upgrade advice for video card

[PCIEspresso]

What video is better for the buck? Gigabyte Radeon HD 3870 or eVGA Geforce 9600GT (non-OC'ed) ? I love Newegg's low prices so I'll shop there.

Here are my specs:
GA-MA78GM-S2H micro-ATX motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 2.2GHz AM2
250GB SATA Hard Drive
6GB DDR2-800 SDRAM lol.. kinda overkill for now (2x2GB and 2x1GB)
ATI Radeon HD 3200 with 512MB Buffer enabled
430Watt PSU
Dell SE178WFP 17" widescreen Flat Panel from previous Dell desktop
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit

Dell Inspiron 1520
Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 1.80GHz
160GB 5400 rpm SATA Hard Drive
4GB DDR2-667 SDRAM
256MB GDDR2 Nvidia Geforce 8600M GT
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit

 

[Onur]

The GeForce 9600GT is a midd-range card so if you want better performance you should wait for GeForce 9800GTX series!

Either you should buy Radeon HD 3870

 

[gazaway]

First off... the 9800GTX series isn't out. Secondly that card is going to cost AT LEAST $299.. Therefore your post is in no way helpfull to this guy.. Please don't make posts without answering questions or just pimping a certain product..

To OP, the 3870 and the 9600GT are very compairable. I believe the 9600GT is compairable atm, but I haven't looked on Newegg for a bit as I'm personally broke atm lol. Based on your motherboard you won't have too much upgradability in the past, but if you plan on upgrading your mobo to one you could crossfire with in the near future, I'd get the 3870.

 

[PCIEspresso]

I went ahead and bought an XFX Geforce 8800GS or $139.99 on Newegg. When it comes I'll test it and make sure it has no errors or problems before sending in the $30 rebate. Going from onboard graphics to an 8800gs is going to be a HUGE improvement. My Vista rating is currently a 3.4 due to on-board Radeon HD 3200 graphics. I also recently upgraded my parents' XPS 410 from a Geforce 7300LE to a Sapphire Radeon HD 3650.