10-09-2016, 04:00 PM
(10-08-2016, 03:06 PM)royce Wrote: Just throwing some ideas out there:
If cost of electricity is not a concern, agreed about 970s. They're going on eBay for around $200-$220, so 3 of those would be a good fit. (And I wouldn't go older or smaller). But for the same price, a single new 1080 (when in regular stock) is close to 2 used 980 Tis or 3 used 970s. If electricity matters, a single 1080 is more attractive. A 1080 will probably also be supported longer by NVIDIA, but that's a ways out.
These links may be useful for comparing performance:
https://gist.github.com/epixoip
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...SsYEqOoqco
Double-check my work with your own research (on price and performance), but back of my napkin, for MD5, stock clocks, theoretical max watts:
970 SC: 10.8 GH/s, 170W (SCs are factory overclocked a little), ~3 for your budget = 32.4 GH/s, 510W
980 Ti: 16 GH/s, 250W for most, almost 2 for your budget = 32 GH/s, 500W
1080: 25 GH/s, 180W for most, 1 for your budget = 25 GH/s, 180W
In practice, power consumption will be a little lower. You'll also probably be able to overclock them a bit. And with fewer cards, you have room to add another later without having to pull one and sell it.
Hope that helps!
How would you compare the 970 SC to the R9 290X ?
They seem to be more reliably available a bit cheaper each and they seem to perform similar. Power around here is very cheap, so it's not a worry and they won't be running 24/7 365 (yet).