Sorry if this is the wrong forum for posting hardware questions, but I don't have a license yet so I can't post in the licensed user forums.
I'm building a new system with a GPU budget of around $1500.
Initially, I was only looking at getting two 980 Tis, but today I came across the Octane benchmarks for running four 970s and the speed increase was considerable (328 for the 4 970s compared to 250 for the 2x 980 Tis)
Liquid Cooling 2 980 Ti cards is going to cost me ~$1460 once you factor in the GPU coolers, etc...
Meanwhile, I can get 4 970 cards liquid cooled for ~$1600. It's a little over my budget, but doable.
Going by the Octane scores alone, I would say the 970s are better. However, this is my first build ever so maybe there's other factors I'm missing??
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
– Coulter
4x Liquid Cooled 970s or 2x Liquid Cooled 980 Tis ??
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Ultimately it dependes on whats important to you. I think most will base their decision on how much VRAM they think they will need against render speed. Considerations I can think of:
2x 980 Ti
Pro
More VRAM
less power consumption (I think), therefore less cooling required.
Room for adding two more cards in the future when they are cheaper (assuming you are using a 4 slot mobo either way)
Cheaper overall
Con
slower rendering
Worse price/performance
4x 970 - pretty much the inverse of the above
pro
faster rendering
better price/performance
con
less VRAM
More expensive
Higher power consumption (more cooling)
No room for expansion (assuming 4 slot mobo)
Slower PCI-E lanes - normally when running 4 cards you are limited to 4x rather than the full 16x (check with your mobo)
2x 980 Ti
Pro
More VRAM
less power consumption (I think), therefore less cooling required.
Room for adding two more cards in the future when they are cheaper (assuming you are using a 4 slot mobo either way)
Cheaper overall
Con
slower rendering
Worse price/performance
4x 970 - pretty much the inverse of the above
pro
faster rendering
better price/performance
con
less VRAM
More expensive
Higher power consumption (more cooling)
No room for expansion (assuming 4 slot mobo)
Slower PCI-E lanes - normally when running 4 cards you are limited to 4x rather than the full 16x (check with your mobo)
Thanks for the advice 01rich01.
The VRAM was a concern of mine, especially since the 970s actually only have 3.5GB available for use. Am I wrong in thinking this isn't as important now that Octane has out-of-core texture rendering?
Also, I'm a little unclear on how Octane uses VRAM. With four 970s my total (usable) VRAM would be 14GBs. Whereas, with the two 980 Tis my total VRAM would be 12GB.
As for PCIe lanes, that won't be an issue. I'm planning on buying the ASUS x99-E WS, which can run 4-Way at x16.
The VRAM was a concern of mine, especially since the 970s actually only have 3.5GB available for use. Am I wrong in thinking this isn't as important now that Octane has out-of-core texture rendering?
Also, I'm a little unclear on how Octane uses VRAM. With four 970s my total (usable) VRAM would be 14GBs. Whereas, with the two 980 Tis my total VRAM would be 12GB.
As for PCIe lanes, that won't be an issue. I'm planning on buying the ASUS x99-E WS, which can run 4-Way at x16.
I havent used out of core memory, so not sure how it works or if theres any kind of performance hit/ limitations. You should check its available for your plugin as well.
As for VRAM, It doesn't add together like system RAM. With 4x 970 you will have a total of 3.5GB VRAM. Likewise with 2x 980ti you will be limited to 6GB total. The amount of VRAM is fixed, regardless of how many cards you have! This is the same for gaming too.
As for VRAM, It doesn't add together like system RAM. With 4x 970 you will have a total of 3.5GB VRAM. Likewise with 2x 980ti you will be limited to 6GB total. The amount of VRAM is fixed, regardless of how many cards you have! This is the same for gaming too.
Well that's a bummer. I suppose the 980 Ti would be a better choice then.As for VRAM, it doesn't t add together like system RAM. With 4x 970 you will have a total of 3.5GB VRAM. Likewise with 2x 980ti you will be limited to 6GB total. The amount of VRAM is fixed, regardless of how many cards you have! This is the same for gaming too.