What do you guys think are the "good brands" (like Evga, BFG, etc) when it comes to a 9800GTX?

i got the 9800gtx go with evga because of the step up program.

But it seems unlikely that a new generation of cards will come out soon...
 
??

EVGA and BFG are the daddies IMO, but PNY, Gainward, Point of View (what I have) Innovision and XFX are all very good too. Given the choice, I'd go for an EVGA over anything else, but all these manufacturers are good, BFG have a good warranty service, PoV chucks everything but the kitchen sink in the box, EVGA have the step up.  
 
I think someone else does a step up equivalent too. Just see what you like, look on the manufacturer's website (they'll put all of what they offer up there) and maybe go for price. I'd avoid MSI/ASUS/Gigabyte if you can, they are probably a tier below, but you can sometimes get some nice Zalman fans on MSIs, which might help. (I'm not sure of the cooling issues of GTXs)
 
It shouldn't really matter from manufacturer to manufacturer, which is why they offer all these different things. If you want a warranty, go for BFG. If you plan to get a new card within 90 days, get an EVGA, if you want enough connectors to give one to everybody that you know, go for PoV.

I dont understand the step up business. Does it mean that I can trade in my 9800GTX for anything within 90 days? I mean I could potentially trade it for a GX2 ($300 more expensive).
 
Doesnt make sense.

Correct, you can get a better EVGA card by sending your lesser EVGA card in and paying the difference in price within 90 days of original purchase...

 
 
It gives u the option to upgrade to the 9800gx2 or any other card coming out within 90days. The 9800gtx is 330 so its 270 more to step up but the prices drops every month so before ur step up ends within 3 months im sure the price will drop a good amount.

eVGA has always been good to me.  And since all the cards are basically the same, eVGA's step up puts them on top.  If you don't care for step up, go for the cheapest.  If they are all the same price, go for the one that has the best picture on the cooler.
 
Just out of curiosity, what happens to the cards that are sent back for step up?  Does eVGA resell them somewhere?

I don't know, but I imagine they may be sold as refurbished, open box, or possibly even as new cards after being thoroughly inspected.

I don't know if they can sell as new (since they aren't).  I wondered about the other choices, however, I don't see enough to compensate for the seemingly large numbers that are "stepped up".

One of my old school 640 mb GTS's went bad and I am deciding between an 8800GTX and a 9800 GTX - either way, I'm going EVGA. Their customer service is tops and the Step Up process (which I have gone through before) is fairly straightforward. Even if I don't Step Up (I'm considering jumping over to Radeon in June hehe) I do dig their support staff.

Evga it is. Thanks.

I would say you go EVga as well. I had bad experiences with them, but thats 1 in a million. I'm sticking to BFG though, they use high Quality Cooling parts (paste and Heat syncs), from what I heard atleast.  
 
That or XFX, they sure know how to overclock