1 strong GPU or 2 mids?

[pantherinthedark]

I am geting ready to build a new system and I am at a cross roads. I can't decide whether to install a single ATi 5870 card or install two ATi 5770s and crossfire them. As far as bag-for-your buck and ease of install and maintenance goes, which would be the best path for a gaming setup?

------------ My Planned System -------------

Case - Antec Lanboy Air Black/Blue
CPU - Intel i7-920 2.66 GHz (will be over-clocked beyond 3.5 GHz)
Cooler - Cool Master V8
Motherboard - Intel DX58SO
RAM - Corsair Dominator 6 GB (3 x 2GB)
Primary HDD - Intel X25-M 80 GB SSD
Secondary HDD - WD 2TB 7200 RPM 64 MB cache
Video Card(s) - ** TBA **
Audio Card - Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion Series
Optical Drive(s) - LG Blu-ray Disc Combo Internal SATA 10x SuperMulti Blue LightScribe (x2)
Power Supply - Corsair HX 850 watt
OS (duel boot) - Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit / Ubuntu 10.10 32-bit

 

[Tamz_msc]

I would go for a single HD 6870 and add another one in the future if necessary.

 

[Mousemonkey]

I would go for a single HD 6870 and add another one in the future if necessary.

And I would wait for a bit and then slap a couple of GTX560's in from the get go.

 

[Rustyy117]

I'd opt for a HD6950 for £200, roughly the same performance as 2 x HD5770's and you can add another if you want later on.

@ mousemonkey, do you have an ETA on the GTX560?

 

[Mousemonkey]

I'd opt for a HD6950 for £200, roughly the same performance as 2 x HD5770's and you can add another if you want later on.

@ mousemonkey, do you have an ETA on the GTX560?

No, I'm just hoping it's going to be sometime real soon! :lol:

 

[Rustyy117]

No, I'm just hoping it's going to be sometime real soon! :lol:

Your upgrading from your 8800's?

I'm shoppping around for 2 x GTX570's for under £500, not having much luck atm

 

[Mousemonkey]

Your upgrading from your 8800's?

I'm shoppping around for 2 x GTX570's for under £500, not having much luck atm

Yeah, it's got to be done at some stage and I've just built a rig for my nephew with an i3 530 and a POV GTX460 768MB card and the framerates that was chucking out on a 16 x 10 screen were comparable with and sometimes better than the 8800's can manage.

 

[Rustyy117]

Yeah, it's got to be done at some stage and I've just built a rig for my nephew with an i3 530 and a POV GTX460 768MB card and the framerates that was chucking out on a 16 x 10 screen were comparable with and sometimes better than the 8800's can manage.

Yeah the GTX460's are amazing price/performance cards, a GTX560 should be a very nice upgrade from your 8800GTs and 2 x GTX560's in SLI will be the difference from night and day

 

[Mousemonkey]

Yeah the GTX460's are amazing price/performance cards, a GTX560 should be a very nice upgrade from your 8800GTs and 2 x GTX560's in SLI will be the difference from night and day

That's what I'm hoping for and my only concern is that the CPU won't be able to keep up but if that happens I do have a "plan B" to fall back on.

 

[Tamz_msc]

Since you've not yet built the system, I am with mousemonkey on waiting for the GTX 560.

 

[pantherinthedark]

Best answer selected by pantherinthedark.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey