Good thing SOW is Nvidia's friendly !

When figuring in the cost of a card vs. another card and then adding to the SLI/Crossfire you should take into account the increased power consumption. GPU's these days are not like the Voodoo3's and 64mb Geforce 4's of late 90's early 00's. They are big, and they eat a lot of electricity. Might not be a factor for people who have an apartment or are living at their parent's house, but that adds up over the year, especially if you're one of those gamers who spends a few hours a night gaming and not just having your cards sitting idle while surfing the net.

I'd love to see some kWh usage per month/year for some of those cards. Given the heat they produce they might rival your average TV or small appliance.

[klem]

Well the deed is done. I have gone for the EVGA Superclocked 570GTX.

Power consumption of the 6970 and 570 at stock speeds is very similar although one report put the 6970 as the higher of the two on higher resolutions/game demands.

It was a fine-line decision. I first had to shake off the disappointment of the 6970 not being a 570 killer in order to give it a fair go. I almost did the sulky-kid thing Ultimately it came down to the points (for my needs) in my previous post. Add to that the fact that Oleg is developing SoW using Nvidia cards, which may have a sliver of an effect, and the EVGA stock 570GTX review I found that put it ahead of stock 570 cards without even o/clocking and I reckon that the Superclocked EVGA is the best choice for me.

Can't wait to get my hands on my little beauty

Scan.co.uk 3XS SLIK i7 X58 950 BlackOps Bundle, tailored, comprising:-
Asus Sabertooth motherboard, Intel X58 chipset, Socket 1366, PCI-E 2.0 , DDR3 1866MHz, USB3/SATA 6Gb/s, SATA RAID, ATX
Intel Core i7 950 Bloomfield 45nm, 3.06 GHz, QPI 4.8GT/s, 8MB Cache, 23x Ratio, 130W, Retail, o/c to 4.2GHz
Prolimatech Megahalems Rev B,Super 6 Heatpipe Tower Cooler (Fanless, cooled by case roof fan)
EVGA Superclocked 570GTX
128GB Crucial RealSSD C300, MLC-Flash, SATA3 6Gbps, 2.5" SSD, Read 355MB/s, Write 70MB/s
6GB (3x2GB) Corsair Dominator, DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600), CAS 8-8-8-24, DHX, XMP, New connector, 1.65V
Coolermaster HAF 912 Plus, Black, Mid Tower Case
750W Corsair HX Series Modular PSU
2 x 120mm Akasa Apache Ultra Silent Fan HDB Bearing PWM fan w/4 pin connector & Rubber Pins
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit, Operating System, Single, - OEM
Acronis True Image 2010 sofware
Built and Overclocked to 4.2GHz, Tested and Heat Soaked
1 year on site Warranty plus 1 year rtb

[T}{OR]

Originally Posted by klem

Can't wait to get my hands on my little beauty

Scan.co.uk 3XS SLIK i7 X58 950 BlackOps Bundle, tailored, comprising:-
Asus Sabertooth motherboard, Intel X58 chipset, Socket 1366, PCI-E 2.0 , DDR3 1866MHz, USB3/SATA 6Gb/s, SATA RAID, ATX
Intel Core i7 950 Bloomfield 45nm, 3.06 GHz, QPI 4.8GT/s, 8MB Cache, 23x Ratio, 130W, Retail, o/c to 4.2GHz
Prolimatech Megahalems Rev B,Super 6 Heatpipe Tower Cooler (Fanless, cooled by case roof fan)
EVGA Superclocked 570GTX
128GB Crucial RealSSD C300, MLC-Flash, SATA3 6Gbps, 2.5" SSD, Read 355MB/s, Write 70MB/s
6GB (3x2GB) Corsair Dominator, DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600), CAS 8-8-8-24, DHX, XMP, New connector, 1.65V
Coolermaster HAF 912 Plus, Black, Mid Tower Case
750W Corsair HX Series Modular PSU
2 x 120mm Akasa Apache Ultra Silent Fan HDB Bearing PWM fan w/4 pin connector & Rubber Pins
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit, Operating System, Single, - OEM
Acronis True Image 2010 sofware
Built and Overclocked to 4.2GHz, Tested and Heat Soaked
1 year on site Warranty plus 1 year rtb

Very nice build. Except I would change the SSD for a Corsair Force series (285/275 R/W) and Dominators for latest Muskin RAM that dominates them in all areas.

[klem]

Originally Posted by T}{OR

Very nice build. Except I would change the SSD for a Corsair Force series (285/275 R/W) and Dominators for latest Muskin RAM that dominates them in all areas.

There's always a bleeding critic!

Do you know how much angst I've suffered just putting this baby together?

[T}{OR]

Originally Posted by klem

There's always a bleeding critic!

Do you know how much angst I've suffered just putting this baby together?

And there always will be. I just wrote what I read on the net, based on the various reviews.

Take it or leave it, your choice.

[klem]

Originally Posted by T}{OR

And there always will be. I just wrote what I read on the net, based on the various reviews.

Take it or leave it, your choice.

You may be interested in this.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3656/c...is-very-good/1
Both the Crucial and the Corsair come out very well. I was interested in the read speed and gaming performance. Looks like I'll be ok (my new mobo has a 6Gb/s controller).

[T}{OR]

Already read it mate. That article is almost 8 months old.

Try this one:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4020/o...linx-martini/2

[swiss]

Originally Posted by speculum jockey

I'd love to see some kWh usage per month/year for some of those cards. Given the heat they produce they might rival your average TV or small appliance.

be my guest:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-580-review/7

less than $10/month