Tarek1337

This card is a beast. Although, it has a horrible price/performance ratio, especially since it's around the same price as a 690. However, if you have an insane resolution, want high scores in different bench marking programs, or want a monster for a small form factor build, it's the perfect card. I wish this is what the 680 was. On a side note, I'm happy that Paul didn't state that it was the first single-GPU card to have 6GB of VRAM, like a few other reviewers have (Sapphire made a 7970 with 6GB of VRAM).

The size of the bus only matters when memory bandwidth matters. A bigger bus, or a higher effective memory frequency can aid in increasing memory bandwidth. To find out the memory bandwidth, I did a simple calculation, which is posted below. interface width x effective memory frequency ÷ 8 bits per byte = memory bandwidth. XFX 7970: 384-bit x 5.7GHz ÷ 8 bits per byte = 273.6GB/s EVGA 670: 256-bit x 6.008GHz ÷ 8 bits per byte = 192.256GB/s As you can see, the 7970's memory bandwidth is significantly higher than the 670s. The faster the graphics card can access the memory, the more large textures and anti-aliasing options you can use. Of course, you won't see as big of a performance increase with a 7970 as this calculation would like you to believe, but you may see a small increase. Hopefully this answers your questions about bus width. I'm glad to help. (I give up on the formatting.)

Personally, I think what you have so far is pretty good. Of course, I have made some adjustments, and I will explain why I have done so below. Here is what I've changed your build to: https://pcpartpicker.com/p/EguL Addition of the Samsung 840 Series 128GB SSD: I have added an SSD because, frankly, I believe all mid-range to high-end computers should have one. While it may only impact loading and boot-up times in regards to gaming, it is one of the most noticeable upgrades one could possibly make. The difference between a HDD and an SSD can blow your mind away. Also, this Samsung SSD is a good quality SSD, and is fairly affordable. Addition of the XFX Double D 7970: Between a 4GB 670, and a 3GB 7970, I have chosen the 7970. I have done so because AMD's cards are looking better and better with each new driver update. You should have no troubles reaching a fully-modded, high-settings Skyrim while maintaining good frame rates with this card. Change of the PSU to the Thermaltake Smart M 750W PSU: While the PSU you chose was in no way a bad choice, I think that most people would agree that a modular power supply is definitely better than a non-modular power supply. They are just much easier to work with. I hope you find my changes/additions valuable. I am open to any and all criticism about my choices. If you have any other requirements or personal preferences that you would like incorporated into this, feel free to post them. I would be more than happy to help you further. (If you are interested in my build, it consists of a 3770k, 16GBs of RAM, a 2GB 680 (there were no 4GB 680s in stock, and I was too impatient to wait), a 128GB SSD, a 1TB HDD, all connected to a Sabertooth Z77 motherboard. I can easily achieve 60 FPS at 1920x1080 on a full STEP installation, with maximum settings. The build I posted above should be able to match my performance, or even exceed it.)