Maximum PC

Need some help here guys.
I've been an ATI user since the 9800 pro days, but have built many systems for friends using Nvidia cards, especially during the 8800 era.

I'm building a PC and I've already bought and assembled my case, PSU, Mobo, CPU, and RAM
So far it's Thermaltake Speedo Full Tower, Thermaltake 875W Toughpower XT (single 12 v rail @ 72 amps), Asus P6T V2 Deluxe, Corsair XMS3 PC1600 DDR3 3x2 GB, and Intel Core i7 930 socket 1366. Also got a Thermaltake Frio CPU cooler.

I'm stuck on the graphics. Price is important, and power is obviously important since I've already got a PSU. I bought the PSU and case together and saved $140 buying through newegg with instant savings and bundled savings.

I've built a PC so far for a friend with the standard clocked 5870 back in January which was great. I know I can get an HD5870 for $400 and the GTX 480 for about $520, maybe $500. I don't need OC editions of either, not wasting the money I can OC myself.
I plan on using SLI/Xfire in the near future, I will get a second card around X-mas time. While I know the Fermi out performs the 5870 by about 10% (15% in some DX11) the cost/power is the catcher if I'm getting 2 cards. I know my PSU can handle 2 Fermis and atleast 2 HD 5870s.
The kicker is, with the price/power ratio I can either get 2 GTX480s, or 2 5870s & 1 5850 for tri x-fire. Both deals would come to about $1000, give or take a few bucks. Heat isn't an issue, so long as the cards are reasonable. I'll have adequate cooling in the case, I just don't want my GPUs so constantly sit at 90c under load with my cooling solutions which are going to be quite beefy.

There's also rumor that ATI is coming out with HD6xxx cards in November? That's something important. I don't know if they'll be good (might be what the ati 3xxx was to the 2xxx / nvidia 9000 vs 8000). Regardless, that would atleast drive the price down of the 5xxx series which would be insane. I don't know if those rumors have any truth what so ever though.

It's a win win either way. I'm not looking for fanboy opinions, I'm looking for peoples experiences with SLI vs Crossfire, number crunching with price vs performance, and overall experience with the software drivers. I lack some Nvidia insight, so that would help. Also some insight into this 6xxx rumor and rumors regarding the possibilities of a GTX 485 (or whatever a dual GTX480 would be).

On a side note, my monitor is a 23.5 incher (or something) @ 1080x1920 via HDMI. I have a second one one the way so Eyefinity/Nvidia 3D is a possibility. Don't really care which I'm not big into 3D gaming but good multi-monitor support would be nice.

Thanks bros.

Dual-monitor EyeFinity/SurroundVision works well for strategy games. For shooters, not so much unless your monitors have fantastically thin bezels. So it depends on the games you play. If you play mostly shooters and action games, save the money, just get a single card, or at the most dual 5850s, and stick with one monitor for games.

I agree with Spart on this one. Unless you have thin bezzeled monitors stick to just one as the bezzel correction can be a pita even with Nvidia easier to configure setup. Besides, having 2" of bezzle is just CRAZY! Why do they STILL make monitors like that?

Some manufacturers (notably, Samsung) gussy up the bezels to make them look a little nicer. Great for TV/single monitor, terrible for 2+ monitor setups.

Agreed! Bezels are annoying crap. As are glossy displays.
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/b ... rame_width
Hopefully we start seeing a lot more of this.

Ho-lee-crap, that looks fantastic.

If you play fps you have to have odd numbers of screens so 1 3 5 7 9 there must be a center screen. Although you could have the game on one screen and something else on the other I know a few people that do that.

I know you have to have a center screen. I'm getting a 3rd soon.
I play a number of different games. Mass Effect 2, TF2, Supreme Commander 1 & 2, Starcraft II, League of Legends, you name it.

So any preference on Nvidia vs Ati on this one (relating to the questions in my original post)?

Pending/ignoring any new parts on the horizon, I find this is a good unbiased comparison:

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/sli_vs_crossfire_which_dual-card_setup_best

At the very least it's a good summary. While I am personally pro ATI, I find the comments concerning the nVidia 1 gig 460 very interesting as far as high end performance on the cheap so to speak.

Anand tech (I think) , [Hard] OCP, Tech Report, and X-Bit Labs for starters have done some more focused comparisons.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/19404
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gf-gtx460-sli.html
http://hardocp.com/article/2010/08/04/geforce_gtx_460_1gb_sli_vs_radeon_hd_5850_cfx

Well if 3D is a possibility I would lean toward nvidia obviously. Also Nvidia scales better in SLI. I woul recomend dual 460s