PCI Express x16 upgrade help!

Don't buy a video card. Whatever you want to buy will become insanely cheap the moment you buy it, and you will want to commit hara-kiri with your girlfriend as the beheader.

Take the money, invest it in gold stocks or an energy mutual fund. Keep a little of it over and take your girlfriend somewhere nice for dinner. Buy a video card later. This is what tax returns are for.

But you're not going to listen to me.
-cm

Sigh.
-cm

The 200 bucks range will get you a decent 7900GT or x1950Pro at the moment. BTW, you've gotta fix those links so that people can help you make a decision.
XFX offers a silent heatpipe edition called the XXX. It may fit your needs.

Try to figure out what you need the card for, then see some benchmarks. Here's an example:

http://www23.tomshardware.com/grap [...] &chart=210

I read in several places that nVidia cards do better than ATI cards in some games, and worse in others. If you have a favourite game it's probably best to pick a card of the appropriate type.

If you're just watching movies and playing Solitaire you probably don't want any of those cards, go for something passively cooled like X1600XT.

X1950XT Ftw.

That's all I needed to hear, thanks alot everybody!! Now just to find a different fan for the card.....I have read alot of reviews that complain about how loud it is.