9800 GT 512 vs. 9600 GT 1024

I've been looking to upgrade my GeForce 8600 GTS 256mb card with a new card with more memory. I like to run everything at 1680x1050 and sometimes games struggle with just the 256mb, and I have to lower some of the settings. I don't know much about ATI cards but I would take them into consideration if you can suggest some. Otherwise, here is what I've been looking at: a GeForce 9800 GT 512 MB or possibly a GeForce 9600 GT 1024mb. Those are both decently priced and seem to do a good job. The 9600 GT 1024 seems to do like 3x as good as my card now (based on the FPS charts at my resolution). If the 9800 GT 512 is the same as the 8800 GT 512, it seems to perform just a little better than the 9600 1024mb, but not by much. I am just confused as to which card to get. Any suggestions would be helpful.

Or you can try out an ATI HD 4850 or 9800GTX if you like nvidia card better. They will cost a little more but I'm sure their performance will make up for it.

It's good for CrossFire and SLI configurations too.

The HD4830 is an option too you know. It outperforms the 9800GT pretty much all the time and is in the same price range.

1GB VRAM is a waste. If you're playing games on a monitor that is big enough to use that much VRAM, then you have the wrong card.

I would say 1GB VRAM for Resolutions that are over 1920x1200.

4830s and 4850s run perfectly cool if you crank the fan up. They have a perfectly adequate cooler, and the reason they run so hot is because they're tuned to run quiet. In addition, even an overclocked GT would have a hard time keeping up with a 4850, seeing as the 4850 keeps up with (and in fact beats) a 9800GTX, which is not only clocked higher than an 8800/9800GT, but has more stream processors as well.

Also, cooler running in no way indicates extra headroom for overclocking. Usually, from what I've found, overclocking is limited by other things than just cooling.

Yep - I've been in that situation before. I'm not quite brave enough for a voltmod, but I've been stuck at barely any overclock with perfectly cool temps.

Thanks for the help. After seeing your suggestions for ATI cards, I looked them up a bit I read that the "Radeon HD 4830 is a crippled 4850" and it performs about as well as the GeForce 9800 GT 512 I was looking into. But, the 4850 isn't much more in price, as compared to the next step up in nVidia, and, as you said, is often outperformed or is really close to the 4850. So, I'll definitely think about getting the HD 4850. Looks like it's in a class by itself, between the high and low nVidia's. If I can't swing the extra like $50, which shouldn't be a problem I wouldn't think, I'd go for the 9800 GT.

Here's just something I'm wondering: why are 8800 GT 512's more expensive than the 9800 GT 512's? From what I've found, there is like a $50 difference or more between the two cards, and they are supposedly almost identical.

Yep - the closest thing Nvidia has to the 4850 is the 9800GTX. They tend to run a bit more expensive than the 4850 though, and perform slightly below.