Graphics (SLI 780s to a single 980) - Now a discussion on the Acer XB270HU

Evening all

I'm contemplating a switch around of my current setup from SLI 780 SC's to a single EVGA 980 hybrid card mostly because of the reduction in heat and noise with the summer months coming up and partly in the reduction in power draw. My question is do you think I would notice too much of a difference in performance. I currently game on a U2713HM (1440p 60Hz) and am 100% aware of the fact that with most games (basically any game with a SLI profile) the 780's would be more powerful but noticeably so?

Thanks in advance

GK

 

I think you'd maybe notice the difference (just by looking at reviews, not experience), looks like a single 980 might not manage 60fps all the time at max eye candy on some games, I'm guessing the SLI 780's smash that all the time.

 

Your frame time deltas will be improved across the board, as will some minimums, but average and max framerates will be noticeably lower in most cases with the 980.

I'm on my phone at the moment but iirc you can compare these on Anandtech's GPU14 bench.

 

you will save a bit of power and will lose some heat

 

You'll end up losing some FPS but your minimum might improve.

On the other hand you do get an Extra 1GB of VRAM. But in all honesty outside of heat savings SLI 780s are perfectly adequate.

 

They do pretty much - some games even give them a run for their money at 1440p but not many.

You can indeed and I hadn't seen that before - good shout chap Here's the comparisons - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1063?vs=1351 - it would appear that in some games there'd be about a 15% drop in average frame rates and more than that in others. For some games (without a SLI profile) there's obviously a large improvement. The frame time deltas are massively better as you said.

Very true - it's mostly the heat savings that I'm after though as my little room here gets fairly hot in the summer anyway and that's before dumping 70-80°C air x 2 gpus into it...

 

I can vouch for the Titan-cooled 980 being a pussycat in terms of heat production

I was expecting it but it still surprised me.

 

If you do go for the 980 it would be cool to see some before and after frame time benchmarks. If you're that way inclined.

 

I could do... Anyone else got any thoughts?

 

Wait for the 980Ti and you'll get the best of both worlds?

 

Realistically your 780's are going to be somewhere around a clocked Titan X in terms of raw FPS performance.

Quite a FPS drop but the 980 will be better in scenarios where SLI doesn't scale and will obviously have better frametimes.

Honestly though a well clocked 780 (1200/7000 - so basically a 780TI) will be nudging up against a 980 anyway. Absolute FPS will be lower but not by enough to be really noticable (where one is playable the other will be too and vice versa).

I would hold off until at least the 390(X) & 980TI are launched before moving back to a single card.

 

Bugger it - I've decided to stick with what I've got, at least in terms of GPU power. I'm quite tempted by this Acer Predator XB270HU to replace my U2713HM though...

 

FWIW I'd be staying with the pair that you have for now

New monitor instead to 'scratch the itch'?

 

I've got the Asus PG278Q and a pair of 780ti's - so a very similar setup.

The G-sync is an amazing innovation and has made FPS gaming so much more enjoyable.

I'm able to run BF4 at frames constantly around the 143 mark with everything set on ultra. It's amazingly smooth and really makes the 'feel' when playing much more enjoyable.

In a moment of weakness (under the influence) my mate talked me in to getting Hardline. I assumed that this would run just as well as BF4 but sadly not. On ultra this only runs around 70fps. I've had to turn the settings down to High in order to keep the frame rates up (I really cannot stand playing below 100fps - makes me feel sick)

Not sure if it's the game being badly optimized or if I'm running out of Vram. Hopefully tonight I will get chance to look further into this to see what is causing the low framerates.

 

I've also been looking at that screen but am swayed by the IPS panel on the Acer even though it's more money. I've read / heard that gsync is amazing although I've not seen it in the flesh.

 

I did look at the Acer too, but decided on the Asus for 2 reasons.
1) It was in stock
2) I would prefer the panel on the Acer, but to be honest, I sit infront of the screen and game on it 90% of the time. Colour reproduction isn't that important to me and screen angles / light bleed don't bother me. What matters to me is FPS as low fps makes me feel sea-sick. I love this monitor. In some strange, wierd, far off dimension, I am having it's babies.

I had heard about G-Sync, but to be honest I thought it was just another gimmick. I only bought this screen as I wanted 2560x1440 with a refresh rate of 144hz. As my current GPU's are NVidia I went for a monitor with G-Sync.
I have to say that I was stunned by the performance of G-Sync. For the first time I could play BF4 for a couple of hours at a time without any sickness or dizzyness. It is just sooo smooth. For me, it's the best innovation in years and years.

If colour reproduction matters to you then it's probably worth the extra for the Acer panel. Not having seen it though, I can't really comment on it.

 

I spoke with Scan today and they should be in stock today or tomorrow - I do enjoy photo editing and so I would prefer a screen with better colour reproduction... I've not read the best things about Acer in the past to be honest but TFT Central gives this screen a glowing review which I guess is appeasing my worries a little...

 

It does look ace, doesn't it. My problem is I have been spoiled with Dell IPS displays over the last few years, and I, like you, am worried that most 'other' displays won't be as good. I am very tempted by g-sync though.

I'll just keep telling myself that 60Hz is plenty. That'll do, right?

 

I've was thinking along similar lines as I have 2 x 780's as well. After doing some research I decided it's not worth it yet; maybe the next gen GPU's will be the turning point but as it stands I'll be sticking with SLI.

 

28" Dell 4k for not much money

http://www.nrgit.biz/product/dell-2...n-ultra-hd-28-inch-monitor.html?c=2308&p=2306