Computer Upgrades - Looking for bang for the buck

[Lissa]

I'm thinking I can do a 5770 if I push the $150 price point (might have to do a rebate or catch a sale for that but it seems doable), I've seen 5750's for $125, or maybe an Nvidia 250 in $115 range. The 260's which don't seem to be as good as a 5770 look to be in the $160 range.

But if my research was right the 5770 performs around the old 4870 but has DX11 support in hardware. The 5750 is slower of course but still gives the DX11 support.

Or am I way off base? Trying to figure out quickly what video card is better is a bit of pain even with some of Tom's charts and other sites, you see 3 or 4 generations of cards in the mix. I think I'm willing to spend a small premium for a more current generation as I've seen what happens down the road with older cards that don't have some of the hardware support, they fall behind what had been a slower next gen card to the point where things can be unplayable but you can squeak by on the newer one. So I can see a future where a 5770 is beating a 4870 because of some of the hardware support, and while both are slugs compared to the new stuff, the 5770 would still be serviceable. Remember I can handle playing WoW at 7-15 FPS, I can deal with SC2 on the lowest settings. I don't want to, but I can. It will be different games then of course, but that's what I'm trying to get at.

The 5770 is a good card, I'm using it at present. I get around 40 to 50 FPS in Dalaran with everything turned up. Get 50 to 60 in raids when nothing really happening, high 30s during fights (except when tanking Marrowgar near the glacier, that kills the FPS because of the particle effect).