EVGA 590 or 580 x 2 ?

[Chirality]

I'm getting my new rig ironed out and originally I was going to buy two EVGA 580's with 3 gigs of RAM (not the 1.5) with hydro copper for liquid cooling.

I'm wondering if I should just get one 590 and be happy (hydro or non?).

I want to run three monitors for SWTOR when it comes out. What do Tomshardware?

 

[geofelt]

I think your original plan would be best; assuming price is no object.

1) GTX590 are hard to find.
2) SLI GTX580 will perform better.
3) A usual problem with dual cards is heat for the top cards. With liquid cooling for the graphics card, that will not be an issue.

 

[hellfire24]

well if your not willing to upgrade in near future than 2x hydro copper 580 will serve you very well.but if want future upgradability than you should get 590 hydro copper otherwise your case will sound like a r1 with yoshimaru exhausts.i know i will get criticized for my suggestion of gtx 590 vs 2x580.but try to understand you cannot upgrade anything other than adding 3rd card only if your mobo allows.but with 590,
you can upgrade to a quad sli configuration.dicision is yours.and what about ati for running 3 monitors?a $750 6990 will be the best single gpu solution IMO.coz it destroys 590 at three monitor resolution.in fact if you want to check your gpu power than try running metroo 2033 at max.it is the graphic card killer but 6990 leaves behind 590 in metro too.you listen complaints about the noise of 6990,just add liquid cooling to it and you can even sleep on them without any noise.
check this out and think before any decision

http://www.techspot.com/review/390-triple-monitor-gaming-performance/page7.html

 

[Chirality]

Yeah thats why I liked the hydro copper versions of the 580's. From what I've been reading though the 590 runs amazing in a three monitor setup (it also has a hydro copper version).

I'm also wondering if it'll be better to run the 590 on the 16 x PCI 3.0 slot on the ASROCK Extreme 7 Gen 3 mobo by itself instead of running dual 8 x. I'd like some expertise in this matter.

 

[Chirality]

I'm not buying anything other than EVGA. Sorry for not mentioning that earlier.

 

[pro-gamer]

ahh! I think the sli 580 would be best.the specs are just same as single 590 and what specs do you have.

 

[Chirality]

CPU: i7 2600K Sandy Bridge
MOBO: ASROCK Extreme 7 Ge3
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
PSU: Corsair Professional Series Gold AX1200 (CMPSU-1200AX) 1200W
Primary HD: Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1 2.5" 128GB
Secondary HD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5"
Case: Silverstone TJ07 Custom Paint/Mod
Optical Drive: LITE-ON Blu-ray Burner with 3D Playback SATA
Cooling: Basic liquid cooling setup, CPU cooling and GPU through the hydro copper twins. Or I might run air with some of the amazing CPU fans that are out there.
3 Monitors: ASUS VS Series VS238H-P Black 23" 2ms HDMI LED Backlight Widescreen LCD Monitor x 3

Leaving the GPU.

 

[Chirality]

I'd also like to leave a note that I'd plan on buying another 590 in the future (I'm pretty sure the ASROCK can handle it - not sure 100% though) - just not right now. It seems like overkill as it is already for SWTOR.

 

[geofelt]

I'd also like to leave a note that I'd plan on buying another 590 in the future (I'm pretty sure the ASROCK can handle it - not sure 100% though) - just not right now. It seems like overkill as it is already for SWTOR.

I don't know how far out your future is.
But, in 1Q/12 both Nvidia and ati are expected to deliver 28nm based cards which will be a good jump in performance.
At that time, you will want to sell whatever you get in favor of the new stuff.

 

[Chirality]

Best answer selected by Chirality.