I need help picking a graphics card:
Here are my thoughts
My 4 options i am considering::::::::::
1) xfx 9800gtx
2) xfx 8800gt xxx
3) xfx 8800gt xxx sli
4) xfx 8800gts
====================
My system -->
gigabyte ga - m57sli s4
w/ Amd x2 5600+
w/ 4gigs gskill ram
w/ Lite on dvdrw
powered by - pc power and cooling 610walt
Case: Thermaltake xaser II

What resolutions do you play at ?
Here's an excellent article from Anandtech that shows a couple of your choices single and in SLI against the new 48xx series.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341
and what's your budget ?

budget - 200-250
resolution - i play on a 17inch LCD right now - until i get my widescreen

The best card within that budget is the 4850, it is faster than any card on your list except for the GT's in SLI but the problem with that is your board only supports SLI in PCI-E 1.0 8x . You might be able to find a 4870 for ~$250 after rebate and that will be close to the performance of a GTX280.

the problem i am facing tho is --- i got the nvidia chip set - so i dont think i can run a ATI video card??

You can run 1 ATI card or 2 ATI cards separately (if you wanted to run several monitors) but you can't run 2 together in Crossfire.

9800gtx since it is cheap as hell right now

the problem that i thought about regarding the 9800gtx - was the power it uses..

Your PSU is powerful enough to run any 1 card and quite a few dual card setups

4850 is your best choice.

out of those 4 choices lets see:

i wouldn't got with the gts it is only an overclocked 8800gt

depending on what you want to run an 8800gt might not be enough......

between the 9800gtx and sli 8800gt the sli gt has more power....

i guess the sli 8800gt but it is only a little better than 1 4870 and not even in every game.

if you have the cash i believe the 4870X2 is coming out by the end of the month

Your mobo can run any ATI card but only one card
And frankly speaking more than one card always has some issues
Though ATI Cross Fire is more successfull and has less problems than nVidia SLI
For you the best now is 4850
After some time the best will be 4870X2(2G DDR5) but will come at a price