Well I saw a youtube video not too long ago where they took 2x 5970's and compared them with 4x 5870's. The 5870's in quadfire beat out the two 5970's in quadfire.

Here's the video of the Crysis benchmark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxJyV8zwDqI&feature=related

Oh, also would like to point out that they used the highest factory clocked cards they could find, so they used the XFX Radeon HD 5870 XXX Edition and the Saphire Radeon HD 5970.

The difference isn't all that significant though. It's like 3.4fps difference in average fps.

Yeah I'd say 2 5870's in crossfire is the way to go.

Why would you say that Sandiegoborn?

the 5970 is 2 5850's on one board. At least the core and memory clocks are running like a 5850.
So you get a higher clock speed if you CF 2 5870's.
However you might be able to OC the 5970, but at stock clocks im sure the 5870's will beat 1 5970.

Thanks didn't actually know that ill look further into that and how easily/well the ocs are on 5850's. THanks.

Not to mention the 5970's are pretty hard to get

i say get 1 HD5970, it might be a bit slower, but then in the future when it gets kinnda "slow" and won't be able to run the most demanding games out there, or run them at low speeds and low FPSes get another one and CF them (in a couple of years - prices would defenetly be much much lower and much more afordable).

btw, you save up that PCI E2.0.x16 slot for the extra HD5970 that you might buy in the future; if you get 2xHD5870s then you would have to replace both, if you get the HD5970 you just pop in another one.

FYI - HD5970 = 2xHD5850 CFed, so its just gonna be a bit slower.

PS. the HD5970 is gonna cost you 200$ less then the 2xHD5870s and not to mention that you can OC the HD5970 a bit for better preformance

k i understood it was more than i needed and i knew it was slightly more costly but the major point was does it really add potential what was the OC ratios and does crossfire add anything will new card be out soon enough that outdates the 5970?

the only new cards that are suppose to come out are nVidia's GF100 series (480gtx or somthing), and they are suppose to be similar to the HD5970, but cuz its nVidia you can assume that it would cost much much more and not really be a better card, i mean your just gonna pay for the "nVidia" tag name.
those are defenetly gonna be the world leaders in terms of GPUs, and as of now - nothiing and i mean nothing can get in their way.
PS, nothing is gonna come out in the near future that would be close to the GF100 cards and the HD5970

Yep GF 100 is going to mow down the competion. Nvidia has spent tons of money+time on this architecture change while ATI has merely put more ram and better gpu's in the 4000 series so Nvidia is gonna rock-only problem being the price. Hopefully they will be priced competitively but knowing Nvidia I dought it.

there is going to be a 2gb edition of the 5870

on gpu review the theoretical dual specs for the 5870 are higher than the 5970

Where did you hear about the 2GB edition?

I've decided to stick with one 5870 from HIS or gigabyte.
Any preferences?
If a 2gb one comes out ill be pissed but ill most likely just buy a second one and CF is i need to. But most likely a new card will be out soon enough.
The 5870 are fucking strong and cheap as well the Nvidia ones coming out will be strong maybe stronger but they wont have the same RAM and they wont have any higher software or drivers so its merely grunt. You will still be able to play most games just as well on a 5870 with maybe more on screen because of the RAM.

EDIT: Corrected number

Lol, you mean you're getting a 5870 right? I don't know of anyone who really wants a 4870 anymore, haha.