Gtx 260 vs 4870 for new gaming pc

First of all, so sorry for creating a 'help me' topic, but I'm drawing a blank here.

First I was considering 9600 gt in sli, then the 9800gtx+, which turned into the gx2, which I decided costs too much. So I settled on the Gtx 260. Not terribly expensive, got a rebate and everything, and the possibility of running it in sli further down the road.

Was talking with a relative that knows hardware way better than I do, and who's opinion I trust, and he recommended the 4870 in a way that was to say there was no competition. I didn't see that much of a difference, but I'm not any kind of informed person.

Wondering which is the better card, and worried about getting a reasonably priced motherboard that will allow me to run whichever in sli or xfire

If u go the SLi way, GTX260 (or wait till the "refresh" ). If u go the CF way, 4870.

Lead from the 4870 (IMO): DX10.1 and AVIVO.

If u actually use your PC for watching movies or something, it's quite nice. And DX10.1 games 'might' be getting closer, but it's nothing but fuzz and high hopes

Esop!

Aris: actually, the 4870 beats the GTX260 in most benchmarks (though not by much of a margin), and even if the xxx edition is overclocked far enough to regain the edge from the 4870, there's no way it has enough of a performance boost to get a 15-20% lead I'd go with the 4870 right now - it simply has the better performance, as well as better HD video decoding, audio over HDMI, and DX10.1.

That having been said, both are great cards, and the performance difference is fairly minor between them.

could you please post your country of residence as in this case it can come down to what costs more and in some countries such as my own the 260 will cost £10+ more and even though small can be a deciding factor.

i was talking to the OP.