GTX 760 SLI vs. one GTX 780

[TheCoachChen]

Provide your position, which one you side with and inculde supporting evidence and facts. Thanks! Trying to get 100+ FPS on ultra to enjoy my new 144 Hz. LED panel!
What I have so far
750 Watt 80 Plus Gold Thermaltake
Core i5 4670k
MSI Gaming motherboard
780 is at $500 GTX 760 is at $500
Which way to go?

 

[jnewegger23]

I always recommend the single stronger card as sli doesn't always scale perfectly well. Also, by doing so, when that 780 gets cheaper in a year or so you can sli that. The only caveat to my answer is that for a multi monitor setup the 760s may actually be better but again down the road you can always get that second 780 and that would be even sweeter.
The 760s in sli will definitely bench as well and often times better but that's not why most of us buy these cards; great for bragging rights but not much else.

 

[AimOnly Him]

i will prefer gtx 760 sli over single gtx 780... indeed, gtx 760 sli is considerable more power-hungry, but try to considering the sequence of point here :

for example in this 2014, you buy gtx 760 sli (2*$250 =$500) that allow you to getting more burst of performance compared to gtx 780 ($650) and even you even safe $150... you will need extra money to pay for 750 watt psu and annual electric fee but not by much... but, you can stand with your card for at least 2-3 years over the graphic technology is always growing up... an another way you will get if you go along with gtx 780 that running slower than gtx 760 sli, hence it will be outdate sooner and you will regret it...

 

[caj]

760 sli will no doubt give u a huge performance but generate alot of heat and power plus u need to have the sli profiles of the games else in most cases the gpu end up idle. No1 rule a high end tier will always be preferred over 2 mid gpus unlesss uhave budget issues or if u change gpus every 6months to a year

 

[mingwyo]

Resurrecting an old thread because I'm thinking about the same thing right now. What did you decide?

It seems like the prices have changed a bit too as 2 ASUS or MSI 760s run around $640 (4gb). The 780 however has dropped beneath $500.

My one issue is "future proofing" as it seems like manufacturers don't let you do that. Buying the 780 in preparation for a 2nd 780 in a few years is great in theory, until you can't buy any new-in-box units.

I currently have a Gigabyte 560ti 448 core and am upgrading my rig, and the goal was to just buy a 2nd one to run in SLI. No luck - only used units available.

So that said - the 760 is 4gb and the 780 is 2gb. I know 4gb is overkill today, but wouldn't running 2xSLI 4gb 760 technically be better for the future (i.e. 3 years) since the 780 most likely won't be for sale when it's time for an upgrade? Isn't the 4gb smarter for the future?

I did the following comparisons using Bioshock for FPS reference and 3dMark 11 charts for the points:

GTX 780
Cores/$ = 4.8
FPS/$ = 0.20
Points/$ = 24

GTX 760
Cores/$ = 3.60
FPS/$ = 0.22
Points/$ = 30

GTX 760x2 SLI
Cores/$ = 3.60
FPS/$ = 0.19
Points/$ = 17


Makes me think a single 760 may be the best "deal" of the 3 options...

 

[jnewegger23]

In terms of raw power no but in terms of vram for smoother in game play for high demand scenes, yes...kind of. Tiled resources is to become an available technology with Direct X 12. What this will allow is for users to utilize system ram instead of only dedicated vram to render more detailed textures etc. In addition ddr4 is coming in very large format (ie 16GB sticks for example) and who knows what else it will bring to the table. If programmers and devs utilize these resources they will far surpass the extra 1GB or 2GB extra you get but 4GB of VRAM for the near future will never hurt you of course! Simply stated if you can live with some slight micro stutter at times (which really is pretty negligible) then the 760 4gb in sli is pretty future resistant but not bullet proof; just be aware of the info of what is already in the near future ie end of this year is coming already. Also the 800 series are set to launch this fall/winter so again keep that all in mind but your concept without getting this far ahead is correct for the most part.

 

[mingwyo]

In terms of raw power no but in terms of vram for smoother in game play for high demand scenes, yes...kind of. Tiled resources is to become an available technology with Direct X 12. What this will allow is for users to utilize system ram instead of only dedicated vram to render more detailed textures etc. In addition ddr4 is coming in very large format (ie 16GB sticks for example) and who knows what else it will bring to the table. If programmers and devs utilize these resources they will far surpass the extra 1GB or 2GB extra you get but 4GB of VRAM for the near future will never hurt you of course! Simply stated if you can live with some slight micro stutter at times (which really is pretty negligible) then the 760 4gb in sli is pretty future resistant but not bullet proof; just be aware of the info of what is already in the near future ie end of this year is coming already. Also the 800 series are set to launch this fall/winter so again keep that all in mind but your concept without getting this far ahead is correct for the most part.

The toughest part of building a PC is knowing that something newer/better is just around the corner - in this case I forgot about DDR4. Thanks!

 

[jnewegger23]

"The toughest part of building a PC is knowing that something newer/better is just around the corner - in this case I forgot about DDR4. Thanks!"

Isn't that the truth! I hear you!

 

[TheCoachChen]

I rolled with the GTX 780 mainly because it was cheaper to run in the long term (power bills). Also there is tech that is newer and better just around the corner. I also didn't want to deal with the heat added from SLI. But if I want to deal with that stuff, I could get a second 780, have a boss PC and have that option. But that's only if I get that raise at work.

 

[jnewegger23]

@TheCoachChen Good for you man! That's what I did!