Caliaton said:
1. I have heard that both can have a lot more problems than a single card, such as microstutter, bad scaling, etc.
Ya ever see that State farm commercial where the girl "read it on the internet so it must be true" ? I have never seen microstutter on an SLI system except w/ budget level cards. Two 560's toasted the 580 by 40% and yet were $100 cheaper. As you can see here, two 650 Ti Boosts beat out both the 680 and 7970 Ghz Edition
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_6...
$134 for a 2GB factory OC'd 650 Ti Boost means a $268 investment that beats the 7970 Ghz Edition cost $450 !!!! And they can be run on a 600 watt PSU, tjp Id feel more comfy w/ a 750 watter if overclocking. here's techpoerups conclusion:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_6...
Quote:
After running the GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost SLI through our test suite, I have to admit that I'm impressed. The duo delivered
performance easily matching and often exceeding much more expensive single-card options such as the GeForce GTX 680 and Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition, and they don't cost as much ..... Unlike AMD, NVIDIA does a good job of maintaining its SLI profiles, so you should be able to play new games without a long wait for multi-GPU support.
With a combined price of $340, the graphics cards cost much less than the HD 7970 GHz Edition ($430) and the GTX 680 ($440) while still delivering comparable performance. Power draw and noise levels are slightly higher, but that's the price you'll have to pay to save over 100 bucks. This setup also makes upgrading your aging rig to play the latest and most demanding titles without breaking the bank an option.
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2. They will cost me more money than a single 7970 ghz, of course, and will end up making me downgrade my processor from a i7 3770k to an i5 3570k, my mobo from an extreme 6 to an extreme 4, my cooling from liquid to air, and my case.
No, as you can see above, ya just saved $182. However, if this is a gaming box, you won't benefit from a 3770k, so ya just saved another $100 if gaming is your goal. With this kinda build, I just don't see the extreme MoBos. I'd go this route:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite...
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3. I'm afraid that these downgrades will bottleneck the 670's/7970's
If ya have the bucks to go for the 670's by all means..... make sure it's a 8 phase model
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
You can save $100 by forgoing the 3770k for the 3570k .... and another $100 each by replacing the 670's with the new 760's
You can also pick a nice case / PSU combo ... Corsair 500R w/ TX750 ($168)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite...
or 500R w/ HX850
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite... ($208)
BTW, I'd drop the CF idea ...
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphics-card-bench...
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6857/amd-stuttering-issue...
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/Frame-Ratin...