Help selecting cards

[LilDeamon]

Ok so my old struggling Geforce 7950 finally died so i'm forced to use this Geforce 6600 for a couple of months.
I’ve been looking to get a HD 5850 1GB for a while since Custom PC have rated it so highly, and have also decided to avoid Nvidia for this series since they generally don't seem to be as good as ATI at the moment.
So my question is would i be better getting a single HD 5850 1GB or getting two HD 5770 1GBs?
I will be using them for graphic editing and games such as Crysis, Bad Company 2, Men of War and Anno 1404. Another thing I’m not sure how the latter two would handle with 2 graphics cards.
Thanks for reading.
-LilDeamon

 

[LilDeamon]

Sorry for double post cannot edit, the 5850 is £240 and the 2 5770's are around £260

 

[unknown_13]

What are your PC specs?

 

[LilDeamon]

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Processor, ~3.6GHz
Kingston 4GB DDR3 1600MHz HyperX
ASUS M4A89GTD-PRO AMD 890GX
Antec Truepower 650 WATT
And 2 monitors with max res 1280*1024 so no high widescreen resolutions.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Given the assumptions made would suggest that you read this:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-460-radeon-hd-5570-gaming,2697.html

With 5850's in the $285 range, the better performing 470 for $269 is a steal.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121372

 

[LilDeamon]

In reviews the 470 and 5850 have both performed similar, the the 470 runs hotter and need more power, with only having a 650W that worries me a bit. I have also heard the 5850 can be over clocked to similar performance level of the 5870.

And prices here in the UK are more or less exactly the same for the two.

 

[jay2tall]

I wouldn't bother with crossfire for the performance class you are looking at. A single card is far less trouble.

As far as 5850 vs GTX470. They are both good cards. The GTX470 beats out the 5850 more so than not. It does pump out more heat and use more power. Your power supply would handle either. They are both good overclockers as well. So it is kind of your call, but those look like your best options.

The GTX 460 is out there for $230 and is also a good card that uses less heat and really performs well. It hangs in there slightly below the 5850.