What power for my setup?

Corsair 650TX, just 2 6+2 pin PCI-e connector and Rosewill RG630 & RG700-S12 - just 1 6-pin and 1 6+2-pin PCI-e connector. Not exactly what you want for 2 5870s. But you can work around that.

Are you willing to talk about using HD 5850s? What screen resolution will you be using now - or in the near future?
The price difference gives you a little extra room on PSU and case choice.

hi Xcurior
i think that 650w would be cutting it a bit thin for that set up ,and would go with a 700-750w as for brand i would rather go with the tried and tested brand names such as xfx corsair antec seasonic... i have read recently (in custom pc) that the xfx 750w black edition is an exelent psu at only £90-£100 well worth it for running such expensive kit as those gpu,s

Thx for the comments! Indeed that's something I'll keep in mind. I think your right codnan, I checked out this PSU by Corsair:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1681...

104$, free shipping. It's 750W and has 4 6+2 pin PCI-e connectors and looks promising in the reviews too.


I've considered dual 5850's, but I'm just worried if that's not enough in the future what to from there -- they would seem to be harder to resell than 5870's. I'm only planning to get a single 5870 for now, and upgrade to crossfire after I test it out.

I haven't actually picked out a monitor yet -- been pure laptop the last 5 years -- but I'm hoping for 2560x1600 res. I might settle with 1920x1200 though, I haven't really gotten into looking at prices but 2560x1600 has got to be pretty expensive. Until I pick out a monitor I've got a projector that supports up to 1080p that I hook up to frequently with my laptop.

For 2560x1600 you'd probably want 2x 5870x.
But at 1920x1200/ 1920x1080 2x HD 5850 really do fine. Actually, even a single HD 5850 is probably good in most games.

5870 CF vs 5850 CF compared in 18 games
And in newer games you can expect the 5870/5850 difference in performance (percentage wise) to stay about the same

Yeah it looks like in terms of FPS, I'd be getting more than enough on both crossfire 5870 and 5850 on 1920x1200 res. except for maybe Crysis 2 down the road, and it's not like I'm paying all this money to play just one game a little bit fancier either. If I go with 1920x1200 I might choose xfire 5850's then.

The question remaining is can 2 5850's outperform a 5970, both at stock clock speeds? 5870's I would expect to come out above a 5970 given they're 400 each. Before shipping I can pick up crossfire 5850 for 600$, but a 5970 for 660$. Perhaps years down the road, I could add another 5970? Maybe I'm just being too wishy washy here, I remember I didn't like the 5970 in the first place because it was more difficult to overclock and exhibited higher temps.

And wow 2560x1600 monitors cross a grand while 1920x1200 come as cheap as 250... I guess this speaks for itself lol.

The 30" don't have a great price point. You'd be better off with a ATI Eyefinity / Nvidia Surround set up with 3x 1920x1200 monitors for a combined 5670 x 1200 resolution. That's still $750 for the LCDs alone.

With dual 5970s you're probably going to start getting CPU limited.

Definitely, I'll just start off with 1 1920x1200 and either pick up more for eyefinity or get 2560x1600 once prices become affordable.

Well if a single 5970 tops dual 5850's, I would think that it would be easier to sell/upgrade. I wouldn't mind upgrading the CPU in to accomodate dual 5970's in years to come, considering my current CPU is only 200$ in comparison. I'm getting an Asus M4A89TD Pro motherboard, and I think it will support future generations of CPU's.

Actually..... I think it would be harder to sell. It will be competing with all the next gen video cards that everyone will want it will have a higher relative price compared to what people want to pay for an 'older card'.
No one is talking about going out and getting any of those 4870x2s these days.

You probably want to look around some more. To me it looks like 2x 5850s slides ahead of the 5970 most of the time when using AA/AF.
THG: ATI Radeon HD 5970 2GB: The World's Fastest Graphics Card
Radeon HD 5970 Single card and Crossfire @ Guru3D

Hmmm true being a multi-gpu card like the 4870x2 it probably wont sell that well thinking about it... Originally I wanted the 5870 because I know at current, I don't really need more power, and if I'm going with 1920x1200 monitor, a single 5870 can handle a game like Crysis at a reasonable FPS without having to worry about microstutter. I just wanted to have the option to crossfire in the future without needing to upgrade the motherboard, and basically everything else, so I wouldn't have to go through the trouble of replacing the GPU when I could just crossfire it.

But that could be the wrong approach, perhaps going through the trouble of replacing it is exactly what I want -- perhaps it will yield way better performance or something who knows.

I think I'll stay solid on just getting just 1 5870 for now, and leave my options open for a second one later -- or to sell it and upgrade should that become a better alternative.

Thank you for your help!

I didn't see any mentions of cases.

I just ordered a CM 840 Full tower, and I'd have a hard time not suggesting it. I took it down from the shelf at Micro Center and the inside is cavernous, and it also has tons of places to put 120mm fans. Also, it has 16 inches of clearance for GPUs, so you'd be well future proofed in that manner.

As for the GPU, I'd say wait with 1 5870 until they either fix the eyefinity-crossfire issues, and then do it. Or wait for the 6xxx series and totally upgrade to DX12 or whatever.