8800gt - recommended replacement?

If the 8800GT served what you want to do, why not just get another 8800GT?  You didn't not what your PC Model Number is, but on many if you upgrade the video card it will also require upgrading the power supply.  

Zotac makes a nice 9800GT.

Micro Center - Zotac NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT 512MB GDDR3 PCIe ...

Since you have a Quad, W7 and 500W PSU, then I would look at getting the Nvidia GTX 550 Ti.  It should fall in your price range.  At least this way it will be an upgrade and not just some lateral move getting the 9800 GT which is basically the same as what you have now.  HERE are some to look at.   These will be dual slot cards versus your single slot 8800 GT, but they won't be any longer.  You just need an open slot right next to your PCIe X16 slot for it to fit width wise.  The GTX 550 Ti only takes one PCIe 6-pin power connection just like your 8800 GT.  

I would not recommend ANY power supply less than a 650W Antec Power Supply that I purchased for an EVGA GTX 560 TI

(Correction 550 TI uses 1 75W connector.)

You're confused SpeedStep.  The GTX 550 Ti only takes one.  The GTX 560 Ti takes two.  A 500W PSU is enough for the GTX 550 Ti.  

I stand corrected.  

You should measure with a ruler though to make sure the card is not too long. Some cards are too long.

Im also presuming that as my motherboard could take a 8800gt it i will also work with todays cards? or is there any pitfalls i should be aware of?

The budget-priced 5670 and 6670 cards seem to do quite well in matchups against the 8800GT; the pitfall would be BIOS compatibility.

An Anandtech comparison showed the AMD cards outperforming the aging 8800GT in most gaming benchmarks, but no mention was made of 3D work. One area where they are vastly superior is efficiency (and thus heat generation); also, they have onboard HDMI audio devices that are handy for monitors with built-in speakers. And finally, they are more compact, so space shouldn't be an issue.

I have a Sapphire 5670 (factory Accelero L2 double-slot cooler) and it fits in my Dell Dimension 3000 case with plenty of space to spare.

Hey thanks,

im looking into getting a gtx 550, my only concern is that my motherboard is 1.0a (i think anyway, the specifications are confusing me support.dell.com/.../appendix.htm)  and a gtx 550 is 2.0

but then the 8800gt was also 2.0 so i guess it will work?

thanks again

My 8800gt has failed too ..(a known issue)......  my xps420 is limited by its power supply (375w)...I too would be interested in a sub£150 card thats better than the 8800gt (not a lemon either) that fits my dells restrictions

any suggestions would be welcome

Probably the best video card with that power supply would be the HD 6770 as shown HERE  or HERE being in the UK.  

My pick:  Sapphire HERE.  

375 watts should support a 6770, but the 6670 should meet or exceed the performance of the 8800GT.

cheers both for the quick response .... I like the idea that it vents to the outside  .....more than happy about  the price too ...I notice only one divi output on the 6770 though ......I do a lot of photo editing, so I use two monitors (but only one if I occasionally game) ....Ive got a hmdi divi adaptor..... would it be possible to use this and run across both screens ? (2xsamsung 23")

and

would my bios be affected ?

any ideas  ?

oh ...and I was thinking of maxing out my memory to 4gb as well ....swapping out the two 512 mb sticks for 2 X1gb giving me 4x1gb ....(yes I know that I will only see around  3.6gb ) ...but will the 1gb memory on the graphics card detract from my total ...making the memory increase pointless ?

I notice the 6850 has two divis ...but I cannot determine the power consumption

it looks quite deep too

I think you can use three monitors with this one:www.amazon.co.uk/.../ref=sr_1_10