I am ordering all parts on the 22nd after the price drop. Already decided on the e6700 dual core - gonna overclock. Will be running XP and not interested in vista and DX10 for quite a while. I have a 256 meg card at the moment, and would like a 512 card that is NOT a performance drop from my current card. I have been partial to ATI in the past, due to image quality (in my opinion) but am not sold on a brand.What do you think is the best option for bang vs. buck at the 512 level and above for DX9??I have priced an x1950 xt 512 flavor at 275 shipped, newegg does not carry it though :( I have also looked at the 8800GTS 640 meg version, but more money and DX10 compliant. This is the last part of the puzzle for me. Everthing else is picked and solid.help..... thanks....

I'd go for the nVidia 7950GThttp://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_200...2=710&chart=292http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814130066RegardsJim

> not interested in vista and DX10 for>quite a while. >How long is 'quite a while'?Depending on how long that is, would shape any response I would make.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

1 yr minimim, maybe even late 3rd quarter 2008 or early '09.d-

Wow the Nvidias kill ATI in FSX. I checked across the board, and in all other areas it is opposite. What is going on with Nvidia that it has so much more FPS than ATI in FSX alone?? The 7950 has definately given me something to think about, as it seems the only other viable option besided the x1950 XT 512 that I was about to purchase.d -

Well.....all is done and ready to order. Looks like I will be holding onto my x800xl for a while, which sucks. I cannot find one single retailer with the 512 version of the 7950 GT in stock. Half of the retailers have it listed as discontinued, and the other say it is out of stock for 2-3 weeks. Newegg has it listed, but is out of stock. I will just wait a week or 2 and see if they surface.Build specs:Antec Truepower Trio 650W 129Antec Performance One case (black) 104ASUS commando mboard 19910k rpm Raptor HD 150GB 1957200 rpm Seagate Barracuda 250GB 642 gigs of Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800 ram 159Core 2 Duo 6750 ?? (180)Zalman CPU 60on hold: Nvidia 7950 GT 512meg. 2501280 all up plus shipping, man prices are good these days. See how it goes, but I might have to get the 6750 from another dealer since newegg does not have it on their site anywhere.....d -

Here's a link to a 7900GS 512M OC: http://www.computerhq.com/MSI_GEFORCE_7900...-id-870051.html. Not exactly what you were looking for, but close enough for the difference in FSX FPS it will give you per Tom's Hardware charts and less than two hundre bux.Gary