Hardware & Technical I've got 2 Palit Microsystems NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 (GM204) 4GB GDDR5 (SLI Setup). Should I sell for a single GTX 1080?

mach1ne

mach1ne
I've got 2 Palit Microsystems NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 (GM204) 4GB GDDR5 (SLI Setup). Should I sell for a single GTX 1080?

I'm an Oculus CV1 user and generally only play ED. As SLI is not supported on the rift is it really worth me having this setup? I've been reading on here that some people recommend ditching the cards in favour of a single more powerful card - something like the Asus ROG Strix GeForce STRIX-GTX1080-A8G-GAMING 8 GB GDDR5.

I've currently listed my GTX 970's on ebay ( http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/182354719098?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 ) and was hoping to get a fair price for them and put the money towards my next card, one which I can hopefully find a little cheaper in the Black Friday / Cyber Monday over hyped sales.

So what are the general thoughts on this? Oh and what sort of price would you say a 'fair' price would be for my 970's? Sell as a pair or individually?

Your thoughts are most welcome :)

My Kit -

Oculus Rift CV1 running latest firmware/drivers

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4790 CPU @ 3.60GHz

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Northbridge Intel Haswell rev. 06
Southbridge Intel Z97 rev. 00
Graphic Interface PCI-Express
PCI-E Link Width x8
PCI-E Max Link Width x16
Memory Type DDR3
Memory Size 16 GBytes Corsair Vengeance Blue
 

Jon flint

Jon flint
A single 1080 will comfortably outperform a 970 sli setup, so yes it's probably a good idea to trade up if you can get a 1080 for a sensible price. Dual 970s are a hair faster than a single 1070 so approx 15-20% slower than the 1080.

I remember launch day for the 1080, there were loads available for the Base price of £525, since then the price gouging has been pretty extreme. Hopefully the upcoming launch of the 1080ti will drop prices a bit.
 

mach1ne

mach1ne
Jon flint said:
A single 1080 will comfortably outperform a 970 sli setup, so yes it's probably a good idea to trade up if you can get a 1080 for a sensible price. Dual 970s are a hair faster than a single 1070 so approx 15-20% slower than the 1080.

I remember launch day for the 1080, there were loads available for the Base price of £525, since then the price gouging has been pretty extreme. Hopefully the upcoming launch of the 1080ti will drop prices a bit.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jon...£525 would be a great price, let's see what black friday brings. Read today that Amazon and Argos were caught inflating their prices in the lead up to last years sales and often cheaper deals were to be had a few weeks prior or after the sales...Robbing gits!
 

Chaz

Chaz
Looking at the current second hand prices I'd say expect to get something like £125-£150 per card, perhaps a bit over that if you're lucky. Which should take some of the sting out of the cost of a 1080. Not sure I'd be too keen on that KFA2 card as it uses the reference blower/fan/cooler, unless you're thinking of using your own of course. A lot of the prices though seem to be more around the £600 and up mark for a 1080 at the moment, not much changed than they were on release and if anything a bit more expensive. Even my 980ti is now about £80 more expensive than when I bought it this time last year.
 

mach1ne

mach1ne
Thanks Chaz, no doubt the brexit excuse is used to justify the hike in prices. You mention the reference blower, what is that? Some different way of expelling the heat?
Have you a card that you'd recommend? I don't mind spending, but not for little gains when a slightly cheap one is just as good.
 

Chaz

Chaz
The reference blower is basically the default fan that Nvidia stuck on the cards when they first started producing them. It will be OK and do the job but will not be as good as a cooling solution by one of the 3rd party manufacturers. You can't really overclock with a reference blower and they are generally a bit noisier. The cooler a card can stay the better the performance will be. The reference one is just a single fan blower, where as many of the 3rd party solutions use a 2-3 fan setup with extra sinks etc. That's how they get to provide pre-overclocked cards because they provide a better cooling system.

Since you have already has some Palit cards and had no issue with them then I'd suggest this one as a good cheap option. https://www.overclockers.co.uk/palit-geforce-gtx-1080-gamerock-8192mb-gddr5x-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-03b-pl.html. Although be aware that it will take up 3 slots of space as the sink and fan combo are quite meaty. Price is pretty good too, still under £600.

They do do a non reference fan version of that other card, it's cheaper too. https://www.overclockers.co.uk/kfa2-geforce-gtx-1080-ex-oc-8192mb-gddr5x-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-088-kf.html No idea what it might be like though as I've never heard of that manufacturer.

Myself I usually in the past I've gone for the MSI cards, my current 980ti is one, but they are a bit more expensive, about £100 more than those other two. https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-geforce-gtx-1080-gaming-x-rgb-8192mb-gddr5x-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-323-ms.html Good quality cards and the MSI extras are usually quite good and the fans run quiet. When the card isn't being used they don't run at all.

If I had to pick one out of that bunch on OC though it would be this one. https://www.overclockers.co.uk/gainward-geforce-gtx-1080-phoenix-goes-like-hell-8192mb-gddr5x-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-20a-gw.html Some good clock boosts and only a little bit over £600, best bang for buck there I think.

I'd look around before buying from Overclockers though as they tend to be a bit more pricey than some of the competition. Although having said that I've just had a quick look around and those prices are actually pretty good whilst those discounts last.

So yeah, if you don't mind paying up to £630 I'd go for the Gainward GLH card, and under £600 either that Palit or the non reference fan version of that KFA2 card. My money would be on the Gainward card though.
 

mach1ne

mach1ne
Chaz said:
The reference blower is basically the default fan that Nvidia stuck on the cards when they first started producing them. It will be OK and do the job but will not be as good as a cooling solution by one of the 3rd party manufacturers. You can't really overclock with a reference blower and they are generally a bit noisier. The cooler a card can stay the better the performance will be. The reference one is just a single fan blower, where as many of the 3rd party solutions use a 2-3 fan setup with extra sinks etc. That's how they get to provide pre-overclocked cards because they provide a better cooling system.

Since you have already has some Palit cards and had no issue with them then I'd suggest this one as a good cheap option. https://www.overclockers.co.uk/palit-geforce-gtx-1080-gamerock-8192mb-gddr5x-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-03b-pl.html. Although be aware that it will take up 3 slots of space as the sink and fan combo are quite meaty. Price is pretty good too, still under £600.

They do do a non reference fan version of that other card, it's cheaper too. https://www.overclockers.co.uk/kfa2-geforce-gtx-1080-ex-oc-8192mb-gddr5x-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-088-kf.html No idea what it might be like though as I've never heard of that manufacturer.

Myself I usually in the past I've gone for the MSI cards, my current 980ti is one, but they are a bit more expensive, about £100 more than those other two. https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-geforce-gtx-1080-gaming-x-rgb-8192mb-gddr5x-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-323-ms.html Good quality cards and the MSI extras are usually quite good and the fans run quiet. When the card isn't being used they don't run at all.

If I had to pick one out of that bunch on OC though it would be this one. https://www.overclockers.co.uk/gainward-geforce-gtx-1080-phoenix-goes-like-hell-8192mb-gddr5x-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-20a-gw.html Some good clock boosts and only a little bit over £600, best bang for buck there I think.

I'd look around before buying from Overclockers though as they tend to be a bit more pricey than some of the competition. Although having said that I've just had a quick look around and those prices are actually pretty good whilst those discounts last.

So yeah, if you don't mind paying up to £630 I'd go for the Gainward GLH card, and under £600 either that Palit or the non reference fan version of that KFA2 card. My money would be on the Gainward card though.
Click to expand...

Chaz you are a true gent, thank you for taking the time to explain it all to me and thanks for the recommendations, I'll certainly check them out and post what I went for.
I've been getting bids on my gtx 970's all night £275 already and still 5 days to go! So will hopefully have a good chunk to put towards it.
I think it would be wise to watch how the cards are priced during the Black Friday deals in case they are reduced slightly...fingers crossed.
 

Don_Von_Hulio

Don_Von_Hulio
Yes, the sooner the better due to how tech depreciates.

I thought about doing that with my 780s last year but i never did. Now they are basically worthless.
 

mach1ne

mach1ne
You've got to take the leap sometimes as often you'll find yourself waiting for the next version and end up putting things off time after time. Basically life is too short, if you want and can afford it, then get it. That's how I felt about buying my Oculus Rift...I don't drink, I don't smoke and I work long hours...that's how I justify it :D
 

Chris Simon

Chris Simon
mach1ne said:
You've got to take the leap sometimes as often you'll find yourself waiting for the next version and end up putting things off time after time. Basically life is too short, if you want and can afford it, then get it. That's how I felt about buying my Oculus Rift...I don't drink, I don't smoke and I work long hours...that's how I justify it :D
Click to expand...

The only justification needed for getting something is - "I really want it" ;)
 

mach1ne

mach1ne
looking on my phone at that link, it's in dollars even though it's the uk site and tax not added. Is this uk based so no import tax etc? Never used newegg b4. There is a msi 1080 on there for $654.
 

winterknight

W
mach1ne said:
looking on my phone at that link, it's in dollars even though it's the uk site and tax not added. Is this uk based so no import tax etc? Never used newegg b4. There is a msi 1080 on there for $654.
Click to expand...

Funny, It shows prices in pounds for me, and it says excludes VAT.
 

mach1ne

mach1ne
Chaz said:
The reference blower is basically the default fan that Nvidia stuck on the cards when they first started producing them. It will be OK and do the job but will not be as good as a cooling solution by one of the 3rd party manufacturers. You can't really overclock with a reference blower and they are generally a bit noisier. The cooler a card can stay the better the performance will be. The reference one is just a single fan blower, where as many of the 3rd party solutions use a 2-3 fan setup with extra sinks etc. That's how they get to provide pre-overclocked cards because they provide a better cooling system.

Since you have already has some Palit cards and had no issue with them then I'd suggest this one as a good cheap option. https://www.overclockers.co.uk/palit-geforce-gtx-1080-gamerock-8192mb-gddr5x-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-03b-pl.html. Although be aware that it will take up 3 slots of space as the sink and fan combo are quite meaty. Price is pretty good too, still under £600.

They do do a non reference fan version of that other card, it's cheaper too. https://www.overclockers.co.uk/kfa2-geforce-gtx-1080-ex-oc-8192mb-gddr5x-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-088-kf.html No idea what it might be like though as I've never heard of that manufacturer.

Myself I usually in the past I've gone for the MSI cards, my current 980ti is one, but they are a bit more expensive, about £100 more than those other two. https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-geforce-gtx-1080-gaming-x-rgb-8192mb-gddr5x-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-323-ms.html Good quality cards and the MSI extras are usually quite good and the fans run quiet. When the card isn't being used they don't run at all.

If I had to pick one out of that bunch on OC though it would be this one. https://www.overclockers.co.uk/gainward-geforce-gtx-1080-phoenix-goes-like-hell-8192mb-gddr5x-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-20a-gw.html Some good clock boosts and only a little bit over £600, best bang for buck there I think.

I'd look around before buying from Overclockers though as they tend to be a bit more pricey than some of the competition. Although having said that I've just had a quick look around and those prices are actually pretty good whilst those discounts last.

So yeah, if you don't mind paying up to £630 I'd go for the Gainward GLH card, and under £600 either that Palit or the non reference fan version of that KFA2 card. My money would be on the Gainward card though.
Click to expand...

Hi Chaz, what do you think of these two prices and which one would you go for based on price?

MSI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 GAMING X 8GB GDDR5X Graphics Card - £637
or
Pascal GTX Gainward NVIDIA PCI EXPRESS GRAPHICS CARD 1080 Phoenix GLH 5250 MHz 3668 - £604
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom