2xGTX980 vs New GTX Titan X

[leadtools1927]

What's up fellas!

I have a quick question. I'm looking to see which card(s) my money will be best spent on for my octane setup. Two GTX 980's or A single GTX Titan X.

Here are the specs in case you need to compare.

GTX 980
CUDA Cores: 2048
Base Clock: 1266 MHZ Boost Clock: 1367 MHz Memory Clock: 7010 MHz Effective
4096MB GDDR5 Memory
Bit Width: 256 Bit
Memory Speed: 0.28ns Memory Bandwidth: 224.3 GB/s
Price: $559.99

GTX Titan X
CUDA Cores: 3072
12096MB GDDR5 Memory
Base Clock: 1000 MHz
Bit Width: 384 Bit
Price: $999.99

Theoretically yes, two 980's un-SLI'd would be better than an X but I don't know how well octane scales linearly. Therefore, I presume that having the most power on a single card is better? Plus the X has a higher Bit depth.

Which purchase would be more beneficial for my octane setup? The two 980's or the single X?

Any insight would be extremely appreciated as I'm trying to make the purchase as soon as possible.

Thank you!

[juanjgon]

Octane scales near linearly, so two GTX980 should be faster than only one Titan X (3000 vs 4000 cores), but the Titan has 12 GB of GPU RAM and the GTX 980 only 4 GB.

-Juanjo

[rappet]

And X uses less slots then 2x980, so you can add a card in future.

[Rikk The Gaijin]

Your answer is here: http://render.otoy.com/octanebench/resu ... ort_by=avg

1x TITAN X : 127
2x GTX 980 : 191

[leadtools1927]

I appreciate all your responses!

Thank you!

[Hydra]

Octane scales near linearly, so two GTX980 should be faster than only one Titan X (3000 vs 4000 cores), but the Titan has 12 GB of GPU RAM and the GTX 980 only 4 GB.

-Juanjo

Out of Core Textures doesn't hugely impact performance. I just did a render with 8.5 GB of RAM on my GTX 980s.

[leadtools1927]

How true is it that Maxwell cores perform much faster and efficiently than kepler?

I only ask because now I'm presented with another dilemma.

I decided to heed your advice and go with the 2 way 980s, but I just found a sweet deal on two gtx 780 6gb cards for 450 each.

780 6GB specs are:
2304 CUDA Cores (almost 300 more cores per card compared to the 980s)
6GB 384-Bit GDDR5 VRAM.

Should I go with two 780 6gbs? Given than the maxwell architecture is Nvidias newest tech, should I stick with the 980s instead?

Thanks again for the help fellas!

[abstrax]

Just have a look at the OctaneBench results and decide for yourself. That's why we developed it.

[Hydra]

I believe the 780's need more power, and therefore produce more heat. I don't know if that's a concern for you.

Here's two relatively similar comparisons for heat;
http://www.overclockers.com/asus-strix- ... rd-review/
http://www.overclockers.com/asus-strix- ... rd-review/

It looks like 50 to 100 Watts more for a 780 at full tilt.

Another thing to consider is that Octane has Out Of Core Texture support at this time, so memory may not be that critical for you. I didn't notice any impact on my rendering from OOC (rumor is 5%?). I just did a 8.5GB render using my pair of GTX 980's.

[smicha]

I would choose 1x Titan X:

- it takes only one pci-e slot leaving more room for expansion
- draws 2x less power
- produces less heat
- is quieter than 2x980
- has 4x more vram
- will lose less of its value with time
- it performs better at 4K resolution (latest overclock.net results)
- to water-cool it you need one waterblock and no extra sli connectors