Video card and CPU match up

It’s past time to upgrade my system and I need some help. I play FPS’s and was thinking of upgrading my video card to the 8800 GT with 512mb so here is the question. What would be a good match as far as a CPU and ram to be able to get the most out of the card yet not have too much wasted horse power?

That depends a lot on the game. There is no clear cut off line. Why don't you tell us what games you play, what's your cpu and how much ram, we'll tell you if it's enough.

Well, I also suggest you tell us what resolution you'll be gaming at, it also helps, as higher resolutions tend to rely on good video cards, while lower resolutions tend to rely on processor speed.

The cheapest 9600gt is $150, while the cheapest 8800gt 512mb is $170. Looking at benchmarks, that's a big gap for only $20. 8800gt is still the best bang for the buck. Since a lot of people are praising 9600gt, it's easy to lose sight of just how much better benchmark scores 8800gt got. It makes sense. The g94 core on 9600gt is half a g92 core oced.

Upgrade to 8800GTS 512MB to avoid cooling headaches. Add 2GB of DDR2-800 and an E6750 (or at least E2180) and overclock.