want graphic card suggestions

4870 is right on the $250 mark of your budget. Performance is more than enough for most recent and near future games.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Some people will tell you to avoid it due to high heat. Don't listen to them. According to ATI, it's certified to operate at up to 105C. The gpus, while running hot, also tolerates much more heat, so it works out fine. The "temperature problem" is fabricated by fanboys and does not exist.

9800gx2, at $280, is $30 overbudget, but being the second fastest card in existence, faster than gtx280($430), slower than 4870x2($530), consider spending the extra $30.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Some people will tell you to avoid it due to microstuttering and dual gpu scaling. Don't listen to them. Microstuttering and scaling applies equally to the very common 4850 cf/8800gt sli setups as x2 cards. Yet no one with those ever complain, it's because they do not happen. Drivers are mature and all recent graphically intensive games from the past few years scale with dual gpu. The "microstuttering" and "scaling" problems are fabricated by fanboys and do not exist.

Performance ranking:
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=13
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=14
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=15
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=16
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=17
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=18
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=19

+1 for what dagger said.

What resolution are you gaming at?

I'm gaming at 1024x768...

Hmm is that the max your monitor can run at? A 4850 might serve you better at such a low resolution. Are you going to upgrade your monitor anytime soon? If so then a 4870 is the way to go (or a 9800GX2).
If you are going to stick with 1024x768 then don't bother with the 1GB models video cards, as they have more memory then you will need. (the 9800GX2 has 1GB of memory of which only 512MB is usable).