crossfire or new card

[minijaws]

I have a $200 budget and am looking to upgrade my graphics card I carried over from my last setup. should I go 5770 crossfire or new card and if so what card.

my setup

asus p8p67
i5 2500k @ 4.7Ghz
OCZ Modxtream 500 watt
1600mhz RipjawsX 2x2gb
PowerColor 5770 1GB gddr5
Antec six hundred

[stroyal]

New card.
2-5770 call for 600w power supply, although that 500w OZC might do it.
ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 5770 System Requirements

1-6850 for example needs a 500W, and would almost double the benchmark score.
PassMark Software - Video Card Benchmarks - High End Video Cards
In many games 2-5770 won't improve anything, some may give you 1 1/2 times, and a few might come close to double.

This is just a general example.

[stroyal]

Here is a slightly better 6870
Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100314SR Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

But wait for the experts, to dial it in.

[ShyguyXPC]

Go with a Radeon 6870, it'll be worth it, its comparable to a Geforce GTX 470, uses less power, heat output.

as it is, GTS 450 nearly compares with a single 5770 for less.

GTX 550 Ti that replaces the 450 clearly beats a single 5770.

GTX 460 768MB beats the 5770.

Radeon 6850 beats the 5770, and slightly better than the 768MB 460.

GTX 460 1GB, and GTX 465 beat the 6850, thus owning the 5770.

And....

The Radeon 6870 usually compares or beats those two cards in many situations, and even trades blows with the GTX 470 (which is now replaced by the GTX 560 Ti, which even pulls slightly ahead of the 470, and uses less power, and heat out)

But for the $200 range, the 6870 would be the best deal.

If your PSU is still new/newer then it should be able to run a single 6870 just fine.

as to Dual 5770's needing a 600W unit, never, each card barely pulls 110W (108W for stock power draw), assuming the CPU isn't being Overclocked with bumped up Voltages and a ton of other stuff in the case, that OCZ PSU (same I have), should be able to handle 2 5770's in Crossfire, at about 10A on +12V rail each per card, and if I remember right the PSU has a good 30-36A on +12V.

but it'd still be better to get a single 6870.

for games where crossfire doesn't cope well, scale well, or plain just doesn't work, your single card performance would be much much more noticeable.

Looks like for most "Benchmark" games, the 6870 is close to, if not double the performance of a single 5770.

which you'd be lucky to get that kind of scaling with two 5770's in Crossfire.

Radeon HD 6850 & 6870 review

Radeon HD 6850 & 6870 review

Radeon HD 6850 & 6870 review

Radeon HD 6850 & 6870 review