I need some Video card direction

[Justin Cider]

Well this may have been beaten to death and in no way am I trying to start a flame war.

I need some direction and which way to go,I have a watercooled GTX 580 right now and I'm looking to possibly get another one to go SLI.Now I have been looking at the price to get another one and say for a used one with a waterblock I'm approx $425-450.I was thinking that I could probably find 2 6970 for Crossfire for around $525 maybe less once the 7970s' are a little more available.Now adding $120-140 for 2 waterblocks,I'm at say $650.So I sell my GTX 580 for $425 and I'm out of pocket $225 for the 6970s with around $225 to maybe put toward and new SATA III SSD.

Now the main question is,will I miss the performance that much going from GTX 580 SLI to 6970 Crossfire to warrant the extra $225-250. I am looking at having a multi-monitor set up down the road and in games like BF3 and Skyrim will I be taking that much away from the experiance.My budget allows for the upgrade but I'm just looking to get the best option for my money.

Thanks

 

[CarpeDiem99]

I'd say dual 6970s would be a better investment since they have 2gb of vram which is good for multi monitor support that you want to use it for. Unless you plan on getting the 3GB 580s, I'd go with the 6970s.

 

[stinger5150]

I'd say dual 6970s would be a better investment since they have 2gb of vram which is good for multi monitor support that you want to use it for. Unless you plan on getting the 3GB 580s, I'd go with the 6970s.

This or wait to see what both company's come out with.Anyway i wouldnt be in to big a hurry to add another card or cards until new prices come out.

 

[bigdogchris]

If you're only going to game on a single monitor then SLI/XFIRE would probably not be the best investment, especially considering you already have a current gen flagship GPU. If you believe you are going down the path of multi-monitor then doing 2x GPU's is a good idea. Keep in mind that in most cases Nvidia's SLI drivers are superior to AMD XFIRE drivers.

Games like Skyrim don't really have a working XFIRE driver yet, but it doesn't matter much since Skyrim is heavily CPU bound. Which brings me to my next point. Sometimes buying upgrades other places can get you more performance bang for your buck (faster cpu/ssd etc). In your case, buying a 2500k and z67 board may net you more performance on a single monitor resolution than a second GPU.

 

[Telo]

If you're only going to game on a single monitor then SLI/XFIRE would probably not be the best investment, especially considering you already have a current gen flagship GPU. If you believe you are going down the path of multi-monitor then doing 2x GPU's is a good idea. Keep in mind that in most cases Nvidia's SLI drivers are superior to AMD XFIRE drivers.

Games like Skyrim don't really have a working XFIRE driver yet, but it doesn't matter much since Skyrim is heavily CPU bound. Which brings me to my next point. Sometimes buying upgrades other places can get you more performance bang for your buck (faster cpu/ssd etc). In your case, buying a 2500k and z67 board may net you more performance on a single monitor resolution than a second GPU.

I second this. If you are a single screen player, then SLI and xfire won't be that much of a difference as would be to upgrade your MB/CPU. You can still rack in about $200-300 for your current MB/CPU, and then grab a Z68 with a 2500K or 2600K. Then you can even contemplate going to Ivy Bridge.