You really may as well go for a 4870X2 if you're going that high end.  It shouldn't be much more.

The other option is of course the GTX295, but that's somewhat more expensive at $500+.

uh.. nice card, the GTX295, but then it's the price that's on the highend side

Indeed.  I wasn't recommending the GTX295, but the 4870X2 should only be <$50 more than the 4850X2 (at least the 2x1GB 4850X2; the 2x512MB 4850X2 is substantially cheaper-here anyway).

I'd suggest waiting for the ATi 4890 and Nvidia 275 GPU's to come out. Then you'll either be able to pick up one of those two cards or the older top end models, like the ATi 4870 or Nvidia 260(216core), cheap.

I've got the 4850 Snowman.....best card for the money I've had since my Matrox Millenium.

Just switched from nvidia card to ATI 4850X2.  The ATI is awesome. . . I've been a long time nVidia user, but like more bang for my buck and that is what you get with ATI.  I'd wait for the newer gen cards to release and snag a 4870X2 on a bargin, you won't be dissaponted with the ATI.

Aw hell.... I just couldn't wait any longer.

399 bucks later, One Radeon HD 4850 X2 PCI Express 2.0 X16, 2 GB DDR3, 4 monitor output were ordered 10 min ago!
If I'm lucky I'll be getting tomorrow but latest on Thursday.
Can't wait!!

...The cards go for 275...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102809

...and the 4890 just came out last week...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150359

I dont know where you bought your card, or if i'm missing something...but looks like you got ripped off...big time.

Bought it at a local Danish website. Prices here are generally higher

Ahhhhhhhh. Makes sense now. Too bad you can't order from American stores!

Well, in my search I did find a couple of US sites that offered overseas shipping, and still be cheaper but it'd be hell returning it if/when it'd go belly up within warranty.

And sometimes you have to pay import tax if they notice it in customs... atleast here in swe

I'm about to upgrade my 8800GT @512mb and wonder if someone here would kindly advise best bang for the buck out of the options I've investigated....

* Gigabyte GTX260 @ 896mb - AUD$299.00

* Galaxy 9800GT @ 1gb - AUD$229.00

* Galaxy 9800GTX @ 1gb - AUD$292.00

* x2 Galaxy 9600GT's in SLI @ 1gb each. - AUD$280.00

All four options come in under AUD$300.00 and I don't want to go much higher as I want to upgraqde my AMD Athlon x2 6400 CPU to a Phenom II x4 940 in a few weeks as well.  In fact the cheaper the better, but it's no use suggesting TigerDirect, etc, cos I'm in OZ... did some comparisons here and the above prices are about the best I can find here.

Also, I have an Antec TruePower Trio @ 430watt, I imagine having to also upgrade this to accomodate the CPU/GPU upgrades, so what would be an ideal unit (size/brand) for the job?

TIA... starkers.

Snowman, get urself a mid-highend card (~$200) and WAIT a few months for windows 7 and DirectX11. DX11 is gonna be vastly superior than DX10 n DX10.1 and more effiecient with coding n whatnot. Also, if u do end up getting a high end card, ur moniter better be able to support 1920-1200 or higher otherwise you will not be getting ur moneys worth, its just that plain and simple. I currently have a 4870 1gig w/ a q9550 E0 overclocked to 4.02 ghz and i can play everygame out there, even crysis at max settings but w/o AA or AF enabled. im personally holding on getting a 2nd 4870 for windows 7 n DX11 and putting those funds towards more hard drives for a RAID config n a very nice sound card to round off the pretty graphics. DO YOUR RESEARCH on and potential gpu prospect. A beefy psu is always a good thing to have too.

Sorry, too late. See #7

When you check into PSUs most will tell you if they're rated for SLi or crossfire.....With just a little looking I'd say that's gonna put at or above 600W

Yeah, I was looking yesterday at a Zalman 650-80 watt PSU for a bit under AUD$200.00.  It may be a little more than I need for now, but it would allow for the power loss due to heating/over time that I've been reading about, as well as possible future upgrades.

There was also an Antec 550w that would pretty much do what I need if only running a single GPU card, but as the SLI/Crossfire option hasn't been settled yet, I may as well go with a higher powered PSU and remove the guess work.

Oh well, you could have gotten 2x 4870 n a crossfire config for the same price...

And for PSU selection, go for quality, not price. i use the Corsair TX 750w w/ a single 12v rail. My system is substantially overclocked so im good to go for power. A fantastic choice for PSU brand would be PC Power and Cooling Silencer series. They're some of the best out there. You shouldnt need to go above a 650w at most with that card.

Well I've narrowed it down a bit with the graphics card.. I will either go with the Galaxy or Palit GTX 260 - or the Hightech ot Palit HD4870.

They're all a much of a muchness regarding price... with the Leadtech 4870 cheapest, coming in at AUD302.50.

There's also a Leadtech HD 4850 IceQ 4 GDDR3 @ 1gb with reasonable specs for AUD$287.00... but is it much/enough of of a step up from the 8800GT @ 512mb?

Not outside the US, me thinks... definitely not in Oz.  The cheapest x2 4870 on Pricespy.com.au is AUD$795 +

I'm thinking the Corsair TX650 @ S190.30; the Zalman ZM600 HP @ $179.30; the Antec EA650 @ $159.50.

There's also a Gigabyte 720 @ $159.40.. but that says peak 720w power, not under load and I'm a bit dubious.  I know Gigabyte make decent mobos and etc, but what about PSU's?

really depends on your current system, no point in buying the-greatest-gfx-card-ever if the rest of your machine is old skool and can't keep up with it, then your better of buying a sligthly weaker card if you don't upgrade your whole system