soooo to get back on topic, I would say this, look at stock benchmarks, this will show where single cards really excel, namely with a system similar to yours. Typically, the 6970 gives you a higher score, but only by a slim margin, once overclocked, the GTX570 jumps ahead by a similarly slim margin. Once in CF/SLi, The GTX570 is a considerable distance above the 6970 (both of which, keep in mind are at standard clock speed). For your wants, Get a GTX570 would be my recommendation, simply because of the overclocking, but the trade-off is the AMD card will probably last a year or two longer.