Fed up with charts/pros/cons/and comparrisons! Help me choose a GPU

[nate_2011]

Simple question.....I hope...... Dont want to start a GPU war! The time has come to buy a GPU for my build, i have searched through endless reviews and comparrisons, but a final opinion from you guys would be great!

For £200 or for u guys in the states around $320

My motherboard supports x2 Pci-e (x1 @ x16) and ( x1 @ x4)
so....

1...Cfire
x1 HD 5770 (x16)
x1 HD 5770 (x4)

2.
x1 HD 6870 (x16)

3.
x1 HD 5850 (x16)

I know a lot of you will recommend a single 6870 or 5850 with the option to cfire later, but with 1 running at only x4 and £200 a pop, new mobo £100 i cant justify it.

 

[CoDFan]

That x4 won`t reduce your performance a lot ( GTX 480 loses about 7% of performance) so i would go with 2x HD 5770.

 

[graemevermeulen]

Yeah even when a GTX 480 is running at 1x it only loses ~20% ..... go with the Crossfire 5770s

 

[17seconds]

Crossfire 5770's, don't worry about the reduced bandwidth on the x4 lane.

 

[jay2tall]

personally I hate dealing with dual cards. There are heat issues if you don't have enough airflow. I always try to stick with a single card if I can. Right now, at least in the US, there are alot of great deal on GTX470's. I think for the money this is the card I would get. I don't think I would move to the GTX480 since the GTX570 will be coming out around December 8th and will basically get the GF110 version of the GTX480. It is expected to retail for $350-$399 USD.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

i wouldnt go crossfire either. So much more reliable performance to get one card, then if you really want to, add another later. 6870 is the best choice IMO, but the 5850 is good and should be cheaper.

 

[nate_2011]

Mixed opinions is what i was expecting! lol.
Heating shouldnt be an issue with my machine, and i shouldnt worry about bandwith issues on the card running @ x4...........

Hmmm decisions decisions..........

I will be overclocking too so another question is.... Will 2 OC'd 5770's out perform a single overclocked 5850.... i heard you can almose get 5870 performance.