So, for xmas, I got an ATi X9150XT based video card.  Mine's Sapphire brand.  I had to also install a new power supply to handle the bloody thing, but that wasn't too big a deal.  My old video card was a crappy 7600GT card.  This was a big upgrade.

In the games I play, most of which I'm not allowed to talk about (NDAs SUCK), it made a HUGE difference.  ATi's drivers are known to be much more efficient in terms of CPU utilization vs. nVidia drivers and I definitely notice lower CPU usage. 

I went from not being able to really stand playing Vanguard for long, to being able to play very enjoyably and on the "Balanced" settings choice.   That setting produces some very beautiful graphics, and with the new car,d it's totally playable without annoying slowdowns.

There's 2 downsides to the thing.  The first is the noise under load.  The card has an automatic fan speed control.  When the card is mostly idle (sitting in Windows desktop for instance), the fan's running pretty slow, and it's nearly silent.  But when you fire up a game, the fan goes to max speed pretty quickly and when at max speed it's pretty loud, by today's standards.  The second is also related to the fan, and that is that it basically...sucks.  The card runs at around 70C when idle and shoots up to 78 or 79 C when under load.  Now, in the Catalyst control panel, that still shows as Ok on the temp meter, but my god that's still VERY HOT!  I hear that the Zalman brand coolers can drop those temps up to THIRTY DEGREES (C).  No idea why the card makers don't include something like that by default.

Anyway, I'm quite happy with my new card.  These things are very cheap, and if you've got a PCI-e slot and are looking for a video card upgrade for under $300, this is a good choice.  If you're still on AGP, not even J. R. "Bob" Dobbs can help you.  Upgrade or die!