GTX 680 in SLI

[Spyther]

Hey, guys.


I am currently running an Evga standard reference 680 and am getting a stable OC of atleast 1215 GPU clock and quite a bit of memory boost as well. My offsets are 132%, 145/280 stable but haven't tweaked it too hard.

I want to try running 2x 680 in SLI, but am not sure if I should buy another standard-clocked EVGA like I already own, or the SC EVGA due to their being the same price on Amazon. One would assume, if price is equal, go for the super-clocked, however I know SLI/CF configs can be rather touchy at times.

Will I get potentially more instability pairing a stock with a SC? I have read plenty of threads that said I shouldn't, but can you all confirm that? I would be happy getting another stock-clocked card, but now I am a bit confused because people are saying the SC has a different BIOS which might allow for further more stable OC offsets. Is this true as well?? Aka a higher potential ceiling for the voltage-locked 680?

Also, I have read that the 600 series has much more reduced micro-stutter than previous architectures, can anyone personally attest to such a claim?

Thanks for the advice guys! I am very close to buying one or the other, if recommended so I am anxious to learn.

 

[whatismyproblem]

i can tell you that microstuttering is well-controlled on the GTX 680

get the latest drivers

 

[bystander]

I happen to have a factory clocked MSI 680 and an EVGA 680 Signature, which has an factory overclock. I ended up this way because it was months before they were in stock and getting 2 was near impossible. Anyways, it is trickier to deal with overclocks, but the 600 series does have some hardware controls to help limit microstuttering.

I use MSI afterburner as a way to try and keep them at the same clocks. If you don't sync the cards (which doesn't work if their base clocks are different), you can choose different OC's for each card, so they end up to be very close to the same clock. I'm not sure how important it is for them to be the same clocks, but that is what I do.

I have also noticed that the boost tech will often kick in for 1 card and not the other, or at different rates, so I'm not sure it would matter much if they were the same exact factory clocks, as boost will take them to different clocks anyway.

Edit: how did I miss the y's in factory.

 

[Spyther]

You brought up several good points bystander, I'm still just on the fence if I should sacrifice the mild factory overclocked card for the uniformity of two exact cards. The fact that they're literally the same price makes it difficult. The differences in boost clocks makes it interesting and perhaps it would be better to grab the Super-clocked if they're not gonna run at the same speeds anyway.

Anyone else have any good insight before I pull the trigger?

 

[revro]

choose uniformity, my 2 cents

best
revro

 

[whatismyproblem]

get another reference pcb and hope that it will overclock to the same settings

 

[bystander]

I'm not sure which to recommend. I mentioned how the boost tech makes it so they never end up the same anyways, at least when they aren't identical, but I've never noticed microstuttering or any problems as a result anyway.