Need quick advice 480sli/7970

SpringWater

SpringWater

Member
I ordered another 480 for my system, but there were some complications and I won't get the card after all and have to order a different one. My first thought was to find a different 480 but then I realized that 7970s are just $50 more expensive. So my question is, how much pure performance in games (in fps) would I loose by buying a single 7970 instead of 2 480s in sli? Of course I know that I would save a lot of energy, and slow down the process of global warming by not getting 2 480s :D
 
I don't think you'll lose a lot of performance, but regardless, I think the single 7970 is a better option. I think it's usually best to have one powerful single card solution rather than have two weaker cards. Down the line you could add another 7970 if you liked and that blow a 480 SLI setup out of the water. The 7970 is a newer card than the 480 anyway and like you said it consumes less power, so I think even though you may lose a tiny bit of performance, it'd be a better option.
 
Alright I think what I'll do is I will sli my 480 and then a while later I will sell the sli setup (because I most likely won't like it) for about $300 and get a 7970 core edition or r9 280x.

I'll do it cause at the time I don't have enough money to get a $250 video card, but I have the money to get a $150 480.
 
Well the 280X is faster than the core 7970 I think. The 280X is about equal to the 7970 GHz Edition.

See how your SLI setup goes since you have already ordered the card. The biggest thing will be the heat and driver instabilities. If you get the setup and it's not running too hot (480s do run pretty hot as I'm sure you know) and the drivers aren't playing up, then you may as well keep it.

But I think given the choice between a 480 SLI setup and a single 7970 or 280X, it'd be the single card all the way.
 
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