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Hi Guys

I'm a designer trying to break the mysticism of 3D by pushing myself to learn C4D/Octane render. A quick question to the masses;

I'm going to spring for a 980Ti - which one do you recommend?
I'm ultimately looking for the best balance of price/performance. Currently the EVGA 980 Ti Hybrid is what i'm leaning towards;

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprod ... Av9L8P8HAQ

I currently have a 980 and a 750 Ti. If there is room I will simply add the 980Ti to the system, if not I will remove the 750.
I will study the comparisons in the benchmarks, but can anyone comment on performance of 980 vs 980Ti in practical terms?

Any advice welcomed!

you can compare various Octane results here
https://render.otoy.com/octanebench/results.php

I have both the 980 and 980ti (6, actually). I went with the ti because of memory and it does seem faster (instead of more 980). When I was purchasing my question was whether or not I should get the TITAN or the 980ti and most said to save your money, buy the 980ti. Basically the same performance, but the TITAN had more RAM. I find I fill up the 980 pretty quick but the extra 2GB headroom of the ti is nice just in case. I now use the 980 for display and the ti's for rendering.

980Ti is around 30-40% faster than 980 (if we compare reference models =)

which 980Ti? depends on Your setup..let's say:

for single GPU if You have roomy case with a lot of airflow taking Windforce from Gigabyte or STRIX from ASUS will give You the most performance on air, unless..You go for hybrid models (EVGA hybrid, MSI with Corsair's Caio included) - those hybrid solution are not that much more expensive, but are well worth the price, 'cos apart from slightly better performance You are also getting lower temps & less noise.

However..if You choose to go multi GPU one day, it's much more wise to choose reference PCB, reference cooler (& no backplate!!!) SKU from any brand & upgrade with same restriction in mind. Why? because if You happen to fir let's say 4 GPUs on 4way capable motherboard, then You can slap water blocks & push them further..- if You choose to mix GPUs, this would be much more expensive due to complexity of tube routing =)

so as You see, it really depends on Your case..as with cards: which is better, which is faster? - Think it depends first of all where You're going to drive..ofroad, on track, etc..-then You can start choosing the "right tool to meet the goal' =) Good luck! (drop a line if You would need more assitance)

Thanks Tom

Sorry to dig up this thread. Christmas is coming and i'm feeling like dropping some coins on a GPU.

As i said in the OP, i currently have a 980, and a 750 Ti in the system which rules out the idea of having the waterblock, which I think I will be steering clear of anyways.

I just want to boost my speeds in Octane and see adding a 980Ti as the best pound for pound option I have. I'm thinking that the EVGA Hybrid is the way to go in terms of choice, I believe I have enough space for the card and the cooler. I painstakingly and pointlessly study all the numbers that comes attached to each card, clock speed etc, but with little real understanding as to what this will result in by way of Octane performance. There are cards such as Kingpin that have higher numbers, but for the cost are they worth it?

Does anyone have any comments or experience in an EVGA Hybrid.

Ultimately I'm a Graphic Designer who wants to learn 3D and having Octane really allows me to explore creatively rather than being hindered by render times whilst I learn. Its simple really the quicker I see a result the quicker I can learn and progress. I just want to make sure I pick the best thing available. I'd love to become alot better at this than I currently am, and whilst having an additional GPU is probably overkill for a hobbyist, I see it more of an investment in what/where I want to be.

Any input would be greatly appreciated

A quick heads up, I gor 4x GTX 980ti a few weeks ago so I might aswell share my thoughts.

I got the EVGA Superclocked ones with the nVidia cooler.

If you're going to stack cards up like this, do not get one of those cards that have 2-3 fans on them. They won't breathe enough because the cards are too packed together... I had that problem on my previous setup. For a stack like this, there is no beating the reference nVidia cooler. It sucks air from the front of the card and gets rid of it all at the back. This is great if your case also has a good airflow.

Ofcourse the best option is water cooling but that can be very expensive.

What's also nice is that EVGA offers 2 years extra warranty for an cheap (only 25 euros/card)

Pic:

Thanks for the input dude, sweet that you got 4 980Ti's man, super envious, I bet that runs like a dream.
I've attached pics of my set up, and by shifting the 750Ti to the lowest PCI-E slot and the wireless card to the one that the 750 Ti currently sits in, I think the new 980Ti Hybrid should fit in the free slot beneath the 980 that is in there already, with the AIO fan mounted to the base of the case.

As you say, it might be a rather snug fit.

Alternatively the second option is the 750 Ti goes underneath the 980, which will free up a bit of breathing room for the 980, as the 750 is smaller in length, and the 980Ti can fit in the lowest slot.

My third option is the cast out the 750Ti, whilst it is handy to have as a display card, it might be excessive and space consuming. Especially if my wireless card is forced out.

I'll give you my recommendation, but ofcourse everything is up for debate. Wall of text incoming....

The way I see it, you should keep the 750 Ti to create image in Windows so the other cards can focus on rendering. Windows really doesn't like when you are rendering heavily on the card that is making the UI image, in my experience. I've had issues where I let all 4 cards max out on the rendering and then when I went away to play some Xbox, I came back to find that the UI output for Windows went fully black and unresponsive while the cards remained fully active (fans kept going pretty hard). Now I just set up the UI card in Octane to throttle the render, and then I just put up a movie onscreen while it renders...and it all works great. So basically you will get a little more power if you keep the GTX 750ti while the rendering cards are both going 100% without problems. It's also better to work on that GTX 750ti I think cause it consumes very little power when working in your Windows apps.

I'd put the EVGA Hybrid card on top cause it has a cooler like the nVidia one, so it won't have problems when there is another card right below it. That would be the GTX 750 ti. Then when the 980 is on the bottom, it can benefit from the gap between the card itself and the PSU to breathe

And I'd get rid of the Wireless card... can you use powerline in your house?

Currently I cannot wire the net thru as I don't have an access point. But I'm getting one put in.
I think you're layout makes complete sense, and is likely to be the way I go.

Gonna need a new psu to account for the three cards, but I figured that would be the case.

If I only I had foreseen that octane would be so great, my build last year would've been accounting for extra room and more importantly on board wifi.

Thanks phantom, your input helped!

Hello Phantom,

just a quick question : on your post, you are talking about a EVGA + nvidia cooler
but on the pic, i see Geforce gtx cards?
Can you give me the reference of your cards?
I'm thinking of building a new system and these seems exactly
like what i was looking for
Thanks a lot

Oliv