Crossfire HD 7770s for ~$220 Before Tax, Worth It?

[paul7799]

So, I've been looking for a new graphics card for a while now and I came across these two articles about crossfire'd HD 7750s and 7770s:

http://www.techspot.com/review/501-amd-radeon-hd-7770-7750-crossfire/

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/HD_7750_7770_CrossFire/1.html

After doing some more research, crossfire'd HD 7770s seem to offer awesome performance for the price range I'm looking at $100 to $200 (although the 7770s go just a little over that, but for the performance, I'm okay with that). The only gripe that people seem to mention is that crossfire'd HD 7770s will run you into the $300 price range and therefore they lose their value.
HOWEVER, I found the EXACT same cards that the article from Techspot was using (link above) for only $109.97 Canadian.
Here's a link to the card:
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2041901&CatId=7387

I'm looking for a card that MOST OF ALL can run games at 1920x1080 and whatever extra eye candy I can throw on would be good. I'll mostly be playing Battlefield 3 (that's probably my most demanding game), but I play a lot of singleplayer games too, however I don't mind getting 40ish FPS on singleplayer games since I like to take them in a bit more (typically RPGs).

My current card is a Sapphire Hd Raedon 5670 1GB GDDR5 OC'd to 905MHz Core and 1070MHz Memory and it runs relatively cool (max of about 47 degrees Celsius) and fully stable. However, it runs many effects nicely, but just can't quite run games at 1920x1080

 

[nforce4max]

Go for one good gpu, the crossfire and sli is more for those who already have one card but don't want to replace it.

7850 is a good bet.

 

[paul7799]

ya that's kind of what I figured, but the reviews seem to indicate this setup gives awesome performance and is only hindered by it's high price point of $300, however like I said, this setup is only $220.

Also, ya I've seen a lot of recommendations for the 7850, but that just seems too out of reach lol. If I found a good deal on one, I'd be all over it, but as it stands the 7850 just seems too expensive

 

[bawchicawawa]

I'd go for the crossfired 7770s for sure.

 

[Oldbutstillatit]

Just asked basicly this same question. You posted while I was Typing ;
0 BTW TD has a 7850 2gb for $214

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3242917&CatId=7387

 

[CommanderShepard]

Or go for CF with 6850. But it's better to have one powerfull card than 2 weaker cards.
Your choice now, but I'd higly recommend getting a 7850 or CF with 6850!

 

[paul7799]

Old but still at it, that's .COM not .CA I probably should've specified that, but I live in Canada lol.

Also, CommanderShepard (awesome name btw ) I know it's always better to have one card, rather than CF or SLI, but this just seems like the best deal I've found and gives AWESOME performance. The 7850, as I mentioned seems just a tad out of reach, and as for the 6850s CF, the cheapest I found was 129 so two would be like $260, which is just too much for me.

I really don't want to spend above $150, but if performance jumps up as much as it does with the CF 7770s, then I can justify tightly around $200, I don't want to start getting tempted by cards just a little above, because then I'll get tempted to go a little higher than that, then a little higher than that, etc. until I'm buying like a $400 card that will be half the price in a year or less


EDIT: Also, in case it is required for future discussion, I have a OCZ 550W PSU. Here it is:
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1393380&CatId=5438

 

[paul7799]

Alright, I really want to get a HD 7850 now lol, especially since they seem to have a lot of overclocking headroom, but spending over $200 on a graphics card just seems like a bit too much for me, although it will offer more longevity right? cuz my other option was a HD 6870 which seems pretty good for the price, but it will probably mean I'll need to upgrade again in like two years at the latest, whereas a 7850 will probably last me over two years right? And I can probably crossfire 7850s better in the future, rather than 6870s which probably won't be available by next year.

EDIT: ok, after looking at reference release prices of the 6870 and 6850 and looking at the current prices, I guess it's safe to say that the price of the 7850 won't drop too much by next year, so that's probably my best bet, and when they do drop then maybe I'll CF THEM instead.

 

[mastrom101]

Im in the same boat as you.

I planned to spend $130-150, but I'm slowly working my way up.

I personally think that a single 7850 is better. The 7770's are good, but a single card is almost always better. plus, the 7850 leaves room to crossfire down the road.

I don't think you can go wrong either way.

 

[paul7799]

ya, at this point, I'm waiting to see what the GTX 650 will be like, cuz I want a card that only requires a single 6-pin connector, and is under $200. Although, I"m hoping for at least 1.5GB of RAM, cuz many game developers were saying they hope the next gen has lots of memory, so I imagine they'll want VRAM as well.

 

[gamerkila57]

2x 7770 are slightly better than a HD 7850 like 2-3% but a single gpu is always recommended

Also @CommanderShepard a HD 7770 is like 5% faster than a HD 6850

 

[paul7799]

wait? Seriously?! A 7770 is faster than a 6850? I'm gunna have to check some benchmarks, and ya, despite it seeming like a really good deal, I think it's best to avoid the possible driver issues, compatibility issues, and possible heat issues, and stick a with a single card

 

[gamerkila57]

wait? Seriously?! A 7770 is faster than a 6850? I'm gunna have to check some benchmarks, and ya, despite it seeming like a really good deal, I think it's best to avoid the possible driver issues, compatibility issues, and possible heat issues, and stick a with a single card

yes

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Sapphire/HD_7770_Vapor-X/9.html

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/HD_7750_7770_CrossFire/5.html

 

[paul7799]

nice! but ya, I think I'm just gunna bite the bullet and spring for the 7850, it'll be much more future-proofed and therefore will last me a long time, cuz I'm used to having to deal with poor performance, so by the time the 7850 only gets like 30ish FPS on medium/low settings, it'll definitely be worth the investment, cuz that will probably be a few years down the road.