8800GT to GTX 275 or 280?

They are exactly the same price ($240, $220 after MIR) on newegg, so that is a non-issue. The two cards seem utterly interchangeable for the most part, and arguments as to the superior of the two cards can be found all over the web. Here are the facts:

275=55nm
280=65nm
275=28 ROPs
280=32 ROPs
275=448 bit
280=512 bit
275=896MB
280=1GB
the 275 has slightly faster clocks all-around
the 280 is older by almost a year, and uses an older revision of the GT200 architechture

What do you think is the better choice? If you have had to make this same decision, please let me know what you decided on, and why. I also welcome other recommendations for cards, but know that I would like to stick with Nvidia, and that my budget can not exceed $300 unless the value of the card FAR outweighs the increase in cost.

In all honesty, my decision may ultimately come down to whether I want the card packaged with COD: WaW or Cryostasis, since they seem so evenly matched.

GTX 275
GTX 280

Intel Core i7 920
ASUS P6T Deluxe
3x2GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1333
WD Caviar Blue 500GB, 2x WD Caviar Black 500GB
Corsair 850TX
EVGA 8800GT
X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro

My monitor is capable of 1920x1200

GTX275, well were I live I can't get GTX280s anymore, I can get the 285.

so I m with above on that, i belive they are cheaper and clock relativly the same as GTX280s

You might want to look into BFG's GTX 275.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814143183
It is $25 more than the card you are looking at earlier, ( However, about 10 days ago it was selling for about $225, so I expect it to come back down in price anytime)

If you look at the benchmarks shown here on tomshardware, you will see that this specific GTX 275 beats out both the 4890, and the GTX 280.

Unless I decide to put in the extra cash for the 285, this is certainly what I will be going with.

If they are exactly the same price then get the 280. The 275 preforms the same, but it falls behind when it's 768MB of memory is not enough. In that instance the extra RAM in the 280 allows it to pull ahead noticeably (if barely noticeably).

It seems to be the general consensus that the 275 is superior, albeit by a nearly immeasurable amount. I will probably go with that, but as far as the actual brand is concerned, I will probably go with whoever is cheapest that I actually trust to give support in the unlikely event I have a problem. I trust EVGA since I currently own one of their cards, and their card also comes with a $20 MIR that drops the price to $220.

I noticed something that interested me... newegg is selling recertified GTX 285's for $270. Would it be worth the extra $30-$50 to upgrade?

They also are selling two different models of the 285; 01g-p3-1180-ar and 01g-p3-1281-ar (the latter is $10 more expensive, and it is the model they are also selling as a recertified item). I can't find ANY information on any differences between the two.

I've posted asking if anyone knows the difference HERE

That is actually the same exact question I had. I was really about to open up a thread about that here in the next few days.