Best PCI-E Card For ~$200: None

With the X1950 XT currently out of stock at the $200 price point, there is really nothing to recommend in this segment. I suppose you could get two 2600 XTs for a Crossfire motherboard or two 8600 GTs in an SLI configuration for the price, but I don't think the gains over a single X1950 PRO would be worth it considering the extra expense for a multi-card motherboard and power supply. Two X1950 PROs in Crossfire mode would bring the price too close to the 2900 PRO category to recommend.

Best PCI-E Card For ~$280

The GeForce 8800 GTS 320 MB finally has some strong competition - so strong, in fact, that it beats it in the price segment. The Radeon 2900 PRO is a barely disguised 2900 XT with slightly lowered clock speeds and very similar performance to its faster brother. With a relatively mild overclock, you'll get 2900 XT performance from this card. The only downside is that the 2900 PRO is probably not going to be around for a long time, so get them while they're hot!

Best PCI-E Card For ~$375: Tie

Before we recommend either of the following cards in the $375 price segment, we'd like to point out that if we knew the 2900 PRO would be in plentiful stock for the rest of the month, we wouldn't recommend either card; just buy the 2900 PRO and give it a touch of overclock to get identical performance!

But in case the 2900 PRO comes and goes quickly, here's what we think your $375 would be best spent on:

The GeForce 8800 GTS is the little brother of the 8800 GTX, and both are based on the same Nvidia next-generation DirectX 10 GPU. The 8800 GTS is slightly crippled compared to the GTX, but it will still beat powerhouse cards like the dual-GPU 7950 GX2 in many cases. The biggest downside to the 8800 GTS 640 MB is that its cheaper 320 MB cousin offers very close performance for much less scratch. However, if you plan to play your games at high resolutions of 1600x1200 or above, it's worth the extra money for the 640 MB version.

The Radeon HD 2900 XT debuted with mediocre performance compared to the GeForce 8800 GTS 640, especially when price was factored in. But ATI has stepped up to bat and introduced fresh drivers that really bring out the 2900's potential, even allowing it to challenge the 8800 GTX in some arenas.

Even so, the 8800 GTS 640 MB is still a great card and can challenge the 2900 XT in some titles, and on average you will find the 8800 GTS for less money. With this in mind, both cards are recommended in this price segment.

Best PCI-E Card For ~$500

The introduction of the 8800 Ultra - which is essentially an overclocked 8800 GTX - relegated the GTX to second-fastest-graphics-card-in-the-world status. But with the lowest priced 8800 Ultras starting at $610, it's hard to justify the $100 price premium over the GTX for an overclock.

In all honesty, even the $220 cheaper 2900 PRO would probably serve anyone well at high resolutions. But if you've got money to burn, play at extreme resolutions and will only settle for a top-tier card, then this is the card for you.