GTX 970sli vs 1070/Which 1070

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
jaredmykal1

jaredmykal1

Reputable
Sep 16, 2014
107
0
4,710
I know this topic has been covered over and over, but with conflicting responses. I already have a 970 and can get another one for under 200 dollars (they're floating around 170-200 used). Power/heat isn't an issue and I usually play sli-enabled games (battlefield, DOOM, etc.) or indie titles that run just fine on one 970. Should I pickup another 970, or get a new 1070?
Also, if I should get a 1070, which one? The windforce OC seems the be the only one selling at MSRP, but aesthetically it's worse than the G1 IMO.
 
Solution
B
As a note, from someone who has used a few SLI and CF systems until recently, the higher "performance" (higher FPS is a better term), doesn't translate directly to a smoother experience. 70 FPS from a single GPU is smoother, with lower latency than 70 FPS from SLI or CF. You need a fair bit more FPS for the SLI or CF system to feel smoother.

I'd guesstimate it takes about 30% more FPS from SLI/CF to be equal to the smoothness of a single card. V-sync could alter that view some.
Sort by date Sort by votes
jaredmykal1

jaredmykal1

Reputable
Sep 16, 2014
107
0
4,710
Ebay has/had a listing for a new 1070 for $345,far below MSRP, I bought it with insurance and will report back if it isn't a scam.
EDIT: The seller was newegg and the order is legitimate. I presume it is the price they'll list the 1070 for during black Friday/cyber Monday.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
B

bystander

Champion
Dec 9, 2009
15,141
6
57,965
A single 1070 would simply be better, but it will cost you more. The 970 has 3.5Gb of functional VRAM, compared to 8Gb, and newer games are starting to use more than 4Gb. The 1070 will be much quieter too, which is a very nice thing. Latency is a bit higher with SLI, and frame time consistency is lower.

The question to you is whether you want to save money or get a better experience.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
B

bwinzey

Respectable
Jun 26, 2016
353
0
1,960
The main drawback to using the 970 setup is that you'll have a max of 4gb (or 3.5gb as we recently found out) of vram, which may not be enough in some games. The 1070 has 8gb, which is plenty. In benchmarks, at 1080p, the 970 SLI gets an average of 10fps more than the GTX 1070, and at 4K, they stay ahead around 3fps. Personally, I would normally go with the more powerful combo. I've personally never done SLI but I sometimes see people complain about it, but like a lot of other things, people on the internet tend to exaggerate tiny problems. If you are sure that the games you play won't have issues with SLI, and don't want to go through the trouble of selling your current card and buying a 1070, I would just go with the extra 970. If you want a newer card with more memory, much higher efficiency, and no worrying about SLI, I would go with the 1070. As of which 1070 you should get, keep in mind that normally all MSRP-selling same-chip-set cards have very similar overclocking, so I would just go for the cheaper one. The performance loss is minimal, but I would go for the 1070 in case that I wanted to sell the computer or maybe even add another card later on, as older cards are more prone to failure.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
B

bystander

Champion
Dec 9, 2009
15,141
6
57,965
As a note, from someone who has used a few SLI and CF systems until recently, the higher "performance" (higher FPS is a better term), doesn't translate directly to a smoother experience. 70 FPS from a single GPU is smoother, with lower latency than 70 FPS from SLI or CF. You need a fair bit more FPS for the SLI or CF system to feel smoother.

I'd guesstimate it takes about 30% more FPS from SLI/CF to be equal to the smoothness of a single card. V-sync could alter that view some.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom