The 7970 by leaps and bounds, if your choice is between those two models. The 7970 is AMD's top-of-the-line this gen, whereas the 660ti is quite a further bit down on Nvidia's totempole. In addition, AMD's latest drivers (beta) added up to 12% boost in gpu performance for 7000-seris cards (7700 and upwards).

Bang for the buck in this case --> 7970

I can definately confirm the 690's awesome temps today. I have played DiRT Showdown, Witcher 2, Deus Ex: HR, TW: Shogun 2, as maxed as the games allowed and the temp on the top card (the hottest) never went above 70 degrees celsius, in regular room ambient temperature.

are there only 2 dimm slots on that mobo??

Obiwan_1O

No, 2 are covered by the radiator of the H80, total of 4 dimm slots (with 4x4 memory sticks in them). This was the big difference between the ASUS Rampage IV Formula and Extreme mobos (apart from the ATX and E-ATX ofc). Didn't want an E-ATX board in my case because it would have covered the rubber grommits.

You checked temps or anything yet? I heard the 690 runs fairly cool and quiet.

Postmortem123

The H80 stock fans totally drown out any noise (on the other hand they did that with my 580's too), I read somewhere that Corsair are coming out with 3 new series of fans, hopefully they will be compatible with the H80 pump (I was gonna get something like Scythe Gentle Typhoons but they were somehow incompatible with the H80).

Right now the cards are idling at 31 (lower card) and 34 (top card) (celsius) which I must say is very nice. Today I maxed out at 67 degrees on the top card after about 30-40 minutes of Witcher 2 (everything maxed) and I still couldn't hear anything beyond the H80 fans. Overall, I say pass with distinction.

Plus that build will last you a long time.

HyperWarlock

There is that, most certainly.

Thanks btw to the real hardware enthusiasts here on the forum that have made some positive comments on my build and pictures, again, just wanted to share a bit of awesome tech with fellow techheads out there.

I hate to break it to you, but having a higher model graphics card doesn't make your games look any different. A game would look exactly the same on a pair of GTX 580s as it will on a pair of GTX 690s, provided you can run the game at max detail on both setups. Let's face it- There's not much that a pair of GTX 580's won't completely max out. The 580 and 690 both have exactly the same feature set as it relates to single monitor gaming. In reality, you'd never notice the difference in performance between them either, since both GPU setups will run most games like butter maxed out at high res. So while you do have a lot more GPU horsepower now, in practical terms you've gained next to nothing with current games.

hartsickdiscipl

Well there are a few games out there that 2 580's won't max out at my rez, but fair enough I concede the point. But, to quote Paul Senior, "it's about the build", and the fact that the availability of the Kepler lineup is still pretty weak and that there are even fewer 690's coming off the assembly line makes it feel that I got a rare setup.

Again, isn't it like going into a classic car forum and hatin' on the guy/gal with a really nice classic car that they show because, gee I don't know, maybe people on a classic car forum would be interested in a really nice classic car? Pft!

[QUOTE="cfwin"]

[QUOTE="jonleeprice"] Not mad or jelly just hate show offs, from the cost of what he has paid for those i am guessing he isn't all that young....therefore should have grown out of showing of like this. And what is there to be "jelly" about? the fact he has spent $2k on gpu's to run the same games as the rest of us? 1 x 670 is more than enough for anyone........he has bought them purely to show of, there is no other reason.Obiwan_1O

Pardon me for thinking that readers of a hardware forum might be interested in hardware. And yes the games may be the same but the graphics will probably not look the same with 1 670 vs 2 690's (dang, Triss Merrigold does look the business with übersampling on :) )

what is rediculous thou is its obviousley wasted power on u. you could of run the witcher with ubersampling with 2 580s i can run it with 1 7970!!!

At 2560x1440 with everything maxxed? The 7970 must be stronger than I thought. I definately couldn't do that with my 580's. Well to me it's about building a beast, a proper monster not the actual fps...

[QUOTE="GummiRaccoon"]

[QUOTE="jonleeprice"] You wanted to share some unboxing?? dude shut up this is an out and out show of thread, go and get yourself a life man.....jesus.jonleeprice

u mad

Pardon me for thinking that readers of a hardware forum might be interested in hardware. And yes the games may be the same but the graphics will probably not look the same with 1 670 vs 2 690's (dang, Triss Merrigold does look the business with übersampling on :) )

OK so here are some pics for those wanting to follow this installation:

The GTX 690 in all its anti-static glory:

My internal space (with two, now retired Gainward GTX 580 (straight in the bin with those, no gonna sell 'em ofc)):

Gaping emptiness:

And...drumroll...ta da:

I do so enjoy the cable management, if I may say so myself.

Now, on to testing...maybe Witcher 2 with übersampling turned on :)