HD4850 or HD4870 for use with AMD X2 6000+

[metalgearhathaway]

I have a 3850 OC Edition 512mb pci-e at the moment, it live inside this PC:

AMD X2 6000+
Vista 64
4gb Dual Channel DDR2 800mhz
Toughpower Modular 750w PSU

I want to upgrade to eithe a Sapphire 4870 or 4850.

I have seen many topics with mention of bottlenecking and so fourth, to a point where it is unclear whether these cards and the results people have is just obvious scaling.

I'd understand that a better cpu would equate to genrally faster fps with these cards, but what I am trying to establish is whether 4870 would make much difference for me over a standard 4850 given my PC specifications?

You can safely assume that my system is well configured. The current card performs exceptionally well, but a few newer game are starting to strecth it, like Mercs2.

I only run at 1280x1024, but I do have a passion for atleast 4xFSAA on games I play.

Any thoughts from people with similar systems or uber experienced guys here?

 

[nosfe]

a 4850 is able to run any game at 8x AA at that resolution without any problem

 

[nemesismk2]

The 4850 will be able to run games at that resolution with 4xAA, actually you should be able run at 1280x1024 with max settings.

 

[dguy6789]

My games all run great with the rig in the sig. I am cpu bottlenecked to an extent, but I can play any game just fine maxed out with visual goodies

 

[nosfe]

just to clarify, being cpu bottlenecked means that the graphics card is sipping tea and waiting for the cpu to give it work, it doesn't mean that you're computer will be slower just because of it; at lower resolutions you'll inevitably get cpu bottlenecked unless we're talking about really crappy cards