Radeon 5770 vs. GeForce GTX260?

[mcrammerdocdoc]

So quick backstory : awhile ago my BFG 8800GT GPU died mysteriously. I sent it back to BFG, didn't hear anything for a month, got impatient, and picked up a XFX Radeon 5770 on sale since I'd kind of been itching to upgrade anyway. It eventually turned out BFG had lost my card, and (I guess to apologize?) they sent me back a factory-OC'ed GTX260 instead of a 8800GT.

So now I'm in what's kind of an awesome conundrum: do I stick with the 5770, or swap in the GTX260? The 260 benches marginally (5-10%) better at stock speeds than the 5770, and the factory overclock would probably add another 5% to that (the 5770 is running stock), but that's probably not enough of a boost to be noticeable in most games. The 5770 has a tiny bit more RAM (1GB vs 896MB) but again, probably not enough to matter.

So it's really a question of intangibles: is there any inherent benefit, outside of raw performance numbers, to running one card vs. the other? I've got an ATI-chipset motherboard, which would instinctively nudge me toward sticking with the ATI GPU, but some googling would seem to indicate that it doesn't actually matter much (no plans for SLI or Crossfire). Are there other mitigating factors (e.g. PhysX support, DX11 support) that I'm overlooking that would tip the scales here?

 

[gerardb]

well, some people say that DX 11 is WHY you should stick with the 5770 but um... wel.. lets face it, that gpu would have some problems handling dx 11 games (very few right now), so... dx 11 is not for me....
Eyefinity is interesting, but i wonder.... for work sounds fine, for gaming, the 5770 would have a hard time i guess, with the new games.
Lower power might interest you, not sure. It uses one pci expres 6 pin only, gtx 260 uses 2...
now with Nvidia. Image quality seems a bit better on the Nvidia side, drivers are amazing =) and the 260 overclocks like a champ!

mmm!!!
I personaly would go with the 260 (i have one and i love it , i play at a 24" LCD 1920*1200, evertything smooth) but, why dont you sell both cards and get something better? maybe a 5850? or a gtx 285?
hope this helps pal

 

[welshmousepk]

a 5770 is cooler, quieter and uses less power.

theres no use sticking with old tech for no reason. and while a 5770 won't be gaming in eyefinity on modern games, its an option for less demanding titles. more importantly you are future proofing yourself for Dx11.

 

[duk3]

I would see if you can sell both of them and get a 5850.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

What resolution ? DX10 or 11 ? PhysX significant to you ?

The 260 outperforms the 5770 by about 10% in Dx10 games.....The 5770 is DX11 compliant but it struggles w/ 1920 x 1200 resolution. Might wanna set up a dual boot, leave the 260 on the default boot for DX10 games and install the ATI drivers to the 2nd installation for DX11 games.....of course that's some work but best I can offer ya between sticking w/ the 260 or saving up for a 470 / 5850.

 

[wa1]

Sell both your cards and get HD5850...

 

[paigeinfull]

dude the 5770 is more than competent to run any current game at 1920 x 1200, you may have to turn the settings down on some but i can run a 5770 in dirt 2 with every setting on high and 2x msaa and with 2048 x 1152 resolution; my minimum fps is 37.6. I also saw a 30 min. eyefinity video review somewhere and they ran a single 5770 with 3 1080p monitors, worked just fine

 

[wa1]

HD5850 is good for a long term.
And Yes, HD5770 is enough, but not too good for a high demanding games like crysis or newer games...