You really may as well go for a 4870X2 if you're going that high end.  It shouldn't be much more.

The other option is of course the GTX295, but that's somewhat more expensive at $500+.

uh.. nice card, the GTX295, but then it's the price that's on the highend side

Indeed.  I wasn't recommending the GTX295, but the 4870X2 should only be <$50 more than the 4850X2 (at least the 2x1GB 4850X2; the 2x512MB 4850X2 is substantially cheaper-here anyway).

I'd suggest waiting for the ATi 4890 and Nvidia 275 GPU's to come out. Then you'll either be able to pick up one of those two cards or the older top end models, like the ATi 4870 or Nvidia 260(216core), cheap.

I've got the 4850 Snowman.....best card for the money I've had since my Matrox Millenium.

Just switched from nvidia card to ATI 4850X2.  The ATI is awesome. . . I've been a long time nVidia user, but like more bang for my buck and that is what you get with ATI.  I'd wait for the newer gen cards to release and snag a 4870X2 on a bargin, you won't be dissaponted with the ATI.

Aw hell.... I just couldn't wait any longer.

399 bucks later, One Radeon HD 4850 X2 PCI Express 2.0 X16, 2 GB DDR3, 4 monitor output were ordered 10 min ago!
If I'm lucky I'll be getting tomorrow but latest on Thursday.
Can't wait!!

...The cards go for 275...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102809

...and the 4890 just came out last week...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150359

I dont know where you bought your card, or if i'm missing something...but looks like you got ripped off...big time.

Bought it at a local Danish website. Prices here are generally higher

Ahhhhhhhh. Makes sense now. Too bad you can't order from American stores!

Well, in my search I did find a couple of US sites that offered overseas shipping, and still be cheaper but it'd be hell returning it if/when it'd go belly up within warranty.

And sometimes you have to pay import tax if they notice it in customs... atleast here in swe

I'm about to upgrade my 8800GT @512mb and wonder if someone here would kindly advise best bang for the buck out of the options I've investigated....

* Gigabyte GTX260 @ 896mb - AUD$299.00

* Galaxy 9800GT @ 1gb - AUD$229.00

* Galaxy 9800GTX @ 1gb - AUD$292.00

* x2 Galaxy 9600GT's in SLI @ 1gb each. - AUD$280.00

All four options come in under AUD$300.00 and I don't want to go much higher as I want to upgraqde my AMD Athlon x2 6400 CPU to a Phenom II x4 940 in a few weeks as well.  In fact the cheaper the better, but it's no use suggesting TigerDirect, etc, cos I'm in OZ... did some comparisons here and the above prices are about the best I can find here.

Also, I have an Antec TruePower Trio @ 430watt, I imagine having to also upgrade this to accomodate the CPU/GPU upgrades, so what would be an ideal unit (size/brand) for the job?

TIA... starkers.

Snowman, get urself a mid-highend card (~$200) and WAIT a few months for windows 7 and DirectX11. DX11 is gonna be vastly superior than DX10 n DX10.1 and more effiecient with coding n whatnot. Also, if u do end up getting a high end card, ur moniter better be able to support 1920-1200 or higher otherwise you will not be getting ur moneys worth, its just that plain and simple. I currently have a 4870 1gig w/ a q9550 E0 overclocked to 4.02 ghz and i can play everygame out there, even crysis at max settings but w/o AA or AF enabled. im personally holding on getting a 2nd 4870 for windows 7 n DX11 and putting those funds towards more hard drives for a RAID config n a very nice sound card to round off the pretty graphics. DO YOUR RESEARCH on and potential gpu prospect. A beefy psu is always a good thing to have too.

Sorry, too late. See #7