i7-7700k with SLI MSI 970 Gaming 4g

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Flakkattack

Flakkattack

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Feb 20, 2013
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So my coworker brought me another 970 today (awesome dude right??) and I am just curious if anyone would see any issues with my current set up. I haven't SLI'd before so I just want to make sure the rest of my system will be ok. Currently my build is:

Phantecks Enthoo Pro Case w/ stock fans
i7-7700k (stock clocks)
Hyper 212 Evo CPU cooler with stock fans (1)
Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI
MSI 970 Gaming GPU (stock clocks)(pending SLI)
16 GB Hyper X Fury Black DDR4
Thermaltake Grand 750w RGB Power Supply
250 SSD and 1 TB 2.5 HDD
Windows 10 Pro Activated
Asus 1080p monitor

I just want to make sure that:
I won't run into power issues, cooling issues (case temp and cpu), bottlenecking, or even if it would be worth running 2 of them. I currently use my rig for mostly gaming and web surfing, but play Playerunknowns Battlegrounds right now just using the one 970, and I seem to be getting 60-70 fps as it is now.
 
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feelinfroggy777
Your system will be fine for SLI. 750 watts should be enough to run the system, especially on stock clocks. SLI is overkill for 1080p, but if you have a high refresh rate monitor, you can take advantage of it.

Just don't expect SLI to work perfectly all the time. Scaling is never 100%, really good scaling is 70%, and typical scaling is 20-30%. Not all games support it, most AAA games do, just maybe not right at release. The games that don't support it are usually indie games that don't require a whole lot of GPU power anyway.
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feelinfroggy777

feelinfroggy777

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Dec 13, 2016
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Your system will be fine for SLI. 750 watts should be enough to run the system, especially on stock clocks. SLI is overkill for 1080p, but if you have a high refresh rate monitor, you can take advantage of it.

Just don't expect SLI to work perfectly all the time. Scaling is never 100%, really good scaling is 70%, and typical scaling is 20-30%. Not all games support it, most AAA games do, just maybe not right at release. The games that don't support it are usually indie games that don't require a whole lot of GPU power anyway.
 
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Solution
photonboy

photonboy

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Jun 20, 2006
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POWER:
Worst-case is about 500W (2x200 + 1x100) but probably it's closer to 300W to 400W depending on how well SLI works, GPU load etc.

*So no issue there.

**Keep in mind many games may work better WITHOUT SLI as you may not even need a higher FPS but it might causes stuttering. I don't know how to enable or disable SLI on a per-game basis though.

Batman Arkham Knight has heavy PhysX but no SLI support so the best way to play it (and probably Arkham City, Origins, Asylum) is to have the 2nd card dedicated as PhysX.

NOT SURE, but maybe you can just enable SLI per game using NVInspector?

It MAY show up with the following path to apply per game, but I don't see it there as I have only a single card:

NCP-> manage 3d settings-> .. add game-> (change setting)-> SAVE

For the above path I do use that to enable ADAPTIVE VSYNC for some games as it turns VSYNC ON and OFF automatically. It works great for some of the Assassin's Creed games which have big FPS drops every so often so I get screen tear but not sudden STUTTERING.
 
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photonboy

photonboy

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about SLI and CROSSFIRE:

When people talk about this they are almost always referring to the AFR option. There are multiple options under these headings. AFR means Alternate Frame Rendering so:

GPU#1 draws Frame 1, then
GPU#2 draws Frame 2, then
GPU#1 draws Frame 3 etc.

This adds some latency (lag) and can introduce uneven pacing which is perceived as judder/stutter. So it's best you try a game both WITH and WITHOUT to see if the FPS boost (if needed) warrants any smoothness change.

We should see SFR (Split Frame Rendering) which has been used in at least two games become more common in a few years. Multiple GPU's work on each frame rather than one GPU per frame. This reduces latency, scales better in theory, and also can use more video memory as AFR has the same data on each card but SFR can split up the tasks so 4+4GB = 8GB (not 4GB like AFR would be).

Long story short is you need to EXPERIMENT WITH YOUR GAMES to see what's best and how to implement it. (SLI on/off, 2nd card as PhysX, use NVInspector?)
 
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Flakkattack

Flakkattack

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Feb 20, 2013
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Awesome thank you both! That is exactly what I was wondering, seems that the single 970 might be the best bet as of currently im pushing about 60-70 frames in PUBG on a 1080p monitor. I dont have the funds to run 144 or 4k right now, so I suppose i'll just hang onto it or sell it!
Thanks for taking the time to respond!
 
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feelinfroggy777

feelinfroggy777

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Dec 13, 2016
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When you hook up your 970s, the NCP will give you a new option in the main menu (sorry, I am not on my rig at the moment, so I don't remember exactly what it says). It will be a couple of selections below the manage 3d settings option. From there in you enable SLI or disable SLI, or you can direct the GPU to run PhysX. Remember, you will need the SLI ribbon.

You can choose what games to enable SLI through 3D settings. Nvidia profile inspector is a big help to for profiles. Disabling SLI can be a pain becuase a lot of background process have to be closed first, so that does get old. For example I have to close Corsiar Link and Precision X, disable SLI, then start them back up.

Funny, I just started playing Arkham Knight, fun game, horrible optimization, but I did not try using the GPU to run PhysX. I will give it a shot when I get home. Thanks!
 
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