SLI GTX-970, or new GTX 1070

[Namepaladin]

So i'm torn.

My first plan was to sell my 970 on a local classified's website, use the money from that and from savings to buy the new 1070, or even 1080.

But then I thought, "well, if the 1070 is 'essentially' double the performance of the 970, wouldn't getting another 970, and putting that on SLI come close to the performance output, or even exceed that of the 1070?" I'm not looking for exceeding performance that the 1080 would put out (no matter how much more it even puts out compared to the 1070). I'm looking for great performance that wouldn't break my wallet.

Anyways, its an interesting thought I think, and i'm curious to what you think, or know what be the better route, 1070, or 2x 970.

My Build:
Phanteks Enthoo Pro (black w/ window)
GIGABYTE GA-Z170SLI
Intel i7-6700k
G.Skill Ripjaw V 18GB DDR4 (2x8gb) 2400
EVGA GeForce GTX-970 SSC ACX2.0+
Corsair h100i
Corsair RM750
Samsung 850EVO 250gb
WDBlack 500gb

[Kagthul]

But then I thought, "well, if the 1070 is 'essentially' double the performance of the 970, wouldn't getting another 970, and putting that on SLI come close to the performance output, or even exceed that of the 1070?"

No, for several reasons, the first of which being that SLI scaling is never 100%, and another being that in a lot of games, SLI isn't supported at all, meaning in those games you're running one GPU. Also, moving forward in DX12, multi-GPU support has to be implemented in the game by the developers (which is one of the reasons nVidia was restricting SLI to enthusiast level cards going forward) so a lot less games are going to support it at all.

A single, more powerful card is always a better choice.

[Thunderball]

No, for several reasons, the first of which being that SLI scaling is never 100%, and another being that in a lot of games, SLI isn't supported at all, meaning in those games you're running one GPU. Also, moving forward in DX12, multi-GPU support has to be implemented in the game by the developers (which is one of the reasons nVidia was restricting SLI to enthusiast level cards going forward) so a lot less games are going to support it at all.

A single, more powerful card is always a better choice.

Seconded. /10char

[Zephyr Storm]

No, for several reasons, the first of which being that SLI scaling is never 100%, and another being that in a lot of games, SLI isn't supported at all, meaning in those games you're running one GPU. Also, moving forward in DX12, multi-GPU support has to be implemented in the game by the developers (which is one of the reasons nVidia was restricting SLI to enthusiast level cards going forward) so a lot less games are going to support it at all.

A single, more powerful card is always a better choice.

Thirded.....errr.....yeah, thirded.

[Deleted]

Always get the more powerful Single-GPU Card, rather than SLI. I would only go for SLI if you already have the most powerful Single-GPU Card.

[Deleted]

I don't know at what resolution you game, but at 1080p the 1070 is a tiny bit faster than SLI 970.

[Afrospinach]

970 in awkward position of shitty memory configuration and running sli just increases the chances you can have THAT problem if you are going to push more resolution/more details, in case you need another reason to not do this.

[Jtbrig7390]

IMO and someone can correct me if I am wrong.

But a GTX 1070 isn't worth the cost upgrading from a GTX 970. Its $380+ for a 30%-40% boost in performance depending your game.

Like I said I may be wrong but that's how I see it.

As for the topic at hand never SLI if you can get a single card that does what u want it to do. SLI/Cross-fire has shitty support.