Which 680?

[Uncle_Gravy]

Just built my new system last month

If you're interested:
Cooler Master Haf X
MSI Z77 Mpower Big Bang Mobo
Intel i7 3770K @4.40GHz
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2
Corsair Vengeance Blue 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz
XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular 80 Plus Silver PSU
Asus 6850 1GB (Robbed from my old Q6600 System)


Looking to upgrade to the 680 after Christmas and i'd just like some help picking which one to go for, I've been looking at the MSI cards (Like the Lightning which would go well with the look of the mobo), they seem good, but i'd like the opinion of others.

Also while i'm here i'd definately will need a new Monitor, been rocking with a VGA monitor for 8 years

The reviews on this seem to make this a good one to have http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-051-BQ&groupid=17&catid=510&subcat=

I would like something bigger than 24"

Thanks in advance.

 

[Uncle_Gravy]

That's a nice monitor, but £500 is too much for me to spend on a monitor,

What about one of these? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-040-AS&groupid=17&catid=1120&subcat=

Am I gonna see a difference between 144Hz vs 120Hz?

The GPU, I don't mind paying the premium, But looking at the 7970, couple of googling and reading reviews, it seems to perform better then the 680...But its much cheaper and its cheap for a reason?

 

[Uncle_Gravy]

No 120 Hz is smooth enough.

Personally 27" is too big physically for 1920*1080. Can you see what it's like for you before buying anywhere?

I would say 120 Hz over a higher resolution personally but it's completely subjective and you'd be better off trying before you buy really.

So stick with the 24" BenQ I linked eariler or similar.

 

[Uncle_Gravy]

I'm probably under the bigger screen list, but see how it goes after christmas.

I'm still torn between the 680 and 7970.

Nvida have better Driver support, PhysX, consumes less power I think...
Is there a reason behind the cheapness of the 7970?

 

[Uncle_Gravy]

I've been thinking of a 3 monitor setup since playing dirt 3 on my mate's 3 monitor setup my mind exploded.

What would be great to run 3 120Ghz @ 1080?

Thanks.

 

[Uncle_Gravy]

2 680s, or you could get 3 7950s (better imo) but you ma need a new mmotherboard to support trifire.

The Mpower Z77 boards have 3x PCIe 3 slots, unless theres a compatibillity issue i've missed.

 

[Uncle_Gravy]

main issue is the spacing between card 2 and 3 isnt as large as between 1 and 2 however good cooling cards will help with that . But other than that will be fine I reckon.

Now that you mention it, i've just noticed the gap, should be fine (hopefully) If i do go down the Trifire route, cooling 'should' be fine due to having a 200mm fan on the side of my Haf x blowing on the cards.

Gonna be expensive, so it's gonna take a few months of saving.

 

[Uncle_Gravy]

Don't believe Z77 supports tri-fire/SLI, no? Happy to be corrected if wrong.

I could be wrong but reading online, it supports 3way Sli (8x 4x 4x) and 2way CF