Opinions?

Is it better (FPS-wise) to get 2 $100 GPUs and run them in SLI, or to get one $200 GPU?
And how does SLI work?

 

SLI works by making the gpus alternatively push frames if I recall
for exemple : -single gpu framerate: GPU1-GPU1-GPU1=3 frames
-2 gpus sli framerate: GPU1-GPU2-GPU1-GPU2-GPU1-GPU2=6 frames
Of course, real world SLI scaling will never be 100%

All of that seems cool but the problem with sli is microstutters, driver problems and games simply not working with sli, thats why you should always try to get a single powerful gpu insted of two midrange ones

I don't know if my comment is very clear...

 

Don't ever bother with SLI unless you're already using the highest-end card on the market. You'll never get perfect 2x performance scaling, you'd need a motherboard that supports it, most games don't work very well with it, and it pumps out twice the heat and consumes twice the power.

So no, don't do SLI. Avoid it like the plague for your first PC. Especially with low-end cards, most of the time SLI isn't allowed on anything but the top and second-to-top tier cards anyway.

 

In general, 200 dollar GPU tends to be more powerful than 2 100 Dollar ones. I think dual 1070s can match a 1080, but then with the SLI complications (many games work poorly with it and framerates are rarely smooth) the 1080 still ends up a better buy. Really, its not great tech to rely on.

 

I should have the funds by late next year, does that change anything?

 

Well yes, a year and change brings a lot of new innovations. AMD's new Zen chips would be out and so would Intel's new Kaby Lake chips, there'd be a whole next generation of both Nvidia and AMD graphics cards that'd bring more performance at the same price. And then of course there'd be all sorts of innovations we don't even know about now, like better SSD tech, motherboard features, and maybe things that'd change the way PCs are built.

 

I don't have enough money to get a small SSD and an HDD, so should I stick with the hybrid drive or go with an HDD and buy an SSD later?
--- Post updated ---
And do you have a preferred shipper? Ex. Amazon, Newegg, outlet PC,etc.

 

as an ex hybrid setup user, dont bother. Get an HDD or get small SSD+HDD. The hybrids arent worth the money.

 

Hybrid drives suck from my experience. They're more expensive than an equivalent SSD + HDD setup and don't offer the speed that an SSD does nor the capacity that an HDD does.

But if you're buying this setup next year, I wouldn't worry about small purchases like a $40 SSD, by next year both HDDs and SSDs will probably be cheaper, and large SSDs might be cheap enough to be your one and only drive.

Honestly, you're doing too much planning prematurely. For the tech market, a year is a significant period of time. Wait until next year before organizing your setup, prices will be different and you'll have better hardware available for less.

 

Is it worth spending a few bucks more to get 2 4gb sticks vs 1 8gb? I heard it's only a ~4% performance increase.

 

Like I said, it's not worth micro-managing the pricing of your setup since in a year and change prices will be different and my answer now might not hold true in the future as things change.

Aside from that, get 2x4GB instead of 1x8GB, the dual channel interleaving really helps in some very specific memory intensive applications. Remember, dual channel memory effectively doubles your memory's frequency. 800MHz goes to 1600MHz, and so on.

 

One more thing (for now) what does the new section on Amazon mean? There's the regular, new, and used.

 

I'd say the same as well

 

I play BeamNG.drive and CSGO mostly. (Sometimes ATS and Rocket League)
Should I go with this one: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/phBb2R (Better CPU, worse GPU)
Or this one: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/g9pdHN (Better GPU, worse CPU)

 

Do I have to say it again? If you're buying this late next year, newer parts will be out that will give you better performance for less money. If you were to decide on either of those setups, they'd be a year and change out of date by the time you bought the parts.

So, wait until a few months before your purchase to plan your setup.

 

I know, it's just research for what I should do in the future.

 

Here's the final idea for now.
Everything is the same except for a worse GPU and a better CPU.
http://pcpartpicker.com/list/NGcHWX

 

And by next year the entire list will be irrelevant. Probably new gpus and CPUs out, different motherboard options.

 

Yeah Moore's Law, but I guess you know that already but for the others that didnt know google it

 

Is the upcoming 1050 Ti a good GPU? I know it's not out, but based on the numbers, will it run most games at medium-high settings?
EDIT---
Got a nice pay raise, should have all but the GPU by early January, does the list still stand?
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/BombBoy4/saved/RHwrHx