Buying advice - GTX 680 or GTX 670+CPU Cooler?

Hi everyone,

First off, this is my very first post here, so I apologize in advance for any n00bish faux-pas.

I have a question about how I should spend the few remaining dollars I have budgeted for my PC build. I've already bought the following components (and have them up and running):
- Asus z77 Sabertooth mobo
- 8GB Corsair dominator ram (1866)
- intel i5-3570K
- Corsair HX1050 psu
- OCZ vertex 4 SSD (64GB)
- seagate constellation 500gb HD

The obvious missing component in this list is the graphics card, and I have about $600 left to spend. I definitely want an nVidia-based card, but I can't decide between the Asus GTX680 DC2 (DirectCUii) and the EVGA 2GB GTX 670 FTW Edition. The Asus 680 is obviously a better card, BUT if I get the EVGA 670, I can use the remaing $$$ to get a Noctua D-14 CPU cooler. If I get the Asus, I'll have to stick with the stock intel fan/heatsink that I'm running right now. Whichever video card I get, I plan to eventually buy it a "twin" for SLI, but this will be a future purchase (probably in about a year or so). And yes, I know the Asus card is ridiculously hard to find in stock, but I'm willing to wait and stalk the vendor website for as long as necessary if this is the card that I decide I really want.

I plan to use this computer mostly for gaming, but also a little multimedia (probably gonna get a blu-ray drive soon-ish), and maybe some light video-editing. I don't have much overclocking experience, but I DO plan to overclock. Also, it probably isn't relevant, but I'm dual-booting Linux (because it's awesome!) and Winoze 7 (because games require it) - both 64bit.

So my question (finally!) is which purchase option should I choose, and why?

1) EVGA GTX 670 FTW; plus Noctua D-14

2) Asus GTX 680 DC2 (which would mean stock intel fan / heatsink)


Here are the links to the specific product pages from Newegg:

EVGA GTX 670:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130787

Asus GTX 680:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121634

Noctua D
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608018



Thanks in advance for your help and advice.

Holy cow - 5 replies already! Thanks SO much guys (and/or possibly gals)!!! And even better, you're all in agreement, so I guess the choice is clear: EVGA 670 plus D-14 it is!

to be honest, I'm pretty happy that this was the favored choice. For one, the EVGA card is actually available, whereas accoding to everyone everywhere, finding an Asus 680 in stock is like winning the lottery twice in one day. Also, two new toys to install is twice as much fun as one! And even with the price of the D-14 included the 670 is still slightly cheaper than the Asus card. I think I put the remaining $$ towards a large case fan. I've had my eye on the BitFenix Spectre Pro 230mm. Here's the newegg product page: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835345036 Anyone have any feedback on this one? Bitfenix lists the airflow as 156 CFM, which seems a little too god to be true imo. However, none of the reviews I've read have questioned the legitimacy of this spec, so...

And thanks for the link to the OC guide, Swolern. I can't wait to dig into the nuts and bolts of my rig and see what it can do! The sabertooth mobo seems to have some pretty user friendly OCing tools built into the UEFI. As for the WC set-up, I'm sure it would outperform the D-14, but I think I'm going to stick with air for now. I'm building a full custom case for this pc, and I've already made some very elaborate plans for it. Adding liquid cooling to the equation at this point would mean another month or more of agonizing over the design. (I'm really OCD about these things.)

Speaking of my custom case, I'll almost certainly be starting a thread here discussing the build once I get started. Advice and feedback are more than welcome.

Thanks again everone. You all rock!