It's close, but taking their average Mhash/s rates from MHC at each sale price, the 5870's 393.46Mh/s divided by $189.99 = 2.07Mh/$
The 5830's 286.45Mh/s divided by $129.99 = 2.20Mh/$
They are virtually identical in terms of performance per dollar, with the 5830 having a slight advantage.
If you kept reading the thread I compared this to the 5830 at $110.
I'm getting around 440MH/s out of mine. I can't remember where I saw it, but there was a chart comparing MH/s, cost, and power consumption and the 5870 is THE card to get for MH/s vs. Power used.
If you add up the costs for a server (bare minimum)
cpu- $30
ram- $10
psu- $150
mobo- $140 (if you know cheeper then this with 4 pci express then let me know)
hd- $15
PCIe x16 Extender Cable $12*4
5870 $190x4
= $1,153
(440x4)/1153=1.53 megahash per dollar(full server cost)
with 5830
5830 $110x4
= $833
(330x4)/833=1.58
So as long as you go the absolute cheapest route 5830 rig at 110 is better but not much so. If you add a case or more to the cost at all the 5870 at 190 will probably overcome the 5830.
As you can see when you add the costs of the full server it is almost as good as a 5830 at $110. If I switch the cost for the 5830 to $130 this is the calculation.
(330*4)/913=1.44
If we use your numbers in staid of mine its this.
(286.45*4)/913=1.25
(393.46*4)/1153=1.36
Also keep in mind thats the bare minimum server so if you put more money in the gap will get larger. You are just thinking to narrowly and not thinking about the full picture.