Upgrading from a 4850

[personalj]

Hello everyone, I'm a long time reader but first time poster. Right now I have an early Sapphire 4850 512mb that I picked up a bit over two years ago and it's beginning to show it's age. I was thinking about waiting until the 6000 series released and picking up something for around $200 but after looking at benchmarks would purchasing a 4870 and crossfiring it suffice? I know it would drop down to the speeds of a 4850 but a 4870 and a 4850 cost the same on newegg these days ($100). I play Eve Online mainly, but may get back in to WoW later and would like a good setup for Diablo 3, Crysis 2, and other major release in 2011. I only game at 1280x1024.

I built this PC a year ago and pulled the 4850 from my previous machine
The relevant parts of the system are:
i5 750 CPU
4GB DDR3 1600mhz ram
550W Antec PSU
Asus p7p55D-le

 

[rolli59]

At your resolution I would sit tight with that HD4850 and wait for the HD6xxx series.

 

[Timop]

Yup, you cant Crossfire properly on that board either, X16/X4 scaling kills performance.

 

[personalj]

You're right, I can't believe this board was advertised as "Crossfire ready". I guess I will try to pick up a 6830 or whatever is equivalent to a 5830 in the 6000 series and sell the 4850 on ebay for like $40.