Maximum PC

I am looking at buying a Radeon 7970 I see there are a few manufactors. Which maker is the best to buy from Sapphire, XFX, MSI, Diamond..... you get the picture. I am reading reviews and they all have something negative. I just want a good quality builder with a good customer service department.

Thanks

You can't really go wrong with ASUS. Gigabyte is my #2 for AMD. I think overall EVGA would have the best reviews but they are Nvidia only.

Look at the warranties they offer and go to review sites like Tom's Hardware or HARDOCP to read reviews of the specific model.

Are you saying purchase the EVGA GTX 680's instead of Radeon 7970's. It doesn't matter to me I just want plenty of power so it is either going to be two 680's or two 7970's.
I am currently running two gtx 275's

Specs on the rest of your rig, please. Also, what resolution will you be pushing? And what do you want from your GPU(s)? This will help determine your needs.

Current Specs
ASUS P6T Deluxe V2
Intel X-25 SSD 160GB
Intel i7 920
12GB - PC3-12800
2 x SLI Geforce GTX 275
910watt - PC Power and Cooling

ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 - PCI Specs
PCI Express 2.0 x16
3 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (at x16/x16/x1 or x16/x8/x8 mode)

I do like EVGA for Nvidia Card but I wasn't sure of who to by from for Radeon Cards. XFX has the 7970's at a better price but I am not sure if they are a good company with good customer service if needed.

What resolution will you be gaming on?

If you are using a 1920 x 1080 panel, a single nVidia GTX 670 or Radeon 7950 is probably all you need:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/598?vs=550

On the same 1920 x 1080, if you want maximum FPS now and don't mind spending considerably more money, a single GTX 680 or Radeon 7970 is a good option:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/555?vs=508

If you are gaming or want to game over multiple monitors (for example 3 monitors at 5760 x 1080 resolution), I think in general, the more you have, the better performance. That said, I've read that a GTX 680 SLI only outperforms a GTX 670 SLI by a few FPS. And a single GTX 690 is also only marginally faster as well (I don't know anything about a GTX 690 SLI because that is $2k). If money was irrelevant, I'd prefer a single GPU solution though.

I'm not read up on Radeon cards in Crossfire, so I'm hesistant to comment.

I am using a Dell 24" ultra sharp - 1920x1200
Model - 2408WFP

I haven't done crossfire either. I have always had Nvidia but the Radeon 7970 are just as powerful and cost less than the the GTX 680's.

I'll come out and say it straight - I am partial to nVidia with the current GPUs out there now. For varying reasons. Some of which are rational and some which are not.

That said, read this review and decide for yourself:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/05/ ... ing_perf/1

That said further, I can still call myself somewhat objective. With recent price reductions, Radeon definitely competes better and overall has sweeter spots in terms of bang-for-buck than nVidia. The Radeon 7970 is close to GTX 680 performance yes. But the GTX 670 is close to the Radeon 7970 as well. Very often, the game and the resolution will determine the winner.

For a single 1920 x 1200 panel, I would not suggest dual GPUs. A single high-end card is all you probably need. Take your pick and don't look back!

In certain cases, two mid-range GPUs might be better, if they can beat the high-end card at a better price point. I keep going back to this as an example, but two GTX 560 Ti's would be a GTX 580 by about 10% on average, and cost the same.

I guess the only issue though is that two GPUs take up significantly more power than one.