Best PCI-E Card For Under $100: Tie

GeForce 7600 GS
Codename: G73, 90 nanometer technology
12 pixel shaders, five vertex shaders, 12 texture units, eight raster operator units
128-bit memory bus
400 MHz core, 400 MHz DDR (800 MHz effective) memory

With identical features compared to it's faster 7600 GT brethren, the 7600 GS lacks only the core and memory clock speeds - however, the GT's clock speeds are so much higher that the GS pales in comparison. Nevertheless, the 7600 GS is a good performer in the sub $100 segment vs. the X800 GTO and X1650 PRO.

Radeon X1650 PRO
Codename: R530, 80- and 90-nm technology
12 Pixel Shaders, five vertex shaders, four texture units, four raster operations
128-bit memory bus (256-bit ring bus)
600 MHz core, 700 MHz DDR (1400 MHz effective) memory

The new X1650 PRO is a re-dressed X1600 XT with slightly higher clock speeds. The very high memory speed for this class and efficient shaders help the X1650 PRO compare well with the 12-pipeline 7600 GS, beating it by a small margin in most benchmarks.

Best PCI-E Card For ~$120: Tie

Radeon X1650 XT
Codename: RV560, 80-nm technology
24 pixel shaders, six vertex shaders, eight texture units, eight raster operator units
128-bit memory bus
575 MHz core, 675 MHz DDR (1350 MHz Effective) memory

The X1650 XT has recently come down in price and is a good competitor to the 7600 GT. Overall performance is a bit faster than that of the 7600 GT, but they trade blows depending on the game. The bottom line is that for $120 you can get a really good gamer's card in this price segment.

GeForce 7600 GT
Codename: G73, 90-nm technology
12 pixel shaders, five vertex shaders, 12 texture units, eight raster operator units
128-bit memory bus
560 MHz core, 700 MHz DDR (1400 MHz effective) memory

The 7600 GT is an amazing card in this price range, sporting new SM 3.0 technology and very high clock speeds to deliver excellent performance. Its weakest feature is its 128-bit memory bus, but its high memory speeds offset that disadvantage and make it competitive with 256-bit cards like the X850 XT.