almost every half year, no matter how much you invest it's always always going to be outdated. I say go for it. Dual 670's, aren't going to be nearly as good as a single 980 ti. Plus if you buy a 980 ti now, you can sli another in about 2 years and you'll should still be golden for the future. But those are just my two cents. Unless you're really set on pascal chips, which to be honest hbm v1 was a disappointment just look at the fury x.

Sokonomi · Sep 24, 2015

I actually said the same thing when they told me to hold for pascal. "Once pascal comes around, there will be another new next gen to hold out for."

I just want to be ready to max out games like star citizen on the VR headset that will release in Q1 2016. Some seem to question that current tech just isnt there yet.

fudgecakes99 · Sep 24, 2015

No no, i totally agree with you. I've been waiting a long to make the jump gpu and cpu wise. Heck i was even almost about to give in and wait until cannon lake and wait for pascal entirely. But what you have to keep in mind is or at least the trend i've noticed is.

Gpu and cpu manufacturers. Will not give you a "massive" performance increase per cycle. For one the ammount of r&d required would have to be substantial. For two. They would risk alienating out their previous customer base. Heck that's one of the main reasons we're still using x86. That was created in 1976 or 78. It's old incredibly outdated. Their are plenty of alternatives, but companies like intel can't and won't. If we follow trends the next big "pascal" is not going to be anything super special or amazing. It'll probably perform a little better then a 980 ti. I don't see that significant of an fps increase.

We'll see, though. And it's up to you if you want to wait. But that's just how i see things.

Sokonomi · Sep 24, 2015

People are already selling Pascal as not just another step up, but it being a whole new plateau of GPU, much like when we first saw the 64bit CPU's. Not sure if it really deserves that kind of praise though..

All I really wanted was maxing out my future HTC Vive VR headset, which is 2.6K@90FPS, at any game (Star citizen, mainly) that would show up in the next year or two. Currently two 980ti in SLI manage to destroy witcher 3 on ultra in 4K, chugging 90FPS, so a headset at a resolution slightly smaller should have no problem at all. But my question is, will it still be doing that a year from now, or will I be wanting that pascal by then already?

My plan initially was to buy one 980ti now, and once the VR goggles were available, buying another 980ti along with it.

fudgecakes99 · Sep 24, 2015

Well that remains to be seen, i mean hey if you're not in a rush go for it. Wait for pascal. It will most definitely be a better platform the gm200 chips. But i doubt they're going to rush out their "top of the line" chips immediatley. They'll probably wait 6 months for a 970 equivalent. But you obviously want some of their higher end tech so that'll take about a 7-9 moths they'll release a 980. But by then the ti's will be just around the corner. So why not wait a little longer right? Heck i almost passed up my g1 to get the new asus "machined to perfection" ti's which turned out to be a flop, that or i was about to wait for kingpins.

But in all honesty i can't say for sure whether or not hbm v2 will be a god send. hbm v1 wasn't much of an improvement.
If we look at it like water the way i see it is hbm is nothing more then a bigger pipe. Where as gddr5 is a smaller pipe pushing more water faster. It doesn't matter how big the pipe is if their isn't enough "water" going through the pipe. Unless nvidia's going to put out something drastically different. I doubt where going to see massive gains in games.

Sokonomi · Sep 24, 2015

I hate the fact that something better will be out tomorrow, but thats always going to be the case, isnt it.. If you're going to wait for the next best thing, you will be waiting forever.

So heres what I think; I get my fancy new machine and build it up with just one 980ti on aircooling. I enjoy the shit out of Fallout4/madmax/Metalgearsolid on maximum settings for a while. Then when Pascal finally shows up, the VR goggles probably have been released as well and I can probe the first wave of reviews to see what it takes. I can then decide to sell off my 980ti to trade for a pascal card, or I could pick up a second 980ti for cheap and do it that way (adding GPU watercooling after that decision). Viable plan?

fudgecakes99 · Sep 24, 2015

yeah. a sound plan. I doubt 980 ti's will have a "huge" price drop before pascal. So i assume you'll be able to get a really good price for um. Just word to the wise a single 980 ti @ 4k won't cut it.

Sokonomi · Sep 24, 2015

You sure a single one wont cut 4K?
Ive seen tests of Witcher 3 on 980ti in two way SLI, and that was shoveling 90 frames on ultra in 4K.
From what I understand, SLI offers about 50% boost, so that should still mean more or less 60FPS?

fudgecakes99 · Sep 24, 2015

well when i ran metro 2033 at msaa x4 with everything maxed i was getting somewhere in the 40's. mostly. Then again that was before i got my 6700k paired with an old nehalem chip at about 3.2-3.3ghz tops. I can check again, if you'd want a more definitive answer. But yeah thats about what i'd expect 1.5 = 60 from one gpu and 30 from the other. Actually if witcher 3 ever gets a dx12 update. You should see somewhere closer to a pure 2x maybe.

Sokonomi · Sep 24, 2015

Hrmm.. now you got me back on the fence again. :')

fudgecakes99 · Sep 24, 2015

Well i mean, that's just how the api is. Supposedly you can even mix and match a

nvidia card and an amd card together. But i guess that would only work for cards that natively support dx 12 to begin with. Even then i'd wager its more of pairing a 970 with a 980 ti though those would be two completely different chipsets as 970's are gm100 vs 980 ti/ titan x at gm200. So even then i'm a bit skeptical, but when actual chips come out we'll see.

But if you're going to get a 980 ti or titan x their on gm200 and for sure have full dx 12.1 and 12.2 support. So i mean if it's going to be a 1:1 ratio on multiple gpu set ups you're not going to lose anything IF that happens. I mean we still don't even know what the supports going to be. If even recent titles like witcher 3 or mad max or Phantom Pain batman will even get dx 12 support. If it's only from that point forward theirs still a bunch of games that wouldn't have the support. Unless devs add it later. I wonder if they'll add it to metro.

Will any of these work well in SLI with my Zotac Nvidia 670 AMP Extreme?

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