Personally,I think the 9600GT is :tif:
Its sooooo close to the price of a 8800GT which makes it not worth it.
For people truely looking for a budget card,I’d recommend the 8800GS.Newegg has it for $110 AR and its basically a tuned down 8800GT.
Newegg Link…
vista 32 only sees 3.5gb. 64 bit will see 128gb
Come on guys, you’re not comparing correctly!
512MB 8800GT is $210. A 256MB 8800GT is $170.
512MB 9600GT is $150 and has MIR for even cheaper later if you get that $$$ back!
For the performance gains, $60 isn’t “CLOSE IN PRICE” No need to spend $60 extra dollars… worthless waste of cash.
And an 8800GS doesnt meet up with a 9600GT in any benchmarks I can find… so, why make it a choice? It is a whole $10 cheaper, has 128MB less RAM and doesn’t compare to the 9600GT.
9600GT. Best bang for your buck. Best mid range card for the $$$.
for vista to see 128gb it must be home premium or higher, no home basic
but then that 64 bit fucks up programs, which im not doing.
anyone know whats the point of getting the option for a tv tuner? Is it just to watch tv? or am i missing out on other things if i skimp out on this option?
yes mostly for watching tv. i used it with media center to record shows so your computer kind of like a DVR
well i just got pwned. I decided I wanted to take the “apply for dell credit” route. I guess this is the first time not having credit built up really bit hard. How much credit is a 20 year old expected to have??? oh well, paying cash it is 
HP Pavillion Elite m9100z PC w/TV/PVR
AMD Phenom 9500 Quad Core processor - 2.2 GHz
2 GB RAM
500 GB SATA 7,200 RPM, 3Gb/s
Lightscribe 16x SuperMulti
Base config was 8400GS w/256MB (or upgrade to NVIDIA GeForce 8500GT, 512MB TV, DVI-I, HDMI [+$50] )
Vista Home Premium 64-bit (Default, or select 32-bit for same price)
ATSC-NTSC TV tuner w/PVR, FM tuner, remote [+0]
other standard options
no modem
all for 366 AMR. 466 without the AMR. Pull the trigger on this or the dell?
No built in Wifi, you want to go 32bit vista, card upgrade for +50.
plus 2 gigs of ram for another +50.
No monitor, and then a 802.11 G card.
I think the dell is a better deal.
the monitor alone is worth like $300.