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WadeWatts
Up and Coming
April 6, 2015

Nvidia 980m in SLI - Good or not?

Hi everyone!

Anyone have any experience with Nvidia 980 or 980m in SLI mode?

Any issues? Does the Nvida optimized for VR drivers work well with this level of SLI?

Getting a new rig for VR development and wondering which way to go hardware wise. I have a chance to get 2 980ms in SLI but I wonder if the Vsync will be a problem?

    7 replies

    cybereality
    Inspiring
    April 6, 2015
    SLI is still problematic for compatibility (it may just not work at all) or have increased latency when it does work.
    AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | MSI X370 Titanium | G.Skill 16GB DDR4 3200 | EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 | Corsair Hydro H110i Gigabyte RX Vega 64 x2 | Samsung 960 Evo M.2 500GB | Seagate FireCuda SSHD 2TB | Phanteks ENTHOO EVOLV
    matskatsaba
    Participant
    April 6, 2015
    The 980M is a mobile chip, designed for laptops.
    That means it's unlikely to appear in a desktop PC at all.
    If there is a laptop that can accomodate two GPU in SLI, please do let me know.

    Right now, a single gtx980 is plenty, and by the time the second would be necessary, probably the issues would be fixed as well. I still think it's pointless to buy 2, since by the time the final version comes out, there might be a better video card available (or the same for a cheaper price).
    cybereality
    Inspiring
    April 6, 2015
    Yes, you should get a desktop to avoid all the headache with laptops and VR.
    AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | MSI X370 Titanium | G.Skill 16GB DDR4 3200 | EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 | Corsair Hydro H110i Gigabyte RX Vega 64 x2 | Samsung 960 Evo M.2 500GB | Seagate FireCuda SSHD 2TB | Phanteks ENTHOO EVOLV
    saviornt
    Up and Coming
    April 7, 2015
    "matskatsaba" wrote:
    The 980M is a mobile chip, designed for laptops.
    That means it's unlikely to appear in a desktop PC at all.
    If there is a laptop that can accomodate two GPU in SLI, please do let me know.

    Right now, a single gtx980 is plenty, and by the time the second would be necessary, probably the issues would be fixed as well. I still think it's pointless to buy 2, since by the time the final version comes out, there might be a better video card available (or the same for a cheaper price).


    I might be mistaken, however I think that Alienware came out with one before they were bought out by Dell. Even by today's inflation rate it was way over the top expensive.

    edit:

    http://us.msi.com/product/nb/GT80-Titan ... o-overview

    It can be yours for the low entry price of $3,300! MSRP of $3,799. Not too mention that it only weighs 10 lbs.
    Current WIPs using Unreal Engine 4: Agrona - Tales of an Era : Medieval Fantasy MORPG
    Anonymous
    April 7, 2015
    Do not know about 980m but a 780m SLI has been working OK for me.

    The SLI however does tend to have a its drawbacks but it works for most demos and DK2 games. Single GPU works better with some and the with the notebook getting something to run will take time as some demos need to be extended screen, some direct, some need some moding to get the image to pop up etc. Its a bit easyer to get everything working on a desktop.

    Also does the new rig (notebook) you are looking for have a HDMI out ? if not then you will not be able to use the DK with the notebook.
    The alienware series has this. Not sure about other brands.

    Edit: Nevermind got the HDMI in and out mixed up :lol:
    matskatsaba
    Participant
    April 7, 2015
    "saviornt" wrote:


    I might be mistaken, however I think that Alienware came out with one before they were bought out by Dell. Even by today's inflation rate it was way over the top expensive.

    edit:

    http://us.msi.com/product/nb/GT80-Titan ... o-overview

    It can be yours for the low entry price of $3,300! MSRP of $3,799. Not too mention that it only weighs 10 lbs.


    Thanks for the link, was lazy to google it myself, shame on me.

    It's only my personal opinion, but I wouldn't spend 3-4000$ on a machine that runs with DDR3 and x79 (or older) architecture. Your memory modules might become the bottleneck since you can't overclock them (as far as I know).
    WadeWattsAuthor
    Up and Coming
    April 9, 2015
    Honestly I know Oculus works fine on desktop... but for demoing VR it's lots easier lugging around a laptop than it is a desktop for demos of your title. Ergo why the interest in the 980m performance level.
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