(06-11-2015, 01:16 AM)JackNaylorPE Wrote: The main interest for me personally is it adds another dimension to card selection. Tho it seems nVidia is working to discourage the practice, two lesser cards in SLI has been a more attractive purchase than the top card.
(2) 560 Ti's beat the 680 by 40% while being $100 less
(2) 650 Ti's beat the 680 for less money
The mid level cards then were slowed down a bit and nVidia made it less cost effective
(2) 770's was faster than the 780 / 780 Ti
(2) 970s is faster than the 980 / 980 Ti and cheaper at least while the game promos was going on and you could sell off the 2nd game coupons
But today I see peeps arguing against the 980 Ti cause 6 GB is not enough at 4k. Personally, I don't think any card or pair of cards is adequate at 4k and I'm not really interested until the AAA games can all do 60 fps at 144 Hz. For whatever reason, the ability of a game to use more than X GB is somehow inferred as meaning there is an observable impact if it has less than X GB.
This was confirmed in the article here with the Max Payne test and in the Guru 3D article which concluded
"What is interesting to see is that the 4GB version utilized over 3GB memory here, the 2GB version obviously can only utilize 2GB. That has no effect on FPS or game rendering experience whatsoever though."
However, the GamersNexus thing does introduce a significant new wrinkle, tho game specific..... the effect seems to be very similar the RAM Speed / CAS ..... some games it means nothing ..... most games it's marginal .... and some games it can mean 10+% better performance.
Very interesting post,
I don't think you will have a single issue with the 980ti and 6gb. You really can't listen to the gibberish people say. Most people don't think for themselves and just repeat whatever BS they have been fed. Obviously, you are capable of independent thinking and can put things together for yourself.
I don't know why you brought up the 980ti. It doesn't fit in your two lesser card pattern. I highly doubt that 6gb on the 980ti will ever be a big drawback. That is not to say that that the titanX can never have an advantage, it may in some cases. But it won't be anything deal breaking, if it even is measurable. Right now, aftermarket 980ti models are blasting right past the 12gb titanX in 4k games running at their stock settings right out of the box. These cards aren't held down by temps so they boost higher and stay there. The 6gb isn't an issue today, I don't expect it ever will be.
I am confused by two things in your post. The first, I will just address it and you can correct me if I am wrong. When you say that nvidia is working to discourage, are you talking about the gtx960? It is pretty weak, sure. But the 960 is awfully petite all by itself. Two together, on that tiny bus.......there isn't much hope there.
I am not so sure that nvidia is trying to discourage mid level GPU SLI or if it is just a byproduct of them capitalizing on this situation. See, the gm206 is the half of the mid level maxwell. It is half of the gm204. The gm200 is like triple a gm206.
I still think SLI 970 would be a pretty potent setup. Not sure how it does against a 980ti.
We need to wait one more generation to see if this is a pattern or just how things turned out this round.
The second thing.....
Now this one has me scratching my head. What do you mean by 60fps at 144hz?