System Upgrade. Keep the 5770 and crossfire, or new card

[Lucid Moments]

I'm considering doing a sytem upgrade to a sandy bridge platform. I currently have a single 5770. Should I get a second 5770 and run them in crossfire, or pick up a new card entirely? If I crossfire will my current 650W Antec Earthwatts power supply be sufficient?

I don't do a ton of gaming, but I do some, and what I do is almost exclusively FPS. I'm thinking about picking up Crysis 2 and would like to run it in 1920 X 1080 comfortably.

 

[borisof007]

Your 650 Watt Antec PSU would be perfectly fine with two 5770's, even if you OC'd them a little it'd be OK.

In regards to whether to get another one to CF, or to buy a new card. You can get another 5770 for $100 and get roughly the same performance as a GTX 470, which costs $200. If you want to run Crysis 2 at 1920x1080, consider this:

http://guru3d.com/article/powercolor-radeon-5770-single-slot-quad-crossfirex-review/13

That's two 5770's in crossfire on 1920x1200 on DirectX 10 with 2xAA running at 43 FPS. This is with some pretty extreme hardware on the CPU/Motherboard/RAM side, so keep that in mind when comparing your overall setup. I'm not sure you'll be able to turn up TOO much eye candy, but it might run OK with a CF 5770 setup.

If you wanted to buy a new card, I would suggest a 6950.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6950-1gb-vs-geforce-gtx-560-ti-review/11

Pretty good performance, and it'll definitely run on your current PSU still.

 

[megamanx00]

Since you already have a 5770, it's a pretty good idea to get another one and run it in CF. After all, you can get one for around $120 (less with Mail in Rebates). Any single card that will come close will cost you alot more. Two 5770s after all are often a little faster than a single 5870 or 6870, so at the least you would need a 6950 or GTX 560 if you wanted to go the single card route.

 

[Lucid Moments]

Your 650 Watt Antec PSU would be perfectly fine with two 5770's, even if you OC'd them a little it'd be OK.

In regards to whether to get another one to CF, or to buy a new card. You can get another 5770 for $100 and get roughly the same performance as a GTX 470, which costs $200. If you want to run Crysis 2 at 1920x1080, consider this:

http://guru3d.com/article/powercolor-radeon-5770-single-slot-quad-crossfirex-review/13

That's two 5770's in crossfire on 1920x1200 on DirectX 10 with 2xAA running at 43 FPS. This is with some pretty extreme hardware on the CPU/Motherboard/RAM side, so keep that in mind when comparing your overall setup. I'm not sure you'll be able to turn up TOO much eye candy, but it might run OK with a CF 5770 setup.

If you wanted to buy a new card, I would suggest a 6950.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6950-1gb-vs-geforce-gtx-560-ti-review/11

Pretty good performance, and it'll definitely run on your current PSU still.

The other thing I want to think about is future growth. If I go with another 5770 that pretty much leaves me at a dead end as far as video goes. If I go with something like the 6950 you suggest that leaves me room to add another 6950 down the road if that becomes advisable. The flip side of my other thing (if that makes any sense) is that is pretty much what I was thinking when I bought the 5770 a year and a half ago. So I guess where I am going with this is, is it better to go with the 5770 now and see where video card are in another 18 months or to bet on what is available now at closer to the top end and think that will still be worth working with in 18 months.

If it helps the new system will be based around a Core i7-2600k processor and the Intel X25M that I have in my current system. (not worth upgrading to a new SSD yet IMHO)

 

[jjb8675309]

personally I'd sell the 5770 and get a 6950/70 or gtx 570, crossfire is way too much of a headache to deal with in many ways in order to crossfire a low mid range card such as the 5770, imo...

 

[phenom90]

if i were you... i will sell the 5770 and buy a new card... for radeon... i'll pick hd 6950... for nvidia... i'll pick either gtx 560 ti or gtx 570...

reason for picking...

hd 6950-

*cheaper compared to gtx 570
*can be unlocked to hd 6970
*fast when crossfire

gtx 560 ti-

*very overclockable
*cheaper than hd 6950 and gtx 570
*so many models out there with different factory oc...
*there are factory oc cards out there that runs faster than hd 6950 and comparable to hd 6970 and gtx 570 (e.g.- gigabyte gtx 560 ti soc) and still cheaper than hd 6950

gtx 570

*faster than gtx 560 ti, hd 6950 and comparable to hd 6970...
*that is what i'm using now....
*easy to get high performance without needing to flashing bios or overclocking like hd 6950 and gtx 560 ti

 

[JDFan]

The other thing I want to think about is future growth. If I go with another 5770 that pretty much leaves me at a dead end as far as video goes. If I go with something like the 6950 you suggest that leaves me room to add another 6950 down the road if that becomes advisable. The flip side of my other thing (if that makes any sense) is that is pretty much what I was thinking when I bought the 5770 a year and a half ago. So I guess where I am going with this is, is it better to go with the 5770 now and see where video card are in another 18 months or to bet on what is available now at closer to the top end and think that will still be worth working with in 18 months.

If it helps the new system will be based around a Core i7-2600k processor and the Intel X25M that I have in my current system. (not worth upgrading to a new SSD yet IMHO)

True but getting a second 5770 you are only spending around $100 and it will last you for some time instead of spending $250 - then by the time the CF 5770 or single 6950 is not performing well enough you then are back in the same spot you find yourself now (do I get another 6950 and CF or a single more powerful card) if you get the 6950 where with the 5770s you know it's time to get a new single powerful card and have $150 already saved since you went with the 5770 last time !

 

[Lucid Moments]

True but getting a second 5770 you are only spending around $100 and it will last you for some time instead of spending $250 - then by the time the CF 5770 or single 6950 is not performing well enough you then are back in the same spot you find yourself now (do I get another 6950 and CF or a single more powerful card) if you get the 6950 where with the 5770s you know it's time to get a new single powerful card and have $150 already saved since you went with the 5770 last time !

And that is an excellent point, and kind of the way I am leaning already.

 

[Lucid Moments]

Best answer selected by Lucid Moments.

 

[Mousemonkey]

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