Sli 680 or xfire 7970 for widescreen gaming?

[alrobichaud]

Now that everyone has had time to digest the reviews what is the verdict? I may have my 6990 sold today so I need to fast track my decision. 6048x1080 ultra settings is what I usually play in. I am looking for the two best cards to either crossfire or sli and my choice of gaming is fairly broad so I cannot say exactly what games I will be playing but they will be current and require lots of gpu power. What pros and cons are there for each setup? I will be strictly gaming so I do not care about bit coin mining or any other related task. Of course, fps is one of the biggest concerns I have followed by 3d surround/eyefinity support and crossfire/sli support and temps/sound. I've gone a bit nuts in the last 7 or 8 months with upgrades so this needs to be the last one for at least a couple of years(if I can go that long)

I don't want this to get out of control, though it probably will. I am looking for some good honest answers to help with my decision. Please keep all fanboy comments to yourself and stick to the facts with the two current gpu's. I do not care about how your xfire 5850's suffered from micro stuttering or any other comment that is not related to the title of this thread.

So far AMD has better cooling options, more availability, more vram though it doesn't seem to matter.

Nvidia has lower price, higher fps

What else am I missing?

BTW, I found a place that apparently has a couple of EVGA GTX 680's in stock for $509.99 though this has not been verified yet other than the website stating this. Would not be the first time I ordered something that was supposed to be in stock but really wasn't.

 

[ricardois]

playing at 6048x1080 i think 2gb is not enough for some games. i would say to wait for the 680 3-4gb versions.

 

[Cryosis00]

Depending on how gpu intensive a game is you may have vram issues as stated.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/03/28/nvidia_kepler_geforce_gtx_680_sli_video_card_review/5

Read specifically about the vram issues the reviewer was having on both cards at ultra settings in 5760x1200. Even though the 680 has less vram is actually performed marginally better.

Nvidia is working on 4gb version of the 680 and AMD is working on a 6GB version of their 7970.

Also each company is working on a dual gpu card it looks like AMD may come out with there 7990 before Nvidia but if you keep on waiting you will never purchase a card

 

[venur]

For eyefinity either get the 7970 or wait for the 4g version of the 680gtx. You don't want to spend over 1000$ on GPUs to get yourself short on Vram when the next big game will be released.

 

[alrobichaud]

Depending on how gpu intensive a game is you may have vram issues as stated.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/03/28/nvidia_kepler_geforce_gtx_680_sli_video_card_review/5

Read specifically about the vram issues the reviewer was having on both cards at ultra settings in 5760x1200. Even though the 680 has less vram is actually performed marginally better.

Nvidia is working on 4gb version of the 680 and AMD is working on a 6GB version of their 7970.

Also each company is working on a dual gpu card it looks like AMD may come out with there 7990 before Nvidia but if you keep on waiting you will never purchase a card

I have not read that review and this is exaclty the info I was looking for. I had concerns about the VRAM issue so it is nice to see a reviewer take that into account. So the 2GB gtx 680's VRAM is a bottleneck playing BF3 64 player multiplayer. That alone is reason enough for me not to buy one. I was leaning towards the XFX DD 7970 because of a decent cooler as well as a lifetime warranty so I think it is creeping back into the lead. Waiting for a 4GB version which will no doubt cost a lot more is not an option since I am selling my 6990 tonight. I am not sure how long I can last using my old gtx 460 as a replacment until my new gpu's arrive. Keep the comments coming!