The GTX 480is not a horrible product, it just consumes more power and generates more heat than most.
The 5970 is king of the hill and for $700 it should be. However, lately the ATI drivers have given alot of people some headache. I've never had issues with nvidia drivers like ATI.
The GTX460 is an amazing card, but is a midrange gamer Sounds like he wants highend.
prolymphocyte :
lol i dont know is it worth it? if down the line i plan on adding a 5970 or a 480 which one will scale better?from what ive read nvidia scales better then ati and i dont know how good their drivers are for quad crossfire.why is this so difficult to choose lol
If you need more than a 5970 I would sell it and by the next best card at the time. I personally try to deter from using 2 cards. There are always inherent issues in a dual card setup. Namely heat.