GTX 1080 TI sli setup. Asking those still running sli.

[Tomgang]

I am in the middle of an pc upgrade and right now i looking in to what i shut do about gpu.

As of now i have a gtx 1080 ti in my system and i am tipping back and forth for what ever to get a second used gtx 1080 ti and run sli, sell gtx 1080 ti and get a rtx 2080 ti or just keep my gtx 1080 ti for now. Main reason to upgrade is i cut use some more gpu power in 4K in some game.

I'm not a rokie when it come to sli as i have had severel sli setups before. I am mainly seeking other personal exsperience with sli in 2019. Has sli become a shadow of it's former glory or has it still games supporting sli to this day?

 

[harm9963]

I feel you ,1080 Ti here , coming from a 290x CFX , 470GTX SLI, going to wait a year.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

I personally wouldn't waste my time. SLI just isn't as big or worth it as it was years ago. And I've xfired and sli'd and now I'm back to using single cards. No microstutter, sync issues between cards or the driver problems

 

[Tomgang]

I feel you ,1080 Ti here , coming from a 290x CFX , 470GTX SLI, going to wait a year.

As said i have had severel sli setups that would be gtx 285 3 way sli, gtx 570 sli, gtx 660 ti sli and gtx 970 sli. Gtx 1080 ti i the first single gpu setup i have run since like 2009 and up til gtx 970 it has worked well for me, but now i have not been on sli for over two years since gtx 970. So i am well aware of pro and cons about sli.

It's just i miss to play with sli again and now gtx 1080 ti on the use marked has drop to a price i can better a ford and is cheaper and faster than rtx 2080 ti when sli scale well.

Getting a Rtx 2080 ti would still be a exspensive upgrade even when i sell gtx 1080 ti and only bring 30-35 % performance gain for over 50 % the price andc rtx 2080 none sli is not worfh replace for gtx 1080 ti.

So its one of these solution's. Sli, go rtx or keep it as it is.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Keep it as it is unless you really feel the need to have Raytracing or struggle playing games at your current resolution

 

[Tomgang]

I personally wouldn't waste my time. SLI just isn't as big or worth it as it was years ago. And I've xfired and sli'd and now I'm back to using single cards. No microstutter, sync issues between cards or the driver problems

Driver problems with sli whas not so bad up til gtx 970 sli as i remember it, butt you are right about stutter, thatwhas a thing that cut happen with sli.

 

[Toothless]

Don't do it. Just wait for the bigger cards to upgrade. I had GTX780 SLI and that was a mess, and SLI has less support now then it did then.

 

[Tomgang]

Keep it as it is unless you really feel the need to have Raytracing

I dont need ray-tracing at all. Upgrade is for purely to get more raw power for 4k

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Well if the money is burning a hole in your wallet then go ahead go the 2080ti

 

[Tomgang]

Don't do it. Just wait for the bigger cards to upgrade. I had GTX780 SLI and that was a mess, and SLI has less support now then it did then.

Hmm it just funny as the latest sli i ran with gtx 970 sli ran relative trouble free and i only dropped it because i after some time began to run out of vram.

Well if the money is burning a hole in your wallet then go ahead go the 2080ti

Its not burning a hole. Sli just seens to be a cheaper upgrade over a single rtx 2080 ti for 4k.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Hmm it just funny as the latest sli i ran with gtx 970 sli ran relative trouble free and i only dropped it because i after some time began to run out of vram.



Its not burning a hole. Sli just seens to be a cheaper upgrade over a single rtx 2080 ti for 4k.

Then buy the 1080ti and call it a day. You seem to really want it anyway

 

[advanced3]

You will be disappointed dropping another $500 on a 1080ti only to find out 90% of your games will run better on one GPU. I would either go 2080ti or nothing.

 

[ToxicTaZ]

I have a 2080 NVlink 16GB setup!

It's backwards compatible with SLI everything, to get it SLI in games working properly takes a lot of tweaks.

I use a program call Nvidia Profile Inspector v3.50 then do alot of online research on which SLI profile works best for each game you play.

Yes SLI is quite abit faster for sure once it's working.

I wish games would use the new NVlink instead of old SLI technology because NVlink can use all available VRAM!... NVlink 16GB vs 8GB SLI also NVlink bandwidth advtages.... NVlink 50GBs vs 1GB/s SLI if anyone is interested in NVlink tech.

Cooling two 2080 on AIR is a bit of an issue because there's no room for them to breathe properly. Planing on getting my expensive EK GPUs Waterblocks upgrade to my existing Loop to fix this...

Original plan was to get one 2080Ti but I got two 2080 for the same price as one 2080Ti....

Now just waiting for my new monitor to take advantage of my 2080 NVlink setup.

If you're wondering what monitor it's the "ROG SWIFT PG35VQ"

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Those cards are way too close together.

 

[johnspack]

Most older games will benefit from sli. I used it for years. Only reason I'm not now is 2 980tis would take out my psu. 2 1080tis on the other hand.....
If you can get it cheap enough and you have a good psu, it won't hurt to try.

 

[neatfeatguy]

Those cards are way too close together.

I'd agree. I can stick my two 980Ti AMP! Omega cards in SLI, but they're so close, the top card chokes and throttles. Top card temp maxes out while the second card hangs out around 55C. I moved away from the SLI setup and just use a single card. Works well for me. So I stuck the second card in the HTPC so the kids can game off the TV

Perhaps I might give SLI with the two cards another go now that I have a different case and the MB mounts parallel with the ground and not perpendicular......but, that sounds like more work than I want to deal with anytime soon....pulling the AIO cooler out, GPU out, removing the MB and then connect two more PCIE power cables to the PSU, then re-installing everything. I'm not that bored right now.

 

[johnspack]

Dam, now I want to find a 2nd 980ti and a bigger psu to try this... 1000w should do it.

 

[Tomgang]

Then buy the 1080ti and call it a day. You seem to really want it anyway

I will not lie, yes i do want sli again but not at any cost. I mean if sli has become a bug full exsperience with nearly no games to support sli any more. It would not be worfh it.

I have a 2080 NVlink 16GB setup!

It's backwards compatible with SLI everything, to get it SLI in games working properly takes a lot of tweaks.

I use a program call Nvidia Profile Inspector v3.50 then do alot of online research on which SLI profile works best for each game you play.

Yes SLI is quite abit faster for sure once it's working.

I wish games would use the new NVlink instead of old SLI technology because NVlink can use all available VRAM!... NVlink 16GB vs 8GB SLI also NVlink bandwidth advtages.... NVlink 50GBs vs 1GB/s SLI if anyone is interested in NVlink tech.

Cooling two 2080 on AIR is a bit of an issue because there's no room for them to breathe properly. Planing on getting my expensive EK GPUs Waterblocks upgrade to my existing Loop to fix this...

Original plan was to get one 2080Ti but I got two 2080 for the same price as one 2080Ti....

Now just waiting for my new monitor to take advantage of my 2080 NVlink setup.

If you're wondering what monitor it's the "ROG SWIFT PG35VQ" View attachment 126786View attachment 126787

Pascal uses the high brandwith or HB sli brigde and not the old sli bridges.

Those cards are way to close cramped. How you run sli there shut only be done with water cooling or blower style cards.

I al ways ran my cards with space between them and heat whas not a problem and i also use a old but great ventilated case (antec twelve hundred). Last year i upgraded all stock case fans with corsair ml 120 fans so airflow is fully ready for sli.

Old system where i ran sli with space between cards. sorry messy cables.

My current system with some ghetto mods.

http://imgur.com/a/NLahrg9

The new motherboard i'm getting has one slot space between the two top pcie ports (asus rog crosshair viii hero) so cards not being strangle.

Most older games will benefit from sli. I used it for years. Only reason I'm not now is 2 980tis would take out my psu. 2 1080tis on the other hand.....
If you can get it cheap enough and you have a good psu, it won't hurt to try.

My current psu has 1500 watt of power delivery, but it's 10 years old so i will replace it for safety with a new 1200 watt psu, so psu is ready for sli.

 

[ToxicTaZ]

Those cards are way too close together.

Yes I know...it's a sweatbox

This is what I'm upgrading my 2080 NVlink setup cooling solutions...

EK-Vector RTX 2080 RGB - Nickel + Plexi

The EK-Vector RTX 2080 RGB - Nickel + Plexi high-performance water block is specially designed for multiple NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX Turing based graphics cards. The water block itself uses the signature EK single slot slim look, and it covers the entire PCB length. This sophisticated cooling...

www.ekwb.com

That's what happens using stock 2.5 slots passive air cooling. Can't move because of standard 3 slots NVlink setup. NVlink is solid and expensive I forgot to mention.

Just if anyone is interested the new Nvidia 2070 Super supports NVlink.... With 1080Ti and Radeon 7 performance. Way cheaper alternative solution entry level NVlink.

 

[Deleted member 178884]

If you go for a second 1080ti I've been tempted myself lol, ideally you'll want to get both cards on water, I'd take a look at the alphacool gpx waterblocks (i got one for my ftw3 for just £45). I'd look over ALL the games you own and play most, research and see if sli support is there, in my case most of my titles support sli other than the odd few I don't play much anyways such as Just cause 3. In terms of a single card scaling better it doesn't hurt for a single reboot to disable sli to play those games that scale negatively.

 

[Melvis]

Im still running GTX 970s in SLi and I have no issues at all, very happy with it honestly, if you got the money just get a 2080Ti or maybe spend that coin on a Platform upgrade first since your on a 10yr old machine?

 

[Deleted member 178884]

Im still running GTX 970s in SLi and I have no issues at all, very happy with it honestly, if you got the money just get a 2080Ti or maybe spend that coin on a Platform upgrade first since your on a 10yr old machine?

At 4k, he's undoubtedly going to run into GPU bottlenecks, the 980x is still a solid CPU I presume he's moving to the 3950x on launch as said in another thread.

 

[trog100]

i ran 970 sli.. 980ti sli and 1070 sli.. i now run a single 2080ti..

other than the two 980ti cards running a bit toasty i never had problems..

trog

 

[Xx__Just_The_Tip_UwU__xX]

It depends on what you're doing with it tbh. If you're playing games that are bad with SLI, don't bother. If they're good with SLI, go for it.

 

[Tomgang]

If you go for a second 1080ti I've been tempted myself lol, ideally you'll want to get both cards on water, I'd take a look at the alphacool gpx waterblocks (i got one for my ftw3 for just £45). I'd look over ALL the games you own and play most, research and see if sli support is there, in my case most of my titles support sli other than the odd few I don't play much anyways such as Just cause 3. In terms of a single card scaling better it doesn't hurt for a single reboot to disable sli to play those games that scale negatively.

I agreed ideal is water, but i am not a fan of water inside a pc and the maintinence water cooling needs. Air cooling is much easy'er to maintain and i want it easy. Beside just as long there are space between the cards, air cooling has worked just fine for me. My case has pretty good air flow as well.

Im still running GTX 970s in SLi and I have no issues at all, very happy with it honestly, if you got the money just get a 2080Ti or maybe spend that coin on a Platform upgrade first since your on a 10yr old machine?

The same for me, gtx 970 sli worked great for me and if it still does, gtx 1080 ti sli shut work just fine as well. Just what i wanted to here from one that actually still runs sli. About platform, i am planning on to upgrade to a ryzen 3000 setup.

At 4k, he's undoubtedly going to run into GPU bottlenecks, the 980x is still a solid CPU I presume he's moving to the 3950x on launch as said in another thread.

980X has been a great cpu, but it is not powerful enoufh to handle gtx 1080 ti in sli. For that more cpu power is needed. I will not get a 3950X on lauch day. First i will reviews and be sure it dosent have problems like heat and be sure those bios issues there are now is fixed. Also wait a bit so maybe over inflated lauch price can stabalize a bit.

i ran 970 sli.. 980ti sli and 1070 sli.. i now run a single 2080ti..

other than the two 980ti cards running a bit toasty i never had problems..

trog

Good to here. Makes me more sure to go sli again.

It depends on what you're doing with it tbh. If you're playing games that are bad with SLI, don't bother. If they're good with SLI, go for it.

Most games i played before going single card, supported sli like battlefield, crysis, gta and so on. Now i play games like metro exudos, far cry 5/new dawn, battlefield v and so on..maybe i shut lock out about sli support on these games first.