Which Videocard is the one for me?

[KLoNe]

Hey guys; Looking at these two 'high end' HD6970 cards:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/asus-rade ... i-review/1

~ $410AU

&

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/ ... 3-edition/

~ $440AU

Things that are going to influence me:
- QUIET
- Overclockability + ability to stay cool.
- Ability to output to 3 monitors (2x Dell 2407 & 1x 65" (for movies; won't be playing games over the 3 monitors, just the 2x Dell's))

I don't care about getting BF3 in with the Sapphire, but I do like how it has the Vapour-X chamber and the FleX (don't have to buy an active DP adapter). Also like how the Sapphire is only a 2 slot card = possibility of XFire in future maybe.
I have a feeling that the ASUS will be able to get rid of air quicker & stay a little cooler tho.

I was going to just get a ASUS 6950 2GB DirectCuII, but I believe there is only a small chance of being able to unlock these seeing I will be gaming on a 3840x1200 setup, I don't think the cheaper card would be able to keep up.

What do you guys think?

Many thanks

[Deucal]

I've read through both reviews. And it comes to this, do you intend to go X-fire later and the 3 slot Asus blocks the only other GPU slot on the MB go Sapphire.
The Asus edges out on better cooling and less noise on load. Both have 2GB of memory so they can take 3way-finity.

[KLoNe]

Yeah, I'm thinking the ASUS for the better cooling - I don't think I'll go CrossFire too soon & I might even hold off until the 7000 series comes out and just upgrade to one of them.

$35AU on top of the ASUS for a Active DP->DVI adapter tho

Thanks for the reply

Anyone else?

[Zorander]

You might want to add the MSI R6970 Lightning to your list. I recently got one and it is a very quiet performer.

[KLoNe]

You might want to add the MSI R6970 Lightning to your list. I recently got one and it is a very quiet performer.

Thanks Zorander - MSI Lightning here in Australia is about $100US more than the others for some strange reason.

[Zorander]

You should be able to find one on Ebay for reasonably good price. I got mine for USD$400 delivered to Australia and, added by the more favourable exchange rate back then, it was a very good deal.

[KLoNe]

Cheapest is $460 on eBay :/