EVGA Allowing Step-Up For 780 6GB

[krnmastersgt]

Recently been alerted from EVGA that they're offering the Step-Up program for anyone that bought a regular ol' 3GB 780 to upgrade to the 6GB version. Finally have all my water cooling parts aside from 1 last shipment on Tuesday so not sure I want to wait, but considering I think the MSRP of the card is only ~$60 more than I paid for my 3GB version, worth to Step-Up?

Only gaming at 1440p currently, no plans to upgrade gaming resolution for a while aside from adding another monitor for productivity purposes. Am I likely going to hit a cap with 3GB that will cause performance decreases for me before the 780 GPU itself is slowing down?

 

[wand3r3r]

If you are sticking with single GPU it's not necessarily as compelling and I don't think I would upgrade unless you see yourself with multi-GPU in the future. SLI can easily use up a lot of ram. The 780 is a nice card and the other scenario in which I would definitely upgrade is if you plan on keeping the card for a while.

Before everyone comes in and bickers about ram amounts, I'll just say I prefer extra vs. too little.

In some cases the GPUs are too weak to really utilize more ram (680/760/770 and it's 256bit bus), but the moment you put them in SLI it is easy to use way more since they have to share the single cards memory space for both cards.

tldr;
Single card, not much benefit unless you keep it longer term
SLI, I would certainly consider it

 

[Kenmitch]

^^^ Yep.

The only other thing to consider is the resale value at a later date. I'd think that later on the 6GB cards would have more of a demand. Those who are running 1 currently might opt for SLI later on.

 

[Ed1]

If you are sticking with single GPU it's not necessarily as compelling and I don't think I would upgrade unless you see yourself with multi-GPU in the future. SLI can easily use up a lot of ram. The 780 is a nice card and the other scenario in which I would definitely upgrade is if you plan on keeping the card for a while.

Before everyone comes in and bickers about ram amounts, I'll just say I prefer extra vs. too little.

In some cases the GPUs are too weak to really utilize more ram (680/760/770 and it's 256bit bus), but the moment you put them in SLI it is easy to use way more since they have to share the single cards memory space for both cards.

tldr;
Single card, not much benefit unless you keep it longer term
SLI, I would certainly consider it

Wouldn't that only happen if you raised res or raised settings (run higher FSAA amount) ?
I would think if your at or under 1440p should be fine .

 

[Grooveriding]

Worthless. You'd be better served upgrading to a ti.

With the power limit locked in BIOS on Kepler cards, as an overclocker you'll get lower performance out of a 6GB card because of the extram VRAM eating into power cap. Unless you put on a modded BIOS.

Either way 3GB or 6GB makes no difference for your resolution.

 

[nitromullet]

the moment you put them in SLI it is easy to use way more since they have to share the single cards memory space for both cards.

This is the first time I'm heard this. Do you have any further info? Google really only yields results about people explaining that SLI does not double RAM, and nothing about SLI'd cards each individually using more RAM.

 

[Bubbleawsome]

This is the first time I'm heard this. Do you have any further info? Google really only yields results about people explaining that SLI does not double RAM, and nothing about SLI'd cards each individually using more RAM.

I don't think that is true, but that each card has to mirror the first one's memory; not use it.

EDIT: 1337 posts! :awe:

 

[PhIlLy ChEeSe]

I don't think that is true, but that each card has to mirror the first one's memory; not use it.

EDIT: 1337 posts! :awe:

If you ever seen 1 card of an SLI set up dieing(while in SLI) they don't mirror each other. One renders top half the other renders the bottom half. That said 6GB of ram is for video editing like the Quardo,(only less price). EVGA is well known for making money, even when times r bad.

 

[Bubbleawsome]

If you ever seen 1 card of an SLI set up dieing(while in SLI) they don't mirror each other. One renders top half the other renders the bottom half. That said 6GB of ram is for video editing like the Quardo,(only less price). EVGA is well known for making money, even when times r bad.

I don't know much about SLI, but the 6GB isn't for videoediting. It's for high resolution SLI.

 

[nitromullet]

If you ever seen 1 card of an SLI set up dieing(while in SLI) they don't mirror each other. One renders top half the other renders the bottom half. That said 6GB of ram is for video editing like the Quardo,(only less price). EVGA is well known for making money, even when times r bad.

It depends on which SLI mode. SFR (split frame rendering) has one card render the bottom, and the other the top. AFR (alternate frame rendering) has each card rendering every second frame.

 

[richiegore]

Everything uses afr now.... Split frame rendering is dead....

 

[krnmastersgt]

Part of me is rather interested in the "upgrade" since this will probably be my config for at least another 2 years (unless the GTX 800 mid/high end prove to be substantial upgrades when they launch) and all else fails I like this generation of cards so I could pick up a second hand 780 later on for SLI should I also want to upgrade monitor configuration to either multiple 1440p, those new-ish ultra wides, or a 4k display.

The part of me that doesn't want to upgrade is the one that's been waiting on a backordered full GPU block for the past 3 months and will have the last of the accessories and parts needed to finish my watercooling set-up this weekend.

If it was an additional week or two I'd just do the Step-Up regardless but I have no idea on the time frame for this as they do talk about if you sign up before your Step Up expires they'll still let you upgrade even if there's no card availability for a while. Which makes me thinks this is gonna take a fair bit of time.

 

[rgallant]

EVGA GTX 780 FTW
what block did you find that will fit the FTW in case some one ask's on a different forum ?

 

[PhIlLy ChEeSe]

I don't know much about SLI, but the 6GB isn't for videoediting. It's for high resolution SLI.

So to run SLI would have 12 GB of memory? Nvidia dropped the quardo and added this to make money. HM does this card retail for............Not near what the Quardo was going for..........

 

[railven]

Personally, depending on the cost to you to upgrade, if its <$60 I'd do it for just a new card to have/play with. Unless your current card is a lottery winner and you'd rather not risk it.

New card should also be B1 stepping if your isn't already.

 

[Tristor]

I wonder if they are including the Classifieds in this? Since I intend to do 3x1080p Surround at some point very soon by adding a third monitor, I'd consider it. Next year I'm planning to shift to 4k, but I am hoping for the 20nm Maxwell to be released mid-year in 2015. I still haven't seen a 6GB Classified become available, just the reference cards.

 

[krnmastersgt]

EVGA GTX 780 FTW
what block did you find that will fit the FTW in case some one ask's on a different forum ?

Actually really glad you posted this as I hadn't gotten about to testing the fit of the waterblock or back plate. Didn't realize that the FTW used custom PCB while the SC AXC uses the reference PCB design. Luckily I can easily get this swapped out, glad I saw this before taking it all apart and then finding it doesn't quite match lol.

 

[wand3r3r]

This is the first time I'm heard this. Do you have any further info? Google really only yields results about people explaining that SLI does not double RAM, and nothing about SLI'd cards each individually using more RAM.

I mean that instead of using 2 - 3 GB cards using 6 GB, they use 3GB. The memory size is limited to the single cards size. My point was to get larger memory for SLI configurations rather then be limited to 3 GB in this case.

When I configure two graphics cards in SLI mode, do the graphics cards work together to create double the memory size?

No. In SLI mode, each graphics card uses its own frame buffer memory to render a 3D application. The operating system will report a graphics card frame buffer memory size that is found on a single graphics board.

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/technology/sli/faq#c26

 

[nitromullet]

I mean that instead of using 2 - 3 GB cards using 6 GB, they use 3GB. The memory size is limited to the single cards size. My point was to get larger memory for SLI configurations rather then be limited to 3 GB in this case.

You don't actually use more RAM per card in SLI, so what is the rationale? If you want to 'future proof' your setup by going with 6GB SLI cards or a 6GB single card that's fine, but SLI vs single card should not be a determining factor.

 

[3DVagabond]

SLI allows you to use higher settings, AA in particular, that will require more VRAM.

 

[Majcric]

You don't actually use more RAM per card in SLI, so what is the rationale? If you want to 'future proof' your setup by going with 6GB SLI cards or a 6GB single card that's fine, but SLI vs single card should not be a determining factor.

Yes it should be a determining factor. 2 GTX 780's have enough oomph to break the 3gb Vram barrier, as to where one does not. (maybe in very rare cases) If he is certain he will stay with a single 780 the 3gb is fine, however, if there is a possibly of going sli in the future I'd grab the 6gb 780.

 

[Mondozei]

Nah, not worth it. Even if you get the 6 Gb version it will be too weak even in SLI for 4K for new games, and considering that you want to stay at 1440p, it is even less relevant. VRAM isn't your issue, it is the performance of the card. (Buying a card with lots and lots of VRAM implicitly assumes a future SLI setup.)

TL;DR: dont bite and sell the card when 20 nm Maxwell is out.

 

[rtsurfer]

Actually really glad you posted this as I hadn't gotten about to testing the fit of the waterblock or back plate. Didn't realize that the FTW used custom PCB while the SC AXC uses the reference PCB design. Luckily I can easily get this swapped out, glad I saw this before taking it all apart and then finding it doesn't quite match lol.

This.

According to my knowledge, there is no Water Block available for the 780 FTW.

 

[cytg111]

You don't actually use more RAM per card in SLI, so what is the rationale? If you want to 'future proof' your setup by going with 6GB SLI cards or a 6GB single card that's fine, but SLI vs single card should not be a determining factor.

Cause you can play catch-up with gpu compute by going sli in the future while it is somewhat harder to solder on more memory to the card.

 

[nitromullet]

2 GTX 780's have enough oomph to break the 3gb Vram barrier, as to where one does not.

I keep hearing this, but no one has provided any evidence. Remember, the OP is playing at 2560x1440.

Cause you can play catch-up with gpu compute by going sli in the future while it is somewhat harder to solder on more memory to the card.

I would propose that when the single GTX 780 starts to get a little long in the tooth it would make more sense to sell it and replace it with whatever is available at that time.

Actually, what makes even more sense if you are buying a card now is to pick up a used Radeon R9 290, which is faster, cheaper, and has more RAM than the GTX 780.