I've decided to buy a 9600gt, but with so many brands, I do not know which is most dependable to buy.So I seek opinion. Here is all there compared on newegg all around the 150$ price http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814127355

you can always spend the $40 more and go with the already over clocked xfx 9600 gt alpha dog. stock set at 740 clock and 2000 mem.
and on top of that those can be OC'd more.

also good to know, xfx offers a double life time warranty on their cards and is modder friendly. meaning warranty is still valid even if you OC it or change the cooler on it.

zotac amp! are in line with 8800gt & asus got custom fan thats make your gpu screams faster, i bought biostar, and can only achive 725/1850/1030.

& 2005 3d mark tell me : 13370 using e4500 @ 3.0

Zotac AMP has the fastest 9600GT since they OC'd it the most. However they are using stock cooler, and that means it'll run hot. Furthermore the warranty... I just don't dare gamble on that brand. I'd take the others over that brand. I think from those on top the MSI one has the best cooler, and that grants them good OCing.
wait and see what other forum dudes have to say

I decided to purchase the MSI one, it performed better than the galaxy 9600gt when over clocked, ran the coolest of the cards and was 2nd most quiet.I also got the witcher with it.

I overclocked my MSI 9600GT past the factory overclock and I still can't hear it over my stock CPU fan and 3 120mm case fans.

I agree, They are really all the same to be honest. A big difference is the cooling one might have over the other, which would deffinitly impact the OC you can get on it. The rest is really just support from the company. XFX and eVGA have lifetime warranties. Some come OCed from factory, but if you are doing this yourself, no sense in even buying an OCed card unless it has better cooling. Personally I'd go for something with the best factory cooler you can get. Here are several that are non stock cooled. I'd prefer one of them over the crappy 1slot cooler.

MSI: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814127355
Palit: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814261001
Asus: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814121242
eVGA: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130358

That's a good tip, jay2tall, but how can we tell whether a video card comes with a stock cooler or not? The ones you listed look similar to other ones.

The stock, AKA Reference cooler, is a single slot cooler. All of the ones I listed have a different cooler that the manufacturer installed for better cooling.

This is a stock, OEM, reference, cooler

Thanks! I didn't realize that before.

The 9600GT and 8800Gt both have a single slot reference cooler. They tend to get hot but shouldn't be an issue if you have decent case airflow. One of the guys that goes to the LAN we have monthly has one and doesnt have any issues and is a factory OCed 8800GT. However its always good to have a nice cooler that you can work with better. Some of these guys on here ge the 8800GT cheap but then try to OC them to 700+MHz and run into issues and end up buying an after market cooler for $30-$50 anywas. May as well got it off the bat from factory.

Personally if you are looking at the 8800Gt you should just get the 8800GTS with the dual slot reference cooler, they are great. The 9600GT does have alot of option between manufacturers though. I'd spring for the nice cooler if I were you.

Yeah i got the MSI on also for the 2 slot cooler, dont want that crap blowing back into my PC, I bet this will be alot cooler then my 7900gtx bfg is now.

The 9600Gt should consume less power than your 7900GTX. Those cards have a similar cooler to the one you just got don't they? they have a 2 slot cooler.

No, my 7900gtx has an industrialized fan used for hollywood movies, and heat pipes that look like they are from the spider in wild wild west.

So it didn't look like this?