How would games be affected by having multiple NVIDIA grapghics cards of different generations in the system?

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Ivan Ivanov

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Hi All

Let me explain what's my situation. Currently I have Two GTX980s in SLI. I'd like to add Two GTX1080Ti, and move the SLI to them, so they would be for gaming. The old 980s will not be in SLI and will be idle when I'm gaming, but I like them in the system because I'd like to try crypto currency mining and also I have some AI research going on. For those reasons I need as powerful a PC as I can get.

Yes I know that those three applications are better served by three different machines, but buying just two GCs is cheaper than buying an entire PC or two, and also I kinda like the idea.

I'm asking because I watched a video about triple SLI and it demonstrated that some AAA games won't even start with the third card present in the system. However, the scenario was not tested where the third card is present but not in SLI with the others.

Also I know for a fact that Far Cry 4 has terrible flickering when played on SLI. And the solution seems to be to REMOVE one of the cards (facepalm). So, even disabling the SLI wouldn't fix the problem.

So is my idea going to work or I'm facing a mountain of problems and instability?

P.S. I know that all four cards would not fit on the motherboard as they are, I'll have to mount water blocks to make them thiner and remove back plates to fit them...
 
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shrapnel_indie

shrapnel_indie

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If you plan on keeping the old cards in, and adding the new cards...

1) Make sure your PSU can deliver the power required.

2) The old cards may need to be dedicated to PhysX and other CUDA based compute functionality... No video functionality. I don't think you could SLI two generations like that, outside of the multi-GPU capability that is implemented with DirectX-12 which the vast majority of games don't take advantage of.

3) It is a ton of work for what little gains you would probably experience.


The 1080Ti is a very capable card that is too much for 1080p, does super well for 2K/1440p, and is Ok to Decent at 4K/UHD, in a single card configuration.
 
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Ivan Ivanov

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Yep, that goes without saying. I currently have a 1000W PSU, I'll change it with more powerful or add an additional one if I have to.


I'm not planning to SLI the two generatios. Only the two 1080Tis will be in SLI. The 980 will not be in SLI at all. (not with each other, not with the 1080s). I don't plant to use them for the gaming part, they'll be for the other heavy computational work. That raises the question how would a game know which of the cards to use and which not? Or the system would just blue screen?


Do you mean little gains for gaming, or little gains over all (for mining and running AIs)?

Thanks.
 
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shrapnel_indie

shrapnel_indie

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I'm not sure, at least to me, that the time involved in modifying the GPU cards to a single-slot water cooled configuration to get three or four GPUs in the case and MoBo slots is worth it. With that said, it's your time and resources, so if its worth it to you... go ahead. I could be underestimating the returns of doing the modification necessary.

There will be gains from just switching to 1080Ti cards from your current 980 cards (Also note that officially NVidia doesn't support 3 or 4-way SLI anymore starting with this generation (10xx) of GPUs.) Your old cards would have to be disabled as far as being graphics cards. TBH I haven't done this before, but there are tutorials out there on the web on how to set up NVidia cards on a PC for non graphics use.
 
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Ivan Ivanov

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Just for the record. I thought that two or more cards are in SLI only when they are connected with an SLI bridge.
But according to what you'er saying, I get the sense that if I have two cards present in the system that's already SLI, is that correct?

Also mounting water block on the cards won't make them single-slot. I'm not planning on desoldering DVI connectors and changing face plates to make the cards true single-slot. The cards would still be two-slot cards. I have the room and MoBo connectivity to fit 4 two-slot cards. The problem with MSI GTX 1080Ti is that it's 2.5-lot and the cards physically wouldn't fit.

Anyway I'm starting to reconsider. Maybe I'll go with the two 1080Tis only. :)
 
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shrapnel_indie

shrapnel_indie

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You got a point about the connectors for monitors.

I think the bridges are only needed now if you want the fastest communication between them. Two 1080Ti cards will be plenty of power for just about any current game that supports SLI (where it works) in 4K even. (Now I wish I remembered if Crysis handled SLI... That game still demands a lot at 4K resolutions.) Those that hate SLI mode will still see a benefit in quality and speed.
 
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