sharing my research with you

[Sean W.]

I looked at some charts, and a single 590 draws more power than a 7970, under load and idle. So, I'd assume 2x 590's in SLI would draw more power than a 7970.

i think there is a typo in there... your post doesnt make sense

 

[MindoverMaster]

i think there is a typo in there... your post doesnt make sense

"Your post doesn't make no sense."

 

[I_Am_Skip]

"Your post doesn't make no sense."

Haha, poor grammar right there.

"Your post doesn't make any sense" or "Your post doesn't make sense".

 

[MindoverMaster]

I was mimicking Sean's "I think there is a typo there"

 

[tj_extreme]

i think there is a typo in there... your post doesnt make sense

Wait, that post said 570. Woops. Lemme look up a few new charts. I'd go with 570 SLI, if you don't mind being "last gen" and if your PSU can handle it.

 

[GhOsT1321]

Things to consider
Would your i7 920 be a bottle neck to either of the video card configurations mentioned?
If your i7 would bottleneck the 7970, then the dual GTX 570s would not give a performance increase.

Assuming no bottleneck,
I would go with the GTX 570s for raw performance. Do the games you play most support SLI?
As long as you can handle all of that heat and power, the 570s seem the way to go. Cheaper, more power, more heat, louder.

Have you considered a GTX 590?
Newegg.com - EVGA SuperClocked 015-P3-1582-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Here is an interesting benchmark using your CPU
Nvidia GeForce GTX 590 Review - Page 5 - Futuremark: 3DMark Vantage

 

[tj_extreme]

Do the games you play most support SLI?
Have you considered a GTX 590?
Newegg.com - EVGA SuperClocked 015-P3-1582-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Oh, and I have typos? Sorry to drag you into this Ghost Btw, did you mean a 590 or a 580, because you linked a 580 and said a 590.

 

[GhOsT1321]

Oh, and I have typos? Sorry to drag you into this Ghost Btw, did you mean a 590 or a 580, because you linked a 580 and said a 590.

X.x
Thanks for pointing that out.
I typed "GTX 590" into newegg search, came up with that, and posted it. I blame newegg
I had meant 590, but I thought that the price was ~$500, but it's quite a bit more. The GTX 580 is about $500 but it's not comparable in terms of price/performance to the other 2 options mentioned.
Whoops, hehe

 

[Wildside]

7970 draws the least amount of power across all cards available naturally being a single GPU. ZeroCore Power feature kills all other cards in power consumption on a 28nm fab n still give out so much performance n i find that truly amazing. Don't forget CPU bottlenecking.

 

[Sean W.]

Things to consider
Would your i7 920 be a bottle neck to either of the video card configurations mentioned?
If your i7 would bottleneck the 7970, then the dual GTX 570s would not give a performance increase.

Assuming no bottleneck,
I would go with the GTX 570s for raw performance. Do the games you play most support SLI?
As long as you can handle all of that heat and power, the 570s seem the way to go. Cheaper, more power, more heat, louder.

Have you considered a GTX 590?
Newegg.com - EVGA SuperClocked 015-P3-1582-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Here is an interesting benchmark using your CPU
Nvidia GeForce GTX 590 Review - Page 5 - Futuremark: 3DMark Vantage

that is a very interesting benchmark! thanks for posting that... my processor will not be a bottle neck, no way! wish Slaymate would chime in to confirm, its his favorite processor.

im leaning more towards SLI 570