NVIDIA Pascal vs. Maxwell Question

Been doing some research and it seems like Pascal will be a significant jump in performance from Maxwell. Not sure on release date, but does anyone think it is worth holding off on a purchase to wait for the Pascal architecture vs. 2x SLI 980 Ti?

the sli interface is old and in much need of an upgrade.  Pascal is supposed to introduce that new interface with NVLink.  i think i've read data transfer rate claims of 10x the speed of current multi gpu interfacing between gpu(s) and cpu.  here's the thing about hardware and software advances...it's much like the relationship between people-we're not always on the same page.  meaning, i seriously doubt that there will be much reason to upgrade your hardware which is capable of optimizing today's (and the near future) games. 

there are some outliers-cases where people with deep pockets want to string together 3 or more 4K/5K monitors and such.  but to your question: with 2xsli GTX 980ti's you are getting from between 75%-90% performance scaling depending on individual game optimization and other factors.  add a 3rd card into the mix and that scaling drops significantly, and by the time you get down to a 4th card you're looking at perhaps 5-10% scaling.  3 and 4 card configs seriously dips into the diminishing returns argument.  NvLink will supposedly allow far more cards to work in conjunction without poor performance scaling.  for most people it just won't be needed. 


Edited by db188 - 28 Dec 2015 at 8:54pm

as do i and i run with 2x980ti Strix cards.  i'm waiting on monitor and display port tech to push 4k over 60Hz before jumping on that bandwagon.  supposedly DP 1.3 will enable 120Hz on 4k and is due next year.  i would like to see an ultra wide (21:9) 4k 120Hz product.  i'd pay good money for that!

i wouldn't put the generic memory in my rig.  you don't know what you're getting, but in general it will be low performance sticks without even an XMP setting.  they're fine in systems where you don't overclock, but when you like to fine tune and squeeze out the performance you want the good stuff.  i wanted to eliminate any source of instability and i liked the look of them, tbh.  i also know that should i desire to push this particular memory past the XMP setting i can due to their higher binning.