Upgrading from HD4850... high end or wait?

Wait. A 4850-> 4870 isn't that big a jump; even upgrading to a 4890 won't give meaningful results. Just wait for the first DX11 cards to be affordable later this year.

yeah I think I will but to clarify, I was talking about the 4870X2, the one that cost 400$ and is two 4870's on one card

EDIT: Yeah also I'll be playing at 1920x1200.

EDIT: My "table" does not seem to work whether I put spaces or periods to space them out. I apologize in advance.

Well the 5800 series cards are "supposed" to yield about 20~30% more performance than a 4890, so you can base it off of that.

You can say your 4850 is 1(base) and a 4870 would be 1.5x and a 4890 is 1.7x. 4870x2(this is the faster of the two and cheaper as well) or in crossfire(could be cheaper if you find a good deal) would be about 2.7x stronger than your 4850. Presuming that the 5800's would be 20-30% faster than a 4890, it would be about 2x-2.4x stronger than your 4850.

To simplify: (this is just a rough estimate, but you can look at benchmarks to get actual results)

Model..... Strength.... Price
4850...... 1(Base)..... $100-$140
4870...... 1.5x......... $150-$200+ (Can't crossfire due to only 1 16x pcie slot)
4890...... 1.7x......... $200-$280
4870X2... 2.7x......... $360-$400+

5800series 2x-2.4x $??? (If true to the 20%-30% performance increase vs. the 4890)

Results: the 4870X2 has a great deal with very good price vs. performance. No one is sure of how well the 5800 series will turn out or if it will release by the end of summer/early fall. If there is a 5800X2 then that would blow anything away. What I would recommend is to wait until the 5800s to come out and if they really aren't appealing to you performance-wise, you can always get 4870X2 and guaranteed by then, it will be much cheaper.

Yeah, thats what I get for not reading. Still, considering it looks like the 5870 will have better specs then the 4870X2 (based on a few forums I've been to), and the issues dual cards have with driver support, I'd still wait. I doubt ATI will go the super expensive route, so I can't imagine the 5870 costing more then the 4870X2 does now. Just wait it out for a few more months...

right i think ive decided to wait. although the 5870 would probably cost like twice as much as the 4870 does right now. altough i will have to wait i will continue to save some more money over time. also I'm guessing the 5870x2 will come out a little while after the 5870
i can either

wait and used saved money to buy 5870x2
wait and buy a 5870, then later use left over money to buy a new mobo and xfire another 5870
blow all my money now on a 4870X2, while even though its supposed to be the second best video card out there (after the gtx 295) ill still be crying in a corner with no directx 11 in a couple months