Is it a good idea go with a workstation card?

I am looking to (in the next 9 months) build a computer for workstation purposes. I am looking to do 3D modeling primarily, but also play some games once in a while. The games would be of low-intensity graphically. Should I go with a workstation card like GeForce or FireGL or a traditional gaming one like GeForce or Raedon. I am looking at the $200-$250 area, which would put it between cards like: Quadro FX560, FireGL V3400, or an 8800GTS/GTX (640MB/786MB, likely to be in price range by then). I could go up possibly as high as $450 which would open up the option of an FX1500, but only if that's gonna be a HUGE improvement, which would also allow me to play Civ4 reasonably well. What do you think? Ideally, if you guys had benchmarks showing how Gaming and Workstation cards stacked up against eachother that'd be best, but I've searched and not been able to find anything. Any help? Thanks.