Building a gaming PC for the first time

[goddog]

boot drive should be an ssd either 128 or 256 if you can afford it, makes a big difference

 

 

if you decide to  go deeper into and build from scratch 

 

Ive been very happy with the SilverStone Temjin TJ08-E case

reviews

http://techreport.com/articles.x/22814

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4533/silverstone-temjin-tj08-fat-case-in-a-little-coat

 

and as for 7970, as long as you get a 3rd party heat sink you should be good check the reviews, some of them over clock like beasts and thats where it can challenge the gtx 680 

 

also be aware the 7970 ghtz edition comes out soon with a slight change in clock and a major change in memory clock. 

 

at stock the 7970 is better than the 670 in most games but not all. and the 670 is smaller, quitter, cooler.  

 

 

 with the 7970 OC most of the time but not all it can beat OC 680 - i might be a bit biassed due to owning a 7970 (msi lightning got it cheapish for the series) mine is OC to 1250 gpu core and 1625 memory  up form 1070 and 1400. no voltage changes using the afterburner overclocking tool 

 

in full disclosure the first 7970 i bought i had to send back it was unstable and ran really hot at stock, was a powercolor PCS+ (as in the 925 stock not the cards 1100 OC stock which could not even launch into stuff)

 

the biggest reason i went with the 7970 vs the 680/670 is running multiple high res screens and the memory that requires. i looked into the 4 gig 680/670 but they all at the time i bought mine had stock style coolers which are loud.. 

… but it was a hard decision either way you go the gpu are top notch and should be good for awhile