Building a new system once my credit card is paid off but was wondering if it was better to go big on one graphics card or go dual graphics cards? Any advice or experience as to which would be a better option for gaming?

from my research:

two 560 ti's > 580 GTX (prices: 460 vs 550)
two 6950's > 580 GTX (550 vs 550)

also consider wattage.. A 750w psu will just barely support two 6950s, or one 580 GTX, so if youre running on a small psu , there will be the cost of a new one.. 170 for a cm 850

Was already going 1000W modular for the power supply. With the extra hard drives I have I need all the extra power.

You know what.....unless you're running multiple monitors (i.e nvidia surround/amd eyevinity) I don't see the purpose... I don't think the performance is that much better unless a game is optimized to use sli properly. This is what I've concluded with my experience with sli.


sure there is a discrepancy because I am actually running laptop sli (two GTX 260Ms)

1k Watt may be overkill but it'd do and I really really suggest 1 good card over 2 cards. The stability of 1 card is way easier. I recommend the 7950, it beats a GTX 580 in most tests and its the newest product. That's what I recommended winit and thats what I recommend you.

I went with a single 580 myself.

After reading your build post I think I am going to go the same route as you Rok with the 580.

good thinking. Its alwasy good to get a very powerful single Gpu and simply add a second one later if the need arises, than it is to get 2 sub-par gpu's and have to worry about game compatibility and driver issues