Graphics card Advice

Hi im looking for some help on which graphics card would best suit my resolution, price and pc.

My system spec will currently be as follows: (upgrading ram and mobo at the same time as new graphics card)

Q6600 @ 2.4ghz
Corsair 4gb 800mhz 4-4-4-12
Asus P5Q-E
X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
250GB HDD
1000W PSU
Antec P182 case
Windows Vista Home premium 64bit
Samsung 931BW 19" 1440x900

Im looking to be able to play latest games on highest settings, it would be nice if i could get games like crysis with very high and 2-4xAA with a framerate of 25+ average. I want something i can just run all games on full with a bit of AA at my resolution of 1440x900 with steady framerates of 25-30 and above. My current card Asus 3870X2 does this quite well and in other games performs ok but i want to change it because i can no longer game with it properly as it only lets me play for certain amounts of time before it gets a black screen. with 2-4xAA and very high settings on crysis my 3870X2 managed to get 20-30FPS steadyish framerate. I understand crysis is badly written game but its still good for benchmarking etc, thats why im using it as an example.

Im looking at Nvidia cards only really, i was wondering if a 8800GTS 512mb (available for £130 on ebuyer) would be able to cope with the requirements i wanted? although i was looking at 9800GTX+'s too (Available for £152-166 on ebuyer).

My max price is probably £170

Thank you.

ok well that counts the 8800GTS out, what about the 9800GTX+? i've seen benchmarking for OC'd versions which performed quite well. If i was going to get a GTX260 would it be best to get the 216core version?

Well the 9800gtx+ is on par with the 8800gtx/ultra so if you look at the benchmark the 3870x2 still takes the lead or on par. You could oc but honesty you wont get enough power to justify the price for a new card. The gtx260 is a great i card i own 2 of them in sli. well the difference isnt much between the them the new 216core is slightly better but i dont think the extra money is worth it. Get a cheap gtx260 and oc it. Where do you shop for cards it varies on price. Newegg has the old gtx260 cheaper (40$) then the new 216core.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814127361
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814500069

3870x2 performs well in some games, but not all. It's certainly a bargain at the current price, but performance is not consistent. As for 8800ultra, it's a single g80 gpu overclocked, performance is simply not on par with cards such as 9800gx2. The highest performing card that's still within your budget is 9800gx2. Although that's with US price converted to pound. Not sure with UK prices, which may well be higher.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814133231
9800gtx+ should be well within the price limits though. Also look into 4870 or gtx260.

Benchmarks, including 9800gtx+, as well as other common choices.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] =3341&p=13
http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] =3341&p=14
http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] =3341&p=15
http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] =3341&p=16
http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] =3341&p=17
http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] =3341&p=18
http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] =3341&p=19