Keep 2x GTX260's or go 1x 5850

[jalpaugh1978]

Ok so I've been kicking around the idea of making some changes and based on the general opinion here in the forums i am leaning towards keeping my Q9550, but am now thinking of dumping my 2 EVGA GTX 260 core 216 SC in favor of a single 5850. This would also include dumping my EVGA 750i FTW mobo and breaking my GB P45 UD3R back out(which I have missed). I have a 22" lcd(1680x1050) and was wondering what kind of performance I scould expect if I did this. One of my other motives for doing this is the amount of power I would save. It would be nice to get somewhat the same performance out of one card that I currently get out of 2 cards while not using near as much power. I would keep my PC P&C 750W PSU just in case I wanted to further upgrade to another 5850 down the road with a possible switch to i7 (or whatever is going on then)2 years down the road.

 

[gkay09]

^ If power is your main concerin, then defintely the switching would save a lot of power( In Idle, even more)...
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-5850,2433-13.html

But performance wise, the HD 5850 is similar to GTX 285(Slightly better in some cases)...So you should get an idea of the performance difference you can expect from the switching...but at your current resolition, IMO the performance hit would not be much...
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-5850,2433-7.html

 

[jalpaugh1978]

Thanks for the quick reply. i love these cards, but, would also like the extra saving on my electric bill. Any little bit help these days

 

[megamanx00]

I don't know that you would save enough power to justify the cost of a Radeon 5850. Even though a 5850 is significantly faster than a GTX 285, it's still slower in DX 10 games than two GTX 260s. I say wait till prices drop on the 5850 and DX11 games become more relevant.