My GTX260

[Groovechild]

So ever since the last round of nVidia driver updates (maybe a round or two ago) by BF2142, when I start playing, everything is transparent. I tried reinstalling the drivers. Tried reinstalling the game. Tried reinstalling DX9. Tried older drivers. Tried creating a new Win7 user profile. It appears that if I go above default graphics (yes 800x600 with NO FRIGGIN EYECANDY) everything goes transparent in 2142. I feel like I am playing on a Wii. Actually I think my son's games have better graphics.
Interestingly, my DX10 games play fine (Crysis, Far Cry2, BadCo2) even with some eye candy on. WTF? I REALLY do not want to reinstall my OS as I have a bunch of large programs that require tweaking (CS4, Sonar, VMWare) that I just don't feel like taking a half day to reload.
So the bright side here is that I am thinking F-it, and sell my GTX on Ebay (with some other cr@p) and upgrade to like a GTX470 or Radeon 5850 to kill two birds with one stone (the other bird being it's been two years since my last PC upgrade). I'll ask Tarsier which card is best for like $250-300, his tech hardware OCD is perfect for this, saves me lots of time!
The question is, since my platform is a Q6600, old skool nVidia 650i mobo, and 4GB ram, will a new card like that be bottlenecked by my old hardware? Or does the fact that I am running on monitors capable of handling only 1650x1080 should make it perform ok? I think my PCIe slot is only running x8, although from what I read that is plenty of bandwidth unless using very high resolution and SLI. The reason that it is x8 is bc the Asus board wouldn't run x16 with the first bios revision (which I recently updated) and I an hoping should work now.
Either way, what do you guys think? Platform upgrade is out of the question with wifey not working. Trying to whisper sweet nothings to get some Newegg gift certificates for this Christmas, mebbe rest of the system can catch up then.

[tarsier]

5850 absolutely.  Won't be badly bottlenecked with a single one.  In crossfire, definitelty.

I was super happy with my crossfire and subsequently single card 5870 setup.

Power usage and overall performance of the last batch of nvidia cards was sub-par.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1528688  here's a 5850 for $269 new
Here's a used one for $260  http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1526797&highlight=5850

They're getting closer and closer to the $250 range

[Groovechild]

Sweet, that's actually the card I was eyeing. What drivers are you using? The only gotcha I have seen with ATi is the complains re: drivers. The GTX lasted about 10 hours on eBay. That card is going out tonight (which means back to my Radeon 1900XT for the next two weeks until my ebay auctions end, everyone pays for them, and then I buy a new card on Newegg).
I guess no BC2 for me until then, I know you guys will miss me 
I actually had some fun last time, even tho Boca killed me like 12 consecutive times. I snuck up on him while he was crouching and thought about knifing him, but I hate to do that in the back. Although I found extreme happiness when I got a shotgun unlocked for my medic. Still trying to figure out the guns in that game...

[tarsier]

I've been using the latest drivers as they are released. They're up to 10.6 now.  They release them monthly.

I haven't been able to complain about the ati drivers since 10.2, which had texture issues in BFBC2.  All good now though.

The new ati cards are really nice for power saving mode.  They downclock the gpu to 157mhz when idle and the memory to 300mhz.  Great for an idle machine!

Make an effor to to get a card with a reference cooler, unless it is really cost-prohibitive.  They send the hot air out the back of the case.  A lot of the manufacturers have been moving toward the "hot air in the case" design.  The new ones run a bit cooler (like 2c), but all your other components will be hotter (cpu hsf, nb, sb, etc).  You'll be able to see the difference.  The boxy ones are the typical 2 slot design coolers, whereas the new ones are egg shaped and have the fan right above the gpu core.

G/L with your new purchase.  You should be pretty impressed with the performance jump.  The 5770 is known to pewrform similarly to the gtx260.  5850 is a good deal faster.