Nvidia and Ati - need advice and some explanation :)

[Bart_Hunt]

Hello guys

I've been building a system recently and I've come to the huge hurdle.
I realized I have no idea which card to choose, either manufacturer or type.
However I noticed few things, both on OcUK site and manufacturers.
Nvidia cards use much less power than Radeons.
See, I have a 600W PSU and If my calculations are correct, I could either use a single Radeon HD 7950/70 or SLI 2x GTX 670.
Which, apart from obvious cost factor, is a better choice?
I'll give you a hint Changing my PSU to get Xfire is not an option

I'll give you another hint, about what I need my GPU for:
Its mostly entertainment, both HD movies and games (MMOs mostly).
So far I never had a GPU that could run high or ultra settings smoothly (30fps+), so thats what I am looking for.

Thanks in advance for any advice or explanations you can give me (and I would really like to know why Radeons are so power hungry).

Cheers

 

[Bart_Hunt]

Well, I have seen the description and it say 300W under load (I guess that is max without overclocking) while 670s have just 170W power usage.
So where is that 130W, extra 1GB of ram?

 

[Bart_Hunt]

Thanks, that explained a lot.
I narrowed down my selection to 2 choices

This:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-185-EA&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=2294

or this:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-304-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1673

Again, don't look at the cost. Just your opinion (try to base it on something more than personal preference).

Thanks

 

[Bart_Hunt]

I thought about that, but I am a bit tight on budget and I set up my limit at 300£ - it does appeal to me that card is a little better, but I don't need one from top shelf. I need a card which will run my games and some programs / video's, fluently, for another 1-2 years.
Knowing that, I will probably end up with that 7950 Sapphire Vapor-X.