Reactor Worker, the GTX 260 core 216 preforms better than the 4870 1GB right now. Nividia released new drivers. Still $30 more for a boost that doesn't matter much as both cards get 50+fps at high resolutions. But ATI is pushing out their performance drivers in December, which probably means they had them in reserve and were waiting for Nvidia. WTF
The GTX 280 and 4870 X2 aren't useful unless you have a 2560x1600 or higher monitor, even then the 4870 and GTX 260 preform exceptionally well.
And for the love of God, don't even consider a card that has only a stock cooler on it, unless you want to add your own. That might void your warranty though.
Can your motherboard support PCI-E 2.0? Does the rest of your computer suck? Does your power supply have enough PCI-E power cables? The GT 200 and 4870 series require two cables.
I'm getting a dual-core 2.55 GHz CPU, new motherboard, a new power supply and another GeForce 8600 GT to make SLI with my other GeForce 8600 GT.
Don't worry, I 100% doublechecked to make sure the two 8600s are the same. And they ARE.
2.55GHz tells us little about your CPU.
Remember kids, the most expensive part isn't always the best for you.