Double graphic cards (GTX 890 series) worthwhile?

[[VR] Deggial]

First of all: I am more or less a hardware-noob. Please forgive any silly question. Having said this, my case:

My compouter is 5 years old. It was quite a nice rig for its time (Motherboard: ATX - iH57; CPU: i7 875K / 2.93 GHz; GeForce GTX460; 8 MB Ram) and I would have loved to use it for another year or two.
Unfortunately, it doesn't match the minimal system requirements for the Oculus Rift - and VR is an experience I want most definitely! (I used shutter glasses many years ago on my CRT display and I loved it!)
I highly doubt that the mainboard will be able to support modern graphic cards (as the GTX 980 series) and recently, there seemed to be some wired hardware-issues anyway. Hence - sooner or later - a new computer is necessary.

The question is: how much to spend?
I decided to chose a graphic card better then the minimal requirements for the OR, so I plan to buy a rig with a GTX 980 series graphic card ('Ti' or 'overclocked' or whichever). But decision-making it doesn't stop here...

There is this internet store, providing really nice gaming PCs.
Unfortunately, there is quite a big price range involved.
The more "normal" setups come with one graphic card for the "reasonable" price of about 1800.-€.
But there is more fancy stuff, too, charging 2600.-€ for a setup with TWO of these beasts!

The question is: Is the benefit of having two high end cards instead of only one really worth the hefty price tag?
Does the OR run smoothly with what you got in your PCs?
Is it necessary to lower the graphic settings to use the Rift with "only" one GTX 980?

(My concerns are not only the price difference, which I would be willing to pay for my hobby. But the GTX 980 seems to be really power-hungry and having two of them does bother me somehow... electricity-bill wise and ecologically, too. So, I probaly wouldn't want them, if the benefits aren't really overwhelming...)

I hope, the answer for this is not already burried somewhere in this long VR forum.
Thank you for every answer and description of your own experiences!

See you (soon^TM) in the virtual reality,
Deggial/CMDR Auzawandilaz

 

[Beavis Tingleball]

should be.. I game on 2 gtx670's in SLi..works fine for me.

 

[Olmis Aremja]

I'd go for the 980ti, and just 1 would suffice as it's a very powerful card. However, if you are not buying it for the DK2 and you're waiting for the consumer rift, then I'd wait until nearer that time (next year) before buying anything

 

[[VR] Deggial]

Thank you for the tips, Beavis and Olmis!

Yep, I've read some tests and the 980ti got really good ratings. It is quite a bit more expensive than the 'overclocked' variante, though - but definitely cheaper than two overclocked cards!
(I did write in my OP that I wouldn'd mind spending lots of money for my hobby. However - while I would indeed be willing to do so - I haven't money to burn neither and if a more affordable solution would be sufficient, I wouldn't mind to save the cash and have a nice dinner with it...)

I definitely plan to wait until next year if possible, hoping for a price reduction of the existing hardware due to next-gen equipment. However, my computer recently started to do awkward things and I don't know, if I have the time left.... I still hope so!

 

[SlackR]

If you aren't planning on using VR today then DONT build a rig for tomorrow... Wait until q1 next year when You will have the options of more powerful / cheaper.

 

[Cmdr_Halfmead]

Seeing the price that particular company charges...I'd say buy the parts yourself and assemble (or get a geek friend to help out), that way you could get 980ti/EVGA 980 Hybrid AND a nice 6 core I7 5820k+ CPU/MB/DDR4 ram and be future proof for Win10/dx12.1 for same price. And if you purely game, the 4790K cpu is ofc enough (and it is cheaper in MB/DDR3 ram also )

You are not likely to see any significant drops in prices for a while i think.

Bottom line, you'll save lots of money assembling yourself, and 1 980 / 980ti is more than enough for a start lol

 

[Beavis Tingleball]

as another poster stated, you really cant go wrong with a Ti.. they are beastly GPU's and given the performance of my two "tiny" cards, A single 980 Ti would out-perform my rig by leaps and bounds. If you must buy now, buy the Ti.

 

[[VR] Deggial]

@ Cmdr_Halfmea: Unfortunately, I am lacking both: personal skills (see above: hardware noob) and friends - not in general, but with correspondent abilities...
However, my current computer was assembled by a small company and I was quite happy with their service. What I might do is writing up all desired components and asking for an estimate of costs. They might be cheaper.
Regarding the price drop: I am afraid you are right. So, I don't hang my hopes high... and if I'll be able to make a better deal nevertheless, I'll be pleasantly surprised!

@ all: I am convinced! I'll get a single card only. Everything else would be an overkill.
I guess, it might indeed be the 980ti. (I didn't rule out the 'overclocked' variante, though. The price difference is still remarkable.)

Thanky you all for your good advise!

 

[Darrett]

I would wait. I've been really tempted to upgrade (Not really looking for VR at the moment, I'm getting a Delan Clip for head tracking but I'm fine with a monitor), but there's not a particular reason to do so at the moment. I'd wait as long as you can and save some money. For me, it'll likely be an upgrade for Fallout 4 which will be built to handle the eventual upgrade to a Rift when the consumer version is out.... to give you an idea though, a good PC with dual 970 video cards runs me about 1400 Euro, assuming you have a monitor and peripherals already set.

 

[drkaii]

Pascal is claimed to be 10 times faster than Maxwell, and it's coming out roughly in conjunction with the rift consumer, I couldn't imagine spending large amounts of money on a graphics card right now

 

[L@neWolf]

All indications are that Pascal will be well worth waiting for, though I personally wouldn't expect gaming versions until 2nd/3rd quarter 2016, and if history is to provide any hints, we won't see third party cards until Sept, and then only in limited numbers until Oct\Nov 2016 as the supply chain ramps up. Regardless, the future is looking good. BTW: ATI will be launching HBM1 cards shortly (Fiji), while Nvidia will be skipping HBM1 and moving directly to HBM2 next year. ATI will most likely follow with HBM2 as well shortly thereafter. HMB being a new memory process, most likely maxing at 16Gb for us gamers, though up to 32Gb is supported by the architecture.

 

[Thoemse]

If you go dual GPU for elite go nvidia.
I own two AMD radeon R9 290's and while they are incredible fast in most games (and with elite non VR) they do not work with elite using VR.
With crossfire enabled the FPS tank way below 75 FPS while i get 75 with one card with the right settings.

If you need a new GPU right now you should buy a highend GPU now (980 Ti or Fury X) and add another later. Don't buy two cheaper ones.

 

[bloom691]

If you go dual GPU for elite go nvidia.
I own two AMD radeon R9 290's and while they are incredible fast in most games (and with elite non VR) they do not work with elite using VR.
With crossfire enabled the FPS tank way below 75 FPS while i get 75 with one card with the right settings.

If you need a new GPU right now you should buy a highend GPU now (980 Ti or Fury X) and add another later. Don't buy two cheaper ones.

My Situation - I am thinking of dual 980ti, but it sounds like I may still see stutter. The bottleneck may not be the GPU, so going SLI is not guaranteed to help. Does anyone have experience with this?

 

[Thoemse]

My Situation - I am thinking of dual 980ti, but it sounds like I may still see stutter. The bottleneck may not be the GPU, so going SLI is not guaranteed to help. Does anyone have experience with this?

Dual 980ti will allow you to up the supersampling. It will not fix supercruise judder however because it is a gameengine problem.