MIght want to spend some time thinking about upgrade cycle times. Is it a good buy often depends on how often you will need to upgrade to keep running newer games with the eye candy people love. Personally I can't see spending bucks to ulgrade to an already out of date technology like a card built for Direct9. I'd rather wait an extra month or two and save a little longer to avoid investing behind the curve.
Just me. Good luck with your choice.
BTW I'm running a 7900GT with an AM2 4600 Dual Core and love it. Great bang for the buck and I'll keep the graphics until the 8900 series shows up which will most likely happen around the same time as Vista gets SP1. I love Christmas toys for myself.
