GTX 670 gigabyte oc (OR) 7970 GHZ edition Gigabyte !

radeon hd 7970 ghz is on par with a gtx 680 so it is better then a gtx 670

Without any knowledge of the rest of the rig or what usage you are going for, I would say the 7970 Ghz.

Reasons for the 670.
-CUDA if any application you may use support it.
-Superior 3D performance and utility
-PhysX if your games support it.

Reasons for the 7970 Ghz
- Extra VRAM and wider memory bus mean superior high resolution performance (and utility). Also means that you can crank up AA and MSAA.
- Superior OpenCL and GPGPU performance.
- Overall better performance at 1080p, will vary game to game though.

Be used mostly for Games
8 gb ram
3550k
asrock extreme 4 (z77)
HAF 932 adv

i play a variety of games not just shooters. ( if it is relevent)
 

Still the 7970 Ghz. Cheaper, and performs better if you were to add more monitors or crack up the AA.

I have Have heard that the reference version is extremely loud

will the 7970 ghz Gigabyte windforce one be quieter

Reference or stock design coolers are always loud, AMD and Nvidia.
Custom designs like the Windforce cooler will be quieter.

alright, sounds good

Thanks for the help