GTX 680 vs 7970 for a 3 monitor display (Only gaming on middle)

[jnutt011]

So I'm looking to upgrade from my current 7850 to a better card that's a little more able to handle future game titles, but I would also like something that will drive 3 screens and still not drop below 60 fps on high quality in most games. I have a 3770k OC to 4.1GHz so i'm not worried about cpu bottleneck.

Options I was looking at:
1x 680 4gb
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1x 7970 ghz edition 3gb
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OR getting another 7850 for dual GPU

I have no interest in surround gaming because it gives me headaches but multi-tasking is a priority because of school and help desk IT related functions for my part time work.

The three options above are what i'd like to take recommendations on but i'm open to any other suggestions also.

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

The 7970 ghz edition would be the better option because it is more powerful than a 680 to begin with. The extra ram should help a little as well, but if you are only gaming on one there will be a very negligible decrease, if any, in performance.

 

[phil_livesey]

There is no need to buy a 680 just to be able to use 3 screens! You'd get a 680 to do surround gaming on good graphics. Heck my friend has a FTW version of the 660 and he's running 3 23inch monitors on that, he can even play surround on it on medium-high graphics and get decent frames on it. If you can't do it on your current card, get a 670.

 

[bryonhowley]

I would agree if you are only gaming on one 1080p monitor get a GTX 670 you would not even need a 7970 or GTX 680 to game on a singe monitor it would just be overkill. Personally I can't see myself going back to a single monitor after gaming on my 3 Asus 27" monitors for more than two years. I run a SLI Gigabyte GTX 670 and on the games that support it run them at 5760x1080 max/ultra settings and get 60fps Vync'ed with no problems. So gaming on a single 1080p monitor with one GTX 670 would be no problem.

 

[jnutt011]

Yes I do realize that my current card can drive 3 monitors, but I currently only have 2 monitors. I recently won a bet and was looking for a good investment that will keep going for as long as possible and was going to get another monitor. I currently have 2 average 22" viewsonic monitors, but I would like to have either one more exceptional monitor, or replace all my monitors with exceptional ones just in case I do SOME surround gaming. Taking monitor suggestions too. =P