• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Best scaling NVidia card

Joined
Dec 27, 2007
Messages
8,518 (1.43/day)
Location
Kansas City
System Name The Dove Box Rev 3.0
Processor i7 8700k @ 4.7GHz
Motherboard Asus Maximus X APEX
Cooling Custom water loop
Memory 16GB 3600 MHz DDR4
Video Card(s) 2x MSI 780 Ti's in SLI
Storage 500GB Samsung 850 PCIe SSD, 4TB
Display(s) 27" Asus 144Hz
Case Enermax Fulmo GT
Audio Device(s) ON BOARD FTW
Power Supply Corsair 1200W
Keyboard Logitech G510
Software Win 10 64x
Can anyone provide evidence on Nvidia's scaling, and details/benchmarks/reviews on the best scaling cards?

From the breif reading I've done the 9600 GT's scale really well. Thoughts on the 2xx series or perhaps detials on the up comming 3xx series?

Thnx TPU :toast:
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2009
Messages
4,012 (0.75/day)
Location
Sarasota, Florida, USA
System Name Awesomesauce 4.3 | Laptop (MSI GE72VR 6RF Apache Pro-023)
Processor Intel Core i7-5820K 4.16GHz 1.28v/3GHz 1.05v uncore | Intel Core i7-6700HQ @ 3.1GHz
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-X99-UD5 WiFi LGA2011-v3| Stock
Cooling Corsair H100i v2 w/ 2x EK Vardar F4-120ER + various 120/140mm case fans | Stock
Memory G.Skill RJ-4 16GB DDR4-2666 CL15 quad channel | 12GB DDR4-2133
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX 1080 Ti Hybrid SC2 11GB @ 2012/5151 boost | NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB +200/+500 + Intel 530
Storage Samsung 840 EVO 500GB + Seagate 3TB 7200RPM + others | Kingston 256GB M.2 SATA + 1TB 7200RPM
Display(s) Acer G257HU 1440p 60Hz AH-IPS 4ms | 17.3" 1920*1080 60Hz wide angle TN notebook panel
Case Fractal Design Define XL R2 | MSI
Audio Device(s) Creative Sound Blaster Z | Realtek with quad stereo speakers and subwoofer
Power Supply Corsair HX850i Platinum | 19.5v 180w Delta brick
Software Windows 10 Pro x64 | Windows 10 Home x64
Honestly, I wouldn't want two small single chip cards if one big single chip card can do the same amount of work. 2 9600GT cards pretty much equal a 9800GTX, without needing to worry about scaling. Also, 2 9800GTX cards would probably be around a 280/285.

Also, the big downfall of multi-GPU systems is micro-stuttering. Since each card in a dual card setup renders every other frame in AFR mode, each card has the possibility of sending its frame at an unequal time i.e. card 1 sends frame 1, card 2 sends frame 2 say 12ms later, and then card 1 sends frame 3 at say 20ms. This causes stutter, because the frames aren't being delivered with equal spacing. Not to say that this is experienced in every game or program, but it certainly happens in some. This is why top-end single chip cards are better than a bunch of tiny chips at this point in time.
 
Last edited:

aCid888*

New Member
Joined
May 19, 2008
Messages
2,754 (0.48/day)
Location
In a state of flux...
Honestly, I wouldn't want two small single chip cards if one big single chip card can do the same amount of work. 2 9600GT cards pretty much equal a 9800GTX, without needing to worry about scaling. Also, 2 9800GTX cards would probably be around a 280/285.

SLi 9600GT's slap a single 9800GTX/GTX+ silly.


If I were looking to SLi two cards it'd be 8800GT's to be honest as they can be had very cheap these days and when you put two together they perform very well.

If not those then a pair of 9800GTX+ as they OC well, run cool and are pretty decent on price to boot. :)


Also, what scales best is down to drivers and game support....I guess the 9600GT's do a good job and following that trend you could say the GSO's do a good job too; other than that I would think scaling is relative to your application.
 

MKmods

Case Mod Guru
Joined
Feb 26, 2008
Messages
5,697 (0.97/day)
Location
Nevada
System Name Crossflow III
Processor AMD 965 (4.04Ghz)
Motherboard Asus Crosshair III
Cooling Air
Memory 4 gigs Mushkin 7-7-7-20@1T
Video Card(s) single 9800GT
Storage Raptor 150's in Raid0
Display(s) LG Flatron 24"
Case Custom
Audio Device(s) AuzenTech X-Raider W/OP637
Power Supply Custom modded Corsair 750HX
Software Win 7 64/Solaris Utility
Benchmark Scores 3DMark06--21963 so far
SLi 9600GT's slap a single 9800GTX/GTX+ silly.


If I were looking to SLi two cards it'd be 8800GT's to be honest as they can be had very cheap these days and when you put two together they perform very well.

If not those then a pair of 9800GTX+ as they OC well, run cool and are pretty decent on price to boot. :)


Also, what scales best is down to drivers and game support....I guess the 9600GT's do a good job and following that trend you could say the GSO's do a good job too; other than that I would think scaling is relative to your application.

+1!!!!
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2009
Messages
4,012 (0.75/day)
Location
Sarasota, Florida, USA
System Name Awesomesauce 4.3 | Laptop (MSI GE72VR 6RF Apache Pro-023)
Processor Intel Core i7-5820K 4.16GHz 1.28v/3GHz 1.05v uncore | Intel Core i7-6700HQ @ 3.1GHz
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-X99-UD5 WiFi LGA2011-v3| Stock
Cooling Corsair H100i v2 w/ 2x EK Vardar F4-120ER + various 120/140mm case fans | Stock
Memory G.Skill RJ-4 16GB DDR4-2666 CL15 quad channel | 12GB DDR4-2133
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX 1080 Ti Hybrid SC2 11GB @ 2012/5151 boost | NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB +200/+500 + Intel 530
Storage Samsung 840 EVO 500GB + Seagate 3TB 7200RPM + others | Kingston 256GB M.2 SATA + 1TB 7200RPM
Display(s) Acer G257HU 1440p 60Hz AH-IPS 4ms | 17.3" 1920*1080 60Hz wide angle TN notebook panel
Case Fractal Design Define XL R2 | MSI
Audio Device(s) Creative Sound Blaster Z | Realtek with quad stereo speakers and subwoofer
Power Supply Corsair HX850i Platinum | 19.5v 180w Delta brick
Software Windows 10 Pro x64 | Windows 10 Home x64
Okay, well if you don't count MIRs at Newegg, a 9600GT is $85.99 and a GTX 260 is 179.99. Maybe I should have said GTX260 vs. 9600GT SLi.
 

MKmods

Case Mod Guru
Joined
Feb 26, 2008
Messages
5,697 (0.97/day)
Location
Nevada
System Name Crossflow III
Processor AMD 965 (4.04Ghz)
Motherboard Asus Crosshair III
Cooling Air
Memory 4 gigs Mushkin 7-7-7-20@1T
Video Card(s) single 9800GT
Storage Raptor 150's in Raid0
Display(s) LG Flatron 24"
Case Custom
Audio Device(s) AuzenTech X-Raider W/OP637
Power Supply Custom modded Corsair 750HX
Software Win 7 64/Solaris Utility
Benchmark Scores 3DMark06--21963 so far
thats closer but the 9600s still beat it. One reason for going 260 over the 9600s is on more than 1920 X 1200 res where the extra memory is needed.

I never went with the 260 and GTX cards because they were so long, But now that I have seen 260 for as low as $120 they are an excellent deal if they will fit
 
Joined
Oct 9, 2009
Messages
716 (0.14/day)
Location
Finland
System Name RGB-PC v2.0
Processor AMD Ryzen 7950X
Motherboard Asus Crosshair X670E Extreme
Cooling Corsair iCUE H150i RGB PRO XT
Memory 4x16GB DDR5-5200 CL36 G.SKILL Trident Z5 NEO RGB
Video Card(s) Asus Strix RTX 2080 Ti
Storage 2x2TB Samsung 980 PRO
Display(s) Acer Nitro XV273K 27" 4K 120Hz (G-SYNC compatible)
Case Lian Li O11 Dynamic EVO
Audio Device(s) Audioquest Dragon Red + Sennheiser HD 650
Power Supply Asus Thor II 1000W + Cablemod ModMesh Pro sleeved cables
Mouse Logitech G500s
Keyboard Corsair K70 RGB with low profile red cherrys
Software Windows 11 Pro 64-bit
You need to be absolutely nuts if you grab a lower end SLi over pretty much similarly priced and performing single GPU.

I have had 5 multi-GPU setups this year alone and woah I am never going to get another one again unless there is no other alternative or AFR is finally replaced with more robust technology.
 

MKmods

Case Mod Guru
Joined
Feb 26, 2008
Messages
5,697 (0.97/day)
Location
Nevada
System Name Crossflow III
Processor AMD 965 (4.04Ghz)
Motherboard Asus Crosshair III
Cooling Air
Memory 4 gigs Mushkin 7-7-7-20@1T
Video Card(s) single 9800GT
Storage Raptor 150's in Raid0
Display(s) LG Flatron 24"
Case Custom
Audio Device(s) AuzenTech X-Raider W/OP637
Power Supply Custom modded Corsair 750HX
Software Win 7 64/Solaris Utility
Benchmark Scores 3DMark06--21963 so far
SLI's maximum benefit is with low to mid cards. It has very little benefit to multiple high end cards
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2009
Messages
4,012 (0.75/day)
Location
Sarasota, Florida, USA
System Name Awesomesauce 4.3 | Laptop (MSI GE72VR 6RF Apache Pro-023)
Processor Intel Core i7-5820K 4.16GHz 1.28v/3GHz 1.05v uncore | Intel Core i7-6700HQ @ 3.1GHz
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-X99-UD5 WiFi LGA2011-v3| Stock
Cooling Corsair H100i v2 w/ 2x EK Vardar F4-120ER + various 120/140mm case fans | Stock
Memory G.Skill RJ-4 16GB DDR4-2666 CL15 quad channel | 12GB DDR4-2133
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX 1080 Ti Hybrid SC2 11GB @ 2012/5151 boost | NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB +200/+500 + Intel 530
Storage Samsung 840 EVO 500GB + Seagate 3TB 7200RPM + others | Kingston 256GB M.2 SATA + 1TB 7200RPM
Display(s) Acer G257HU 1440p 60Hz AH-IPS 4ms | 17.3" 1920*1080 60Hz wide angle TN notebook panel
Case Fractal Design Define XL R2 | MSI
Audio Device(s) Creative Sound Blaster Z | Realtek with quad stereo speakers and subwoofer
Power Supply Corsair HX850i Platinum | 19.5v 180w Delta brick
Software Windows 10 Pro x64 | Windows 10 Home x64
You need to be absolutely nuts if you grab a lower end SLi over pretty much similarly priced and performing single GPU.

I have had 5 multi-GPU setups this year alone and woah I am never going to get another one again unless there is no other alternative or AFR is finally replaced with more robust technology.

I agree. Micro-stutter is horrendous with the 8600GT SLi setup in my laptop.
 

MKmods

Case Mod Guru
Joined
Feb 26, 2008
Messages
5,697 (0.97/day)
Location
Nevada
System Name Crossflow III
Processor AMD 965 (4.04Ghz)
Motherboard Asus Crosshair III
Cooling Air
Memory 4 gigs Mushkin 7-7-7-20@1T
Video Card(s) single 9800GT
Storage Raptor 150's in Raid0
Display(s) LG Flatron 24"
Case Custom
Audio Device(s) AuzenTech X-Raider W/OP637
Power Supply Custom modded Corsair 750HX
Software Win 7 64/Solaris Utility
Benchmark Scores 3DMark06--21963 so far
I have never once seen micro stutter and I have been using SLI since 7600s...
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2009
Messages
4,012 (0.75/day)
Location
Sarasota, Florida, USA
System Name Awesomesauce 4.3 | Laptop (MSI GE72VR 6RF Apache Pro-023)
Processor Intel Core i7-5820K 4.16GHz 1.28v/3GHz 1.05v uncore | Intel Core i7-6700HQ @ 3.1GHz
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-X99-UD5 WiFi LGA2011-v3| Stock
Cooling Corsair H100i v2 w/ 2x EK Vardar F4-120ER + various 120/140mm case fans | Stock
Memory G.Skill RJ-4 16GB DDR4-2666 CL15 quad channel | 12GB DDR4-2133
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX 1080 Ti Hybrid SC2 11GB @ 2012/5151 boost | NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB +200/+500 + Intel 530
Storage Samsung 840 EVO 500GB + Seagate 3TB 7200RPM + others | Kingston 256GB M.2 SATA + 1TB 7200RPM
Display(s) Acer G257HU 1440p 60Hz AH-IPS 4ms | 17.3" 1920*1080 60Hz wide angle TN notebook panel
Case Fractal Design Define XL R2 | MSI
Audio Device(s) Creative Sound Blaster Z | Realtek with quad stereo speakers and subwoofer
Power Supply Corsair HX850i Platinum | 19.5v 180w Delta brick
Software Windows 10 Pro x64 | Windows 10 Home x64
I have never once seen micro stutter and I have been using SLI since 7600s...

You must be lucky then. Google has practically 1.7 million results for this issue.
 

MKmods

Case Mod Guru
Joined
Feb 26, 2008
Messages
5,697 (0.97/day)
Location
Nevada
System Name Crossflow III
Processor AMD 965 (4.04Ghz)
Motherboard Asus Crosshair III
Cooling Air
Memory 4 gigs Mushkin 7-7-7-20@1T
Video Card(s) single 9800GT
Storage Raptor 150's in Raid0
Display(s) LG Flatron 24"
Case Custom
Audio Device(s) AuzenTech X-Raider W/OP637
Power Supply Custom modded Corsair 750HX
Software Win 7 64/Solaris Utility
Benchmark Scores 3DMark06--21963 so far
I would be more interested if I had noticed any bit of it myself or if there was more current probs (newer than a year or 2 ago)
 

{JNT}Raptor

New Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2005
Messages
732 (0.11/day)
Location
NY
System Name Ummmm...Mine
Processor I7 920 @ 4.2ghz @ 1.29v's load
Motherboard ASUS P6T Deluxe V2
Cooling Custom 1/2 inch H20
Memory 3x2gb Patriot Sector 7 @2008Mhz 27-9-11-9 1T
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX 580 SC 900/1800/1090
Storage 1-Mushkin 60gb SSD 1-500GB WD Black and 2-1TB 32mb WD Black
Display(s) 25 inch Hanns-G 2ms
Case Custom
Audio Device(s) Turtle Beach Catalina
Power Supply Corsair AX850 Pro Series-Modular
Software All Kinds...and then some.
Benchmark Scores 3dMark 11 P7066 Compare Link- http://3dmark.com/3dm11/251153
You must be lucky then. Google has practically 1.7 million results for this issue.

Most if not all of those individuals are not using the optimum SLI mode for that particular game.....use Nhancer....get to know the app...you'll love it for any SLI setup....I used it with my 9800GX2 and it rocked......I purposely ran the wrong sli profiles for games....and guess what....micro-stutter.....switched back to the recommended sli profile and viola....no stutter.

Hope it helps. :)
 
Joined
Oct 9, 2009
Messages
716 (0.14/day)
Location
Finland
System Name RGB-PC v2.0
Processor AMD Ryzen 7950X
Motherboard Asus Crosshair X670E Extreme
Cooling Corsair iCUE H150i RGB PRO XT
Memory 4x16GB DDR5-5200 CL36 G.SKILL Trident Z5 NEO RGB
Video Card(s) Asus Strix RTX 2080 Ti
Storage 2x2TB Samsung 980 PRO
Display(s) Acer Nitro XV273K 27" 4K 120Hz (G-SYNC compatible)
Case Lian Li O11 Dynamic EVO
Audio Device(s) Audioquest Dragon Red + Sennheiser HD 650
Power Supply Asus Thor II 1000W + Cablemod ModMesh Pro sleeved cables
Mouse Logitech G500s
Keyboard Corsair K70 RGB with low profile red cherrys
Software Windows 11 Pro 64-bit
Most if not all of those individuals are not using the optimum SLI mode for that particular game.....use Nhancer....get to know the app...you'll love it for any SLI setup....I used it with my 9800GX2 and it rocked......I purposely ran the wrong sli profiles for games....and guess what....micro-stutter.....switched back to the recommended sli profile and viola....no stutter.

Hope it helps. :)
You can change everything game specific from the CP too. Usually when you change the SLi profile to something else than what is the default and recommended one for the game, you get performance issues, rendering issues, CTDs and so on. So no luck.

AMD is even worse in this as you can't change the rendering techique yourself for games, its either single GPU or what ever ATi decided to use.
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2009
Messages
4,012 (0.75/day)
Location
Sarasota, Florida, USA
System Name Awesomesauce 4.3 | Laptop (MSI GE72VR 6RF Apache Pro-023)
Processor Intel Core i7-5820K 4.16GHz 1.28v/3GHz 1.05v uncore | Intel Core i7-6700HQ @ 3.1GHz
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-X99-UD5 WiFi LGA2011-v3| Stock
Cooling Corsair H100i v2 w/ 2x EK Vardar F4-120ER + various 120/140mm case fans | Stock
Memory G.Skill RJ-4 16GB DDR4-2666 CL15 quad channel | 12GB DDR4-2133
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX 1080 Ti Hybrid SC2 11GB @ 2012/5151 boost | NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB +200/+500 + Intel 530
Storage Samsung 840 EVO 500GB + Seagate 3TB 7200RPM + others | Kingston 256GB M.2 SATA + 1TB 7200RPM
Display(s) Acer G257HU 1440p 60Hz AH-IPS 4ms | 17.3" 1920*1080 60Hz wide angle TN notebook panel
Case Fractal Design Define XL R2 | MSI
Audio Device(s) Creative Sound Blaster Z | Realtek with quad stereo speakers and subwoofer
Power Supply Corsair HX850i Platinum | 19.5v 180w Delta brick
Software Windows 10 Pro x64 | Windows 10 Home x64
If I ever game on my laptop anytime soon, i'll give nHancer a try. Sorry if I was being a little bit of a d*** earlier (didn't mean to). :nutkick:
 
Top