Upgrade from a 5850?

I currently have a 5850, I'm selling some stuff off to fund some new hardware which will include an i5 2500k.

I'm debating whether I want to budget some of the sales money towards a new card or not. Running 1600x900, with an i5 2500k, do I really need an upgrade and if so, what card would actually be significantly more powerful? I know the 5800s are getting old now but it's still a really big card. From what I can see, the 5850 actually benches higher than the 6850.

Looks like I'd have to go with the really big ones (69XX) to really net more power, and even at that I'm thinking I'm still in good shape with my 5850.

Thoughts?

5850's are faster than 6850. I would say you are totaly fine unless you are seeing crappy frame rates in the games you are playing. Maybe give it a small overclock or get a 2ed 5850, they are around or under $200 on most sites. I have 2 5850's and i play my games at 1920x1080, 16xAA and 8xAF (in most games) and i have never seen a game drop 50fps, shogun 2 is the only game i see it chug on when im in a HUGE battle.

So unless you are are not pleased with your frame rates or want to crank your graphics settings in games a little more i would say just keep the 5850. If you are going to upgrade i would say another 5850 or just wait to see what the deal is with these 7xxx series cards.

It is always better to have 1 faster card vs 2 slower cards in crossfire, but the fact that 5850's are so cheap now i dunno aha..maybe try and find some reviews of 5850 CF

Also what brand / version is your card ?? is it a reference or non-reference design ?

Nah, Im not experiencing any issues playing anything I throw at it. I like the card a lot. It's just that I rarely have the cash to drop on hardware. Right now I have both the money and the wife's blessing to buy toys - so I am gonna make it count. Im not concerned about DX11, but I do want some serious horsepower. I figure 8 gigs of DDR3, and a nicely OC'ed 2500k are gonna serve me well, and realistically that 5850 is gonna be the slowest part of my system. HOWEVER, it seems to me that's like saying a Corvette is slower than a Lamborghini, and I'm still in pretty good shape. Im trying to resist spending money needlessly, but make sure my system is plenty brutal.

Just sort of bouncing thoughts off the forum here. I appreciate the response

Oh, I actually dont know if its a reference model! Bought it used, replaced my aging 4850.