Toribash
200 series is in your 250$ range. I believe you should be able to get a 295gtx with that.
However you can get two 9800gtx's for 100$ each which is about the same as the 295's power. But then you'd have to get a different mobo to support sli maby.
At $350-450, perhaps not the gtx 295 :P

Perhaps the gtx 275
http://www.amazon.com/BFG-BFGEGTX275.../dp/B003EIDFJ8

It's better than the 5830 across the board, but it's also a bit more expensive and doesn't support dx11, which may start to make a larger difference later on. I'd still wait for the official gtx 265 specs first before deciding.

EDIT:

Acutally, looking at some more benchmarks....it keeps ahead of the gtx 275 in crysis, often matching the 285. But....it does fall short in a lot of other games.

What will you be playing?
Last edited by DarkJak; May 21, 2010 at 06:20 AM.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Gimp is Pimp(tm)

DarkJak's Wide-Range Texture Shop[LINK]

Incognito - [o]
I got my XFX 285gtx+ black edition for only 295$ on newegg. Now what I'm trying to figure out is why they RAISED the prices up from that.....inflation?
And I overclocked it from the already factory overclocked 720Mhz to 745Mhz but it does need really good watercooling otherwise it only lasts about 5min without overheating and bluescreening.
Last edited by Yourface; May 21, 2010 at 08:28 PM.
The new Nvidia's are a major flop... Too much power consumption, too much heat... Too bad. I would love to see a decent product so that we could all gain from it (prices going low because of tight competition)
"There is enough on earth for everybody's need, but not for everyone's greed." - Mohandas Gandhi
Don't get an nVidia 400 series. They're power hogs, and they run really hot. You'd need to spend a lot of money on a power supply to feed the bugger, not to mention intel cpu's can be $1000 on their own. Go AMD/ATI for a budget build. I recommend a Quad-core AMD CPU and a 5830 or 5850.
Everything that you said was a lie, except for them being powerhogs.

1. They run hot because they're factory overclocked. Solution: clock them back.
1.5. Get a 400S if you can afford it.
2. A power supply for it shouldn't go over $100 unless you choose to go into sli and have to go over 700W
3. Yeah they can be 1000$ if you get an i7 but you might as well get an i5 which runs at 200$.
4. Quad cores are so 2008 lol i had to say it.
5. more stuff is optimized for intel/Nvidia than for AMD/ATI.
If you go on ebay, ATI Radon Saphire or whatever they are called have em for under $200, last time i checked anyway.