To answer the question about removing the fan here is a picture of my pc's insides
it's kinda cramped in there and the black shroud around the fan sticks all the way out and has to be removed to get the power supply out. Sure it'll only take about 5 to 10 min but it's a big pain in the butt.
On that note thanks for all the replys. I do think i'm going to hold off on getting the new card until I can afford something bigger like the new series of ati or an 8800 something