High quality single card or med quality dual graphics cards?

[QuesoFiesta]

PC noob here. Building a PC for the first time and I have a reasonable budget - 2,500. Like most, I'm looking for the most bang for my buck. I was looking into high quality cards in the 500+ range when I stumbled across a 250$ card that ran most games max on 30-40 fps. Would it be better to go with a cheaper card that runs like that and simply buy 2? Or should I buy a single, more expensive card thats better quality? I'll likely be running on a 1920 by 1080p monitor. I'm kind of picky, and would like something that keeps a steady 60 fps on max settings on some of the highest demanding games out there. Also looking for card suggestions.

Current specs so far: (Like I said, noob here. If something looks fishy please let me know!)

Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor
(cooler not picked yet)
MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
G.Skill Sniper Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400(maybe 1886) Memory
Looking for SSD
Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Corsair Professional 850W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply
Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer
Looking for case

I would really appreciate help on this! This is a big investment and I want to make sure I'm doing the right things.

 

[Dom_79]

If you're only going to use one monitor (or at least only game on one monitor) then a single GPU is by far the best choice. If I had the $$$ I'd get a GTX 780Ti for that rig (but it is very definitely in the 600+ range).

Also for an SSD you can't go wrong with either Intel or Samsung. The Samsung EVO Pro series have great performance and reliability.

For Cases I'm biased towards the Corsair Carbides. They have a really "clean" look to them and they are 90% metal construction (good for heat dissipation and are very rigid).

 

[CTurbo]

One REALLY good video card is the way to go. GTX 780ti easily with a $2500 budget.