I am actually considering one of the the new NVIDIA 9600's, not a 8800. According to the first reviews, the 9600 performance is ~80% of the 8800, but the price is about 100€/150USD less.
Add to this the fact that I am playing mostly simulations, which are mostly CPU bound, and that I usually upgrade my video adapter after 2-3 years.
But the most important thing about the 9600 is efficience. Some numbers:
Temperatures idle / full load
9600: 40C / 64C
8800: 58C / 90C
Power draw idle / full load
9600: 178W / 236W
8800: 191W / 270W
Source :
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/articl...ZW50aHVzaWFzdA==