If you can afford the top of the line single GPU card for a given generation you are most likely better off going that route than spending more on a dual/multi GPU setup.

The reason being is that the performance you will experience will vary greatly based upon the technology each type of card can/will present.  Typically SLI and/of Xfire will in fact the lowest cost vs performance benefit because the market that spends that kind of money is the lowest.

Could you see better frames should you choose to the SLI route vs the AMD card, perhaps but that will be totally dependant on if the software actually cares you are using SLI versus a single GTX 660.

EDITED: for retarded spelling errors due to a LOT of beer!

it looks like the 7970 is alot better after reading this http://www.behardware.com/articles/876-19/review-nvidia-geforce-gtx-660-asus-directcu-ii-top-and-sli.html

because A) its the 660 ti TOP and not the regular which i can afford

and B) there may be 2 cards but you can see the 660 sli craps out in way because it might be the Vram thats pushing the 7970 to within range of the 660 of just a few frames

And thats the stock 7970 GHz edition and not the matrix platinum

I Wouldn't of had to ask that extra question if i could have bought it today but i have to wait until the 31st for my moolah :D

in order for me to order the Whole desktop and monitor.

Thanks for that clarification :D

Yea the ROG platinum is definately a nice card but I am not sure it is worth 100$ more than the MSI 7970 Lightning.

The ROG may OC a bit more but I'm not sure I would want to run a 7970 much past 1200 core for extended periods of time on an air cooling solution.

I think a better idea rather than going for broke on the ROG card would be to get the a stock 7970 and a full coverage EK waterblock. You can OC to your hearts content and incorporate it into a full water cooling system. 

Something like the HIS IceQ2 with a full nickel waterblock from EK would cost the same as the ROG and clock higher and stay cooler.

The other option would be to get a standard 7970 and an aftermarket air cooler like the Accelero hybrid but that would cost as much as a watercooling system after you factor in the CPU waterblock and such.

Water cooling a stock 7970 would net you just as much OC room as the Asus ROG. And if you go that route you can water cool the cpu as well and OC even more.

I'd give up on some of the more exotic $$$ components and concentrate on Performance only to fit in a custom Water cooling solution for the budget. 

Originally posted by grndzro

Yea the ROG platinum is definately a nice card but I am not sure it is worth 100$ more than the MSI 7970 Lightning.

The ROG may OC a bit more but I'm not sure I would want to run a 7970 much past 1200 core for extended periods of time on an air cooling solution.

I think a better idea rather than going for broke on the ROG card would be to get the a stock 7970 and a full coverage EK waterblock. You can OC to your hearts content and incorporate it into a full water cooling system. 

Something like the HIS IceQ2 with a full nickel waterblock from EK would cost the same as the ROG and clock higher and stay cooler.

The other option would be to get a standard 7970 and an aftermarket air cooler like the Accelero hybrid but that would cost as much as a watercooling system after you factor in the CPU waterblock and such.

Water cooling a stock 7970 would net you just as much OC room as the Asus ROG. And if you go that route you can water cool the cpu as well and OC even more.

I'd give up on some of the more exotic $$$ components and concentrate on Performance only to fit in a custom Water cooling solution for the budget. 

I have been looking at watercooling but i know next to nothing about water cooling :(

I am also trying to decide between a storm stryker and a switch 810

i did originally decide on the stryker but then nice reviews are also for the switch 810

For teh motherboard i dont really know a good board other than the maximus V formula and the z77 asrock OC formula cause i want the extra features and built in audio.

The MSI 7970 isnt included on this website and i want to stick with them as they are 20 minuites down the road but i will be taking all of your ( and other peoples ) advice and mixing and matching Parts for a z77 system worth 2400$

Originally posted by destro521

I have been looking at watercooling but i know next to nothing about water cooling :(

I am also trying to decide between a storm stryker and a switch 810

i did originally decide on the stryker but then nice reviews are also for the switch 810

 

For teh motherboard i dont really know a good board other than the maximus V formula and the z77 asrock OC formula cause i want the extra features and built in audio.

The MSI 7970 isnt included on this website and i want to stick with them as they are 20 minuites down the road but i will be taking all of your ( and other peoples ) advice and mixing and matching Parts for a z77 system worth 2400$

If i had to choose between the two i'd probably go with the NZXT Switch as the Storm Stryker doesn't have removable cages, they are both decent cases though. Although i'm not a fan of NZXT using the same style on the outside of most of their cases the Switch doesnt look too bad. You might also want to take a look at Corsair's cases if you're looking for quality.

If your choice is between those two boards and you want good built in audio then i'd stay away from the maximus as it has the supremeFX audio which is really poor. The ALC 898 on the other is pretty good, you'd be hard pressed to notice the difference between it and one of the lower end separate sound cards like the Xonar DG.

I took a closer look at the ASRock Z77 Extreme4 144$ and it looks to be an incredible board for the value matching anything the top boards can offer at a fraction of the price. Also has the high end ALC 898 sound, And dual VRM heatsinks.

Review here

Take a look at the SilverStone Raven RV03 150$ Very good cooling performance and a 90 degree rotated layout.

Review here

of the 2 7970's on that website the ROG is overpriced for the performance and the XFX is functionally a piece of garbage. It might be worth it to have it built in Melbourne at Pc Case Gear and have it shipped to you from there. The price difference will pay for the shipping, And you would have a much better part selection.

I built the same system on both websites and the Melbourne one was 200$ less. And with a better part selection that could drop even further. You could end up spending less money on a better set up that has water cooling.

I'd call and see if they will ship within Aus. The other company overall has higher prices and seems to charge like 300$ to build it.

just sayin^^

Full system from PC Case Gear

Intel Core i5 3570K  $229.00

Sapphire Radeon HD7970 3GB OC Edition with Boost  $429.00

ASRock Z77 Extreme6 Motherboard  $165.00

G.Skill F3-14900CL9D-8GBXL 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3  $56.00

OCZ Fatal1ty Series 750W Modular  $109.00

SanDisk Extreme Solid State Drive 120GB  $109.00

Western Digital WD Red 1TB WD10EFRX  $89.00

Samsung SH-224BB/BEBS SATA DVDRW Drive OEM  $19.00

Microsoft Windows 8 64bit OEM  $99.00

LG E2442V 24in Widescreen LED Monitor  $169.00

CoolerMaster CM Storm Scout 2 Black  $109.00

XSPC Raystorm D5 RX360 Water Cooling Kit  $309.00

Heatkiller GPU-X³ 79X0 Water Block Ni-Bl  $139.00

Logitech G500 Laser Gaming Mouse  $69.00

ROCCAT Arvo Compact Gaming Keyboard  $45.00

PCCG Custom System Assembly Service with Upgraded Cooler  $135.00

Sub-Total: $2279.00 Completely watercooled. See if the company will ship it to ya. GL

Pc case gears shipping prices are quite high and this is In-country

350$ shipping D:

Although i absolutly love that build yu have made they smack on a hefty shipping fee

and the cost to build is actually only 79$ and it comes with a 6-way surge board ( whatever that is)

I wonder how long it takes to get to Melbourne?

I thought with a custom cooling solution it was more to assemble.

Owie.

I did a decent build on the site you have with the 

Intel Core i5 3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz 6MB Retail Box

SilverStone Raven RV03 Black Gaming Case

Arctic Cooling 120mm PWM CO Cooling Fan

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler

Asus Radeon HD7970 ROG Matrix Platinum 

SanDisk Extreme 2.5" 120GB SSD SATA3 550/510

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 3.5" 1TB 64MB

Samsung S24B420BW 24" WUXGA WS 5MS

ASRock Z77 Extreme6 LGA1155 ATX Motherboard

XFX Core Edition 750W 80PLUS Bronze Power Supply

Asus DRW-24B5ST 24x Black SATA DVD Writer

PLE Custom Intel Desktop System

Corsair Vengeance 1500 7.1-Channel USB Gaming Headset

Logitech G500 Laser Gaming Mouse

EpicGear Large Size Hybrid Mouse Mat

Logitech G110 Gaming Keyboard

Total = $2,184

If you look at the reviews of the Silverstone Raven the cooling is the best I'v seen. With some additional fans and the Hyper 212 in a down>up airflow config you could prob OC like crazy on air.

Stick with Logitech they have better Mouse interpolation.

Possible upgrades since 200$ are left are 16 gigs of ram in a 2x8 formfactor, Upgraded Power supply no need to go beyond 750w or so though since Crossfire/SLI is in general not reccomended IMO, Speakers, Upgrading the processor to the 3770K, More storage.

is there much of a performance difference between the 3770k and the 3570k?

Your build suggestion is quite similar to mine

CPU: i7 3770k

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler

Asus Radeon HD7970 ROG Matrix Platinum

silicon power velox 120gb ssd

toshiba 2tb 64mb cache

XFX Core Edition 750W 80PLUS Bronze Power Supply

Asus DRW-24B5ST 24x Black SATA DVD Writer

PLE Custom Intel Desktop System

Logitech g110

CM Storm Stryker ( Really wanted the phantom 820 for its LED lighting but its overpriced)

asus vn228 21.5" led monitor

Asus Maximus V Formula motherboard ( special features that work with the 7970)

Windows 8 OEM

GeIL 16gb 2x8gb @ 1600

tplink wn951 300mbps pci adapter

There is also a chance of taking teh 7970 out and using 2 660s or a 670 4gb editon but im not sure.... really not sure

the price comes to 2396 and i am willing to spend that much

Originally posted by destro521
is there much of a performance difference between the 3770k and the 3570k?

Depends if your using it for a multicore purpose....in gaming no, but encoding and such the 3770k will be better.  I bought a 3770k even though I didnt need the extra thread, it was a great deal with the purchase of my Mobo at Microcenter.  I have the thing overclocked at 4.8ghz.  I could probably go higher being that I'm on water....but the thing is so fast, I dont need it faster.  

yeah the 810 is always on my mind and it comes very close second with the stryker

 but do i need the 3770k?

im persuing a career in software and games developement which is why im going overkill now so i dont need to add an upgrade to my uni fees.

Plus i do frequent beta testing for MMOs of any genre ( currently testing 5 betas haha :D )

so that could matter

i want to use a hyper 212 evo cause ill need to sacrifice the gpu for a h100

Samsung S24B420BW 24" WUXGA WS 5MS

I would definately try to fit this in there it is an incredible monitor. and I really mean INCREDIBLE!!!!

Originally posted by grndzro

Samsung S24B420BW 24" WUXGA WS 5MS

I would definately try to fit this in there it is an incredible monitor. and I really mean INCREDIBLE!!!!

i like it :D

I really want to get the HAF X as my case but the theres the Storm stryker which some say is an improvement.

as soon as i saw the storm stryker i definatly wanted to buy it but as more reviews are read i dont really know which one to buy

Because i like the looks of both of them which is why i dont want to pick some of the corsair cases and the NZXT phantom has the awesome LED features and same size fans as the haf x.

I just want to know how good the strykers Thermal performance on air cooling is but i cant find that many reviews for it.

if its even close to the HAF i would buy the stryker because it looks fantastic and is 10 bucks cheaper

even this Lian Li http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php?pr_index=478&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=61&g=f

looks like it has incredible features and  airflow :)

Because they said i can send them a parts list in email and tehy can get them shipped from somewhere in australia because i cant get things from america

The Stryker has above average air flow and dampening noise. It's a nice case.

Not as good as the Raven for Airflow but it is pretty good.

Neither beats the HAF-X for space features or airflow though.

isnt the HAF X older by 2 years? the haf is 10$ more than the stryker so i can get either one but i thought the Stryker had more features and space?

im after looks, performance and great airflow.

The only reason im hesitant over the HAF X is because one of my friends has the Haf 912 advanced

Just to throw it out there since you seem to like the look of NZXT's Phantom series.  They just released their latest version, the Phantom 630.  It's a full tower that sports option for not only an extreme amount of air cooling but also modular enough inside to allow for some great water cooling setups.  It also happens to retail for around $179 if you can find it.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6681/nzxt-phantom-630-case-review-the-relentless-pursuit-of-perfection/7

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/NZXT-Phantom-630-Gaming-Case,20293.html