5770 Crossfire, Best budget dual graphic card solution?

[clinomaniac]

Hello guys and gals,

I have around £240 to spend on a graphics solution but need it ASAP. I just read a review for the HD5770 in Crossfire on Tweaktown and it suggested it was close to a HD5850 CF in terms of performance on resolutions up to 1920x1200. Can that be true? Is the HD5770 a strangely epic card or have mid-range cards really come this far??
I'm assuming 1920x1200 is the point at which the HD5850 CF pulls away massively in terms of performance but that really doesn't matter to me as I only use a single 1920x1200 monitor.

As I mentioned earlier, I have around £240 to spend and I've narrowed my options down to the following:

Single HD5850 (Though I will have to wait an age to get one)

XFX HD 5770 CF (DX11 and cooler and lower power draw than GTX 260)

ASUS GTX 260 216core SLI ~£260 (For the PhysX but unfortunately no DX11)

Bearing in mind I will not be upgrading any further as money from this point on will go towards my next rig. Which do you think is the best option?

Any opinions? Are the HD5770's noisy?


Thanks

P.S. This is going into an i7 Rig with ample power supply and cooling.

 

[obsidian86]

2 4890's http://www.ebuyer.com/product/161672

 

[Rustyy117]

From what ive read crossfire 5770's are slightly faster than a single 5850, Personaly I'd wait on a 5850, and wouldn't consider the 260's as their DX10.

If you don't want to spend £450 on crossfire 5850's (either now or in the future) then go with 5770 crossfire. OR you could wait until Q1/Q2 of 2010 for NVidia's offerings.

 

[punisher 281]

I would wait until the middle of January to try and get a 5850 for a reasonable price.

 

[canadianwhiteguy]

I bought the 5770 and I am very impressed awesome card and i paid $188 and change in Canadian dollars. Good card buy it!

 

[jyjjy]

Crossfired HD5770s are a bit less powerful than an HD5870 but crossfired HD5850s should be on par with an HD5970.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Easy choice w/ a new rig on the way .... the 260. Can decide when ya build that whether to go 5xxx or fermi but ya will still have the 260 available as a dedicated PhysX card. Again, w/ new rig already in the planning, DX11 ain't gonna mean beans.

Of course that assumes that the new rig gets new GFX. If budget is tight and ya don't think you will be upgrading until after XMas 2011, then a 5xx is the better choice.

 

[jyjjy]

Personally I don't think Physx is a big deal but wouldn't a GTX 260 devoted to it be massive overkill anyway?

 

[clinomaniac]

I've decided to go for the HD5770 in Crossfire as it seems the best bang for buck atm and will last me the 2-3 years I want it to, not that I will have this PC for that long.

My 8800GTX lasted me almost 3 years, and to be honest would still be fine for most games at 1680x1050.

As for a dedicated physX card, if there ever came a day that I changed to nVidia cards and would need/want that I would get me a 9600GSO for £45 to fill that role.

Saying that, nVidia's GTX300 range will probably be more than capable anyway when it comes down to it.

Thanks for the advice people. Much appreciated.