if you aren't doing much tesselated gaming the 5970 is faster by 10 percent in most games that aren't DX11 based. but I mean you wont see much benefit if thats all your doing lol. I know CS5 has GPU acceloration but its not like you need a beefy computer to do much on CS5 other then some ram

The 5970 is faster than the GTX 580 but it's last gen. You could invest in two 6950s in CF for about the same price and it will also outpreform a single 5970 and a single GTX 580.

Well I just got in today my motherboard where this video card is going into. I bought the ASUS RAMPAGE III EXTREME, Crossfile and SLI ready. Like I said before I am only interested in a single Video Card. Two video cards would possibly killed my eardrums along with everything else humming.

I want to keep the HUM as low as possible. That is why also I purchase the Corsair H70 CPU Liquid Cooler.
The only problem I see in the 5970 is that is going to be humming wildly where as the GTX 580 is not going to as much. Most of you here have chosen the 5970 where as someone in another fold have chosen GTX 580.

Not sure, seems like I have to bring in the BIG GUNS...lol.

then you dont want a 5970 or a 580, I own a 5970 currently and when you play games the fan speed is very loud. 580 is probably close

then you dont want a 5970 or a 580, I own a 5970 currently and when you play games the fan speed is very loud. 580 is probably close

I need to check the noise level for both now. But I hear that the 5970 is really loud. Thanks for that personal info.

you could always buy a water block and make a water cooling system if you have the extra funds

I can get a water block for the GPU?
That would be awzome!
But then I will have two waterblocks cause I already bought one from Corsair for my CPU.

nah you can buy a water block for dual GPU cards. Im trying to think what site sold them. when I get off work I can look it up for you.

Koolance makes an ok water cooling bracket for GPUs. It's simply the plate that screws over the GPU with the input and output flow grommet. Here is a link with more helpful information. http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/product_info.php?product_id=566