More Tech garbage

Well the 9800XT is the same generation, just pushed a little harder. You'll get about 5% more bandwidth over a 9800 pro for a $200 premium. Lame. So instead of $200, it will be $400+. On the other hand if you go to the next Gen, the Radeon X800 Pro or the Nvidia Geforce 6800, you will see a performance delta change that is pretty significant (~25-40%), but you will also pay about $400+. The Nvidia 6800 plain vanilla (128 MB) about $300+. Forget about the 5950's. They are slower than the Nvidia 6800 and more expensive. The 256 MB version of the Nvidia 6800 is $400-450. Way too much. I believe the Radeon X800 series all come with 256 MB. I really dont know if 128 MB is going to be a hinderence with games in the future. RIght now, it doesnt do much for you, but it may in the future.

Verdict:

Buy one of these @ these price points:

Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB @ ~$200 ~80-120% faster than your 4200
Radeon 9800 Pro 256 MB @ ~$250 ~85-125% faster than your 4200*
Nvidia 6800 128 MB @ ~$300 ~100-160% faster than your 4200

*The 256 meg memory give more benefits to DX 9.0 games like Doom III

Anything pricier, I would sit for a few months to see some more Direct X 9.0 games to come out to see who is the price/performance leader. Right now the Nvidia 6800 Ultra and GT lines are faster than ATi's X800 XT line for Doom III (The only DX 9.0 game), but both are really expensive. $400-550 and there is only one game out there that uses them to their potential.

D>M>

PS I hate Reality TV Shows. I haved The Real World from day one. I still hate it.