something in the affordable range. im looking to upgrade my pc, not make it the next ps3. i mean, I've seen some crazy new cards they have for pci express. earlier today i found a link on videogames. com for a 1 gig gpu that had two cards stacked as a single pcix slot insert. cool right? sure, if you have 700 dollars.

so i do, in fact, have a pcix slot, and am running off a gforce 6600 with 256mb or vram. im looking to upgrade to 512mb, but there are more on the market than i thought. so i started comparing core and memory speeds, and weighing against the pros and cons of having a fan-less card. im pretty sure i know which card i want to go with in my price range, but its not an nvidia card, its an ati. never used an ati, but its pricing and stats are weighty. check it.

so i guess my question is this:
do any of you out there know what specs to look for on new video cards, to compare them adequately?

im planning on building my next rig in about a year or so, after the quad core mobos become more prevalent and less expensive. that mobo will most likely be either sli or crossfire compat, so whatever card i get now will most likely be the brother/sister to the one following.

or how about this:
is it better to increase your ram before your gpu, or vice versa? how can you tell when you need each one?

woot. nerdy.