I've decided to upgrade my PC and I'll be making the jump to QHD. I planned on getting a I7 4930k and a SSD but I'm at a loss with what to do about video cards. I currently have a 780 3GB would like to go SLI. I'd like advice on whether or not to add a second 780 3GB or sell my current card and get two 780 6GB. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
There are quite a few games where youll be happy to have more than 3gb vram... so if you can replace your 3gb model with a 6gb one for almost no additional cost, then id do that, and sli them.
-amd has 4gb small maxwell will have 4gb by all reports I think it's a good time to go more than 3gb if buying today for sli and high res. too many $$$ to invest in 3gb for the long term. if they were 200.00 throw away cards you could roll the dice imo
Depends on how often you upgrade your GPU, if you're planning on sticking with this SLI until 9xx series come then you'll be fine with 3 gb , if you plan on sticking with it longer than that i'd get the 6 gb ones.
The way I see it, if you are planning QHD, then 6GB will be a must. No need to beat around the bush on that. From the tests that were ran, 6GB is definitely needed. You will be maxing out the 3GB in no time. Also, as Dorlor said, SLI them.
Not true. Here you have a 3gb 780ti beating a 6gb 780 at 4k. http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_780_Gaming_6_GB/25.html
Maybe in FPS no denying that, but you will have more unloading/loading of Vram which can in turn cause stutters. I have had it at 3GB a few times at 2K. Yeah, unless they just play old titles then 3GB 780TI won't matter as much. Newer games though 4GB+ is almost a must at 4K.
It's turning that way very fast. I'm running out of Vram at 2K in new games. Watchdogs Wolfenstein: TNO DayZ Thief BF4 These new games eat up the Vram if it's there. No jokes. Unless engines are further optimized to use up less Vram and not sacrifice visuals, as well as video drivers, then Vram is needed...starting...well now. Depends on the game of course. Not all devs will go with eye-candy. But if you are building a new rig NOW...then there is no reason not to prepare.
Yes, it is not a must if you plan on not playing new titles that are released like Watchdog. But if you look at your link you posted, Watchdog test shows a 780 6GB beating a 780TI 3GB. That was the only one I saw at 4k resolution but by a slim margin. This is more likely due to bad coding as everyone knows and more VRam does help. Since he is running one 780 3GB and wants to know if he should sell that and get the 6GB version in SLI versus 3GB in SLI, it is a no brainer to go 6GB version. With all that talk, lets not forget that the GTX 780 Ti has a faster memory bandwidth and the reason why it faster, but a OC 780 6GB can hang with a stock 780TI 3GB. I just think he would be better suited for now getting the 6GB in SLI and call it a day or wait until the 8XX series with more ram. 780TI does work with 4K, no denying that but that was not the bases of the question. I would do SLI 780 6GB over SLI 780 3GB. I personally would not ever buy a graphics card with less than 4GB memory anymore. That is why I did not jump for the 780TI's. I would get a Titan Black before getting a 780ti and SLI later but that is just my preference. To each his own!
No, you can just buy a computer in wallmart with a geforce 620, and game on that... Nothing in life is a MUST, its all a case of prioritizing... and when you buy 6gb versions, you prioritize to pay a bit more, to ensure that you can use that extra eyecandy.
Its usually a good idea to get a little extra VRAM if possible when going SLI. If you were going single 780, 3Gb should be fine. In that case, its highly unlikely you would tap out all 3 gigs with acceptable frame rates.
If he is doing eyecandy on QHD, then it will highly be likely that he will tap out that 3GB. If he is running low settings, not so much. Going Single 780 3GB would have that card struggling to keep up on high settings.
In the future, yes. Right now, there aren't many games that use a whole lot more than 2Gb of VRAM, and there are even less games that overly tax a single GTX 780. Going into the 9th generation of consoles is obviously going to change that, but it'll be more of an obstacle revolving around the GPU's actual performance as opposed to the amount of VRAM it has available. Regardless, going SLI with the lower VRAM models is silly. People who do that is sure to encounter memory issues.