GPU for 1600x900 gaming

[scazbala86]

Gaming at 1600x900, which would be the best option? I don't plan on upgrading for a while, and more than likely would never crossfire the 5850.

HD 5850
or
HD 5770 x2 in crossfire

Phenom ii x4 965 be
4gb 1600 OCZ AMD Black Edition
1TB Western Digital Caviar Black
Biostar TA890FXE MB
700w OCZ ModXStream psu
*?GPU?*

 

[scazbala86]

Well no GTX460 for me, AMD/ATI brand loyalty and all. Would a 5830 be a better fit? I just don't want to run into any issues with FPS with all the settings maxed, and I'm not sure a single 5770 would do it for me.

 

[sabot00]

A single 5770 should do fine, but you will see an improvement with a 5850, even my friend's dual 5850 CF on 1600x900 shows improvement with the 2nd 5850.

 

[scazbala86]

So would 2 5770s in crossfire not scale very well at that resolution? I know most benchmarks show that 2 5770s in crossfire outperform a 5850 most of the time

 

[sabot00]

I would just get a 5850 then, CF and SLI while mature still have a lot of problems.

 

[scazbala86]

Thanks for the replies, another reason I love Tom's, great forums with helpful people.

 

[ragejg]

For what it's worth games with tessellation are going to be coming out at an alarming rate. Even the GTX 460, 465 and HD 5830 for example struggle with maxing out Metro 2033 at 1280x720. So I'd say the 5830 is bare minimum for what you want to do.

It'd be nice if some OEM 5840's showed up with more ROPs, a la HD 4860.

 

[scazbala86]

Best answer selected by scazbala86.