HD5770 or HD5850

Or you could buy an HD5830 and crossfire in the future. An HD5830 would tide you over for a year, most likely.

If you don't want crossfire, definitely an HD5850.

nah, the 5830 is a really stupid card to get atm

Its release price is meant to be £200
But you can get a 5850 here for £210

How much are they 5830's going to be? Or do we not know yet...

He's using newegg, which means $USD or $CAD. The HD5850 is $300, while the HD5830 has a supposed release price of $250 (or somewhere close). The extra $50 he saves could go to a CF motherboard, and an HD5830. Later down the road, a CF HD5830 will kill the HD5850.

Well I don't think I want a 5380....I will either get a 5770 or spend the money and get the 5850.

Guess we'll have to see some reviews to see if that extra $50 is worth it then  

If you want to play at the highest graphics quality possible then get the HD 5850. It should last you a couple of year longer than a HD 5770 @ 1680 x 1050 resolution before you need to upgrade.

Thanks for the help.

How does 2 HD5770's crossfired compare to one HD5850?

HD5770's do nicely.

2 HD5770's crossfired is a lot better than one HD5850.

OK then I think I will just go ahead with the one HD5770 for now for $160 then pick another up down the road when I see a dip in performance (should be cheaper then too)

Doesn't make much sense though - the price of 2 HD5770's = 1 HD5850

Also, does anyone know if this MoBo supports Crossfire? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

It doesn't support crossfire.

Good to know! Next question - if I want to crossfire 2 cards do I need to get a MoBo that has two PCI-Express x 16 slots?

Yes, definitely.

Make sure it says Crossfire Support.

Keep in mind that CF scaling (same with SLI too) isn't exactly worth the cost; I've seen very few CF solutions hold up generation to generation...I find it much more efficent cost/performance wise to just get the 1 better card.

Agree with jag, the 5850 for a longer term problem solver

I'm confused   I can get two HD5770's that will outperform one HD5850 and in some cases the HD5870 for the same price? Referring to http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/radeon-h...

I will probably get one HD5770 now and crossfire another in a year or so....doesn't that seem pretty practical?

I guess that kinda contradicts my original post about not wanting to upgrade lol but I think I would be OK with getting another 5770 down the road when they drop in price.

Problem is, will there be any available in a few years? Or even a year?
Therell certainly be another gen before a year from now, including a possible refresh as well

Best answer selected by shaw24.

Thank you! This is what I was thinking exactly. It's so easy to just get the next step up but after a while your $1000 build turns into a $1500 build and it's overkill. But thanks everyone for your input - even if I didn't take your advice, it has helped me choose between the two cards!

Thats not good enough. You have to make sure its at least 8x 8x. ATI assigns crossfire support to 4x pci-e slots . Do your homework  
example : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

This is what I have picked out http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

I'm confused though...it says one runs at x16 and the other at x8....do they both need to be 16 or is this ok??

No 16x 8x is fine.
Ideal 16x , 16x
Fine 16x, 8x
Fine 8x 8x ,in fact only the most powerful cards would near the bandwidth available at 8x 8x
Its the best a p55 1156 board can run at (not important to you).

Got it - thank you very much

Yeah, basically just avoid anything that says x4. If it doesn't make it clear look it up elsewhere.