Power gaming rig 2k+ help!

[omnomnom]

Approximate Purchase Date: 02/25/2011


Budget Range: $2,300-$2,400


System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, netflixs, more gaming, writing papers


Parts Not Required:keyboard/mouse/monitor/speakers


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg


Country of Origin: USA


Parts Preferences: best performance

Overclocking: Yes


SLI or Crossfire: Yes


Monitor Resolution: currently have a samsung sync master p2770 1920x1080


Additional Comments: just sold my old mATX build and had some money left over from my tax return to get me a really nice gaming rig just need help deciding what graphics card would be best at my monitor resolution should i get 2XGTX570s or 2XAMD6970s i want to sli/cfx this time with this build thank you for looking

Case: COOLER MASTER HAF 922

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

PSU: CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-1000HX 1000W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply

RAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMP6GX3M3A1600C7 X2 (12 gigs of ram)

MOBO: ASUS Rampage III Formula LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

CPU: Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601950

OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM

HEATSINK: CORSAIR Hydro H70 CWCH70 120mm High Performance CPU Cooler

CD/DVD/BLUERAY DRIVE: LITE-ON 12X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 12X DVD-RAM 8X BD-ROM 8MB Cache SATA Internal Blu-ray Burner with 3D PlaybackiHBS212 LightScribe

 

[rolli59]

Either GPU solution is plenty for your resolution. I personally would go with 2 x HD6950 and use the money saved to go with 3x4Gb ram. The H70 is a good cooler but can be loud conventional CPU cooler can be just as good http://www.frostytech.com/

 

[CopaMundial]

Is there a game out that won't play fine on high settings in that same rig w/ a single Graphics Card?
Sure it's great to have more GPU power, but I think the amount of gain you get is not worth the price, especially when using such a high-end card.

I'd take that money and look to bump up some other areas where the gain will be more evident.
First things I'd look to improve would be:
1) Look at a small solid state drive for your game/OS.
2) Drop that Sata I (3Gb/s) drive and move up to Sata II (6Gb/s). - I put this #2, just in case you don't do #1. If you do #1, then no need for SataII hard drive.
3) More memory - I put this #3 because it's the easiest / cheapest to address later if you decide not to do it now.


All, or any, of those things will get you more bang for your buck vs the second video card.
When the games catch up to the current cards, you can add your second card later and it will be like a mini-upgrade for you. That leaves you a relatively cheap bump in performance later
.
I also think an 850W PS is probably big enough so you could save some money there, but I can understand if you have the monty available that you might want to go big on that if you're looking at SLI or Xfire at some point.

 

[omnomnom]

ahhh thanks for the advice i will look into a Sata II6GB/s HDD and SSD i guess you're right about the graphics card so what would you suggest as SINGLE graphics card 6970 or a gtx570?

 

[rolli59]

Between those two just flip a coin or think either eyefinity or 3dvision. Another option is to look up benchmarks in the games you play the most and then decide based on performance.

 

[CopaMundial]

Agreed, either one is going to dazzle you I'm sure.
Sure people may pull for one team or another, but anyone who tries to tell you that either one of those cards is bad is just silly. Both great cards.
Even with benchmarks you have to be careful because a swing of a few hundred (or even 1000) points is going to be really hard for a human to detect and will likely be outweighed by other factors.

The green team seems to drive a higher price, but not always.
The red team has had issues (in the past) w/ their Xfire not providing full scale performance increases, but that seems to be fixed.

I'd say look at prices and then decide.
You mentioned you would be buying in about two weeks, that should give you enough time to change your mind about 30 times.

That's how I usually am, but once you settle on one I'm sure you'll be happy either way.

 

[omnomnom]

thanks guys for the info i think i might try nividia i already had an amd card so i guess it would make sense to switch it up a bit

 

[omnomnom]

Best answer selected by omnomnom.