| Peterisyum said: two 5770's will out perform the 5850 for less money. |
Having looked through some reviews, I agree there's a 10% improvement in framerates on average, and that it's ~$15 cheaper for two 5770 vs. 1 5850 according to the website you linked.
But that does not tell the full story. That average of 10% includes some abysmal performances, for very new or obscure games, in the cases where Crossfire is not enabled due to there not being a good driver profile. So in 10% of cases you'll get half the performance. Also the lead is less pronounced at 1680x1050; CF likes high resolutions.
And then there's the issues I mentioned; power, temperature, microstuttering, and the fact you need a more expensive motherboard with two PCIe x16 slots, that could easily carry a $20 premium and evaporate the price lead. Finally, the big gains (>20%) are usually in cases where you're already gettingt 60fps+, i.e. you won't notice extra. In marginal cases where it would otherwise be sub-30fps CF doesn't add much.
I don't believe it's worth it, not when you can buy a 5850 and avoid all of that.
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@hsrob
Nothing's special about the case; some people get too involved with that. It's a box for components and (as long as you get a quality PSU) you can get any case you want. So go cheap.
You would need a 500W PSU from a quality brand. That should cover everything with a good margin.
