Radeon HD 4770 in crossfire vs GeForce GTX 260 in SLI?

[GoOakland]

It seems these are BOTH very reliable setups for graphics at a modest price. I have seen glowing reviews on both of the setups. The GTX 260s in SLI was used in the $1300 enthusiast PC which "cuts through our new gaming benchmarks like a hot knife through butter" and the HD 4770s in crossfire was just named a "2009 reccomended buy" and labled as "unbeatable".

GTX 260: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-sff,2312-17.html

HD 4770: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-4770-crossfire,2288-13.html

But which one should I get? I have a core i7-920 just begging to be put to use already. This will ultimately influence my decision for the motherboard and then its smooth sailing from there on out.

Any thoughts or insight would be helpful/great because I don't know too much.

 

[drums101]

I would go with the gtx 260s myself because they have more video memory 896mb vs. 512mb and a bigger buswidth 448bit vs. 128bit. That would definatly get you better performance in games paired with the 920.

 

[BoBzzz]

The GTX 260s should be faster. They perform about the same as two 4870s which is a rather significant step up from the 4770s.

The 4770 setup was labeled 'unbeatable' because of the price to performance ratio at the time. However, you can currently find 4850s for less than the 4770 and they're faster. They just use more power and run a little hotter.

See: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2362-6.html

 

[megamanx00]

At current prices two 4850s in crossfire would be a better option than two 4770s. If you can afford to get two GTX 260s, as well as an SLI board, then go with that. If it's out of your price range, then go with two 4850s.

 

[redgarl]

Well, 2 4870 or 2 GTX260 should be the same on a core i7 and core 2.

 

[pauldh]

No contest the GTX 260 combo is better. The 4770's are no longer recommended because of pricing/availability.

But, if you are in the USA, for similar performance to SLI 260's you can do dual Hd 4870 1GB's for far less money. Just back in stock... $120 shipped after $20 rebate:
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10010111