And, like I said, VRAM only really matters in high resolutions.

Heat issues and power consumption are moot issues if you have decent cooling (read: two fans) and a 450-500W minimum psu 

There is absolutely no reason you should be saying to someone that doesn't know anything about graphics cards that he should be comparing a bunch of useless clock speeds against each other. It's like comparing a Core 2 Duo and a Pentium III and saying you need to look at the clock speeds. There is less variation in graphics cards than there is in CPUs - the type of the card is again more important than any variation (manufacturer, etc) inside that type.

Don't throw stones in glass houses."""

Wow.  Just wow.   You keep thinking that.
How is power consumption moot?  Do you even know what amps are?  You make heating issues sound like they are irrelevent?

An 8800 is an 8800 is an 8800 is NOT true.  The chips themselves are the same but the layouts are different.  Benchmarks being the same, no squeezey pooh.  There a small differences that can amount to much.

In your original post you said to look for just the name brand and vRAM.  That is an error I've seen made by tons of ill-informed people.  I was trying to tell the TC thats not all you should look for it was not a personal attack against you.

Don't you think someone who is new to Vcards should know all the information vs. your stunted information.

Lots of people buy cards and are dissatisfyed with them because of ignorance, ie. the Vcard doesn't fit in the tower, wrong PS, not enough fans.

You were leading him down a path with much more chances to err.  I was giving him much more vital information to make an INFORMED decision.

TO TC:  You can take what you want from this thread, I'm not trying to start an argument.

Maybe we need an intervention from the mods to settle this.

You mentioned you are Australian, I would recommend MSY computers for their cheap prices, there is one in most capital cities.

well the fact is i dont beleive the 8800 price will drop low enough for me to buy it
even after christmas, i dont want to spend all my money on a video card.

You want to look for:
--Who made the card (not nvidia or Radeon),  but 3 party companies who use their chipsets such as: XFX, eVGA, etc.
--GPU speeds, vRAM speeds(most important)
--heat issues
--size of the card(will it fit in your tower and still have good ventilation)
--optimal power consumption

The manufacturer means almost NOTHING. The TYPE OF THE CARD IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ATTRIBUTE. A 8800GT is an 8800GT is an 8800GT, sure you might have one overclocked by the factory but they're going to be roughly the same in benchmarks.

And, like I said, VRAM only really matters in high resolutions.

Heat issues and power consumption are moot issues if you have decent cooling (read: two fans) and a 450-500W minimum psu 

There is absolutely no reason you should be saying to someone that doesn't know anything about graphics cards that he should be comparing a bunch of useless clock speeds against each other. It's like comparing a Core 2 Duo and a Pentium III and saying you need to look at the clock speeds. There is less variation in graphics cards than there is in CPUs - the type of the card is again more important than any variation (manufacturer, etc) inside that type.

Don't throw stones in glass houses.

I'm telling you, unless you absolutly CAN'T wait until after christmas, then only get a new card.
I would wait until prices drop and thats not gonna happen BEFORE christmas.  Also, you want to get a card that supports DirectX 10 because 9c is on the way out.  Most major developers are not making in-production games with DX 9c, its 10 all the way.

Search google for "GFX/video card comparison"  or something like that.  There are web sites that allow you to pick two or more Vcards and it will compare them for you.

You still didn't tell me your computer specs.  I might be able to save you some time and frustration if you let me know them.

Under start menu=>run     type "dxdiag" to get a list of your specs (omit quotes when typing).

GPU Clock Speed     730 MHz
RAMDAC Speed     400 MHz
Memory Tech     GDDR3 SDRAM

Not neccesarily.  Your GFX card can be bottlenecked by your Motherboard chipset/CPU, architecture of outdated hardware(MB/CPU/chipset), System RAM, You might not have enough amps on the PS 12v rail--therefore the video card can't run at full potential bec/ of not enough power. 

Accually the power supply is tremendously important!!! Make sure you have the right one and a good brand.

NOTE:    for todays and tomorrows games make sure you are getting 512 vRAM.  The devs. are designing games that use more vRAM, although important not as much as other specs.

Could you list you system specs so we can diagnose your needs further?

Although, I would wait until about 2 months after christmas to buy anything computer related.  Prices will hopefully be going down on the more expensive cards(8800GT, 8800ultra, etc.) so you might save yourself a couple hundred.

Thats what I'm doing, although still undecided wether to get 8800ultra or just revamp the whole system as it was high end two years ago, but not anymore.

But in all accuality, this information isn't top secret.  You can easily google tons of information with the right keywords.

Maybe try XFX's forum for more detailed answers.  They have VERY knowledgeable people who are nice.

the GPU, and VRAM speeds mean my games are gonna run really well?

what is the GPU and vRAM? lol