right, but you guys have to realize to SLI an 8800 would be 150 bux, why would i buy a new 4850? I would think a SLI 8800 GTS would blow away a single 4850. Perhaps I am mistaken. I guess if the 4850 was 1 gig of mem then it would be worth it and you wouldn't have to worry about keep two cards at a cool temp. I've just heard SLI can be a super pain in the *** and you don't really get as much performance as one would think.
But i don't know, in the long run i see Nvidia coming out ahead once again. ATi was only really good around the first radeon GPUs and then Nvidia slowly took the market and performance back. I think Nvidia will take over again with their next gen cards.
I couldn't agree more! Nvidia has the best cards right now (gtx280) just no one can afford it. Two nvidia cards in SLI will outperform a single 4850. I'd reccomend the 9800gtx+. its about 200 which I think is in your price range?? And when it drops you can get a 2nd one in SLI and your speeds will be awesome.