computer savvy

[Captain Ben]

what is the best graphics card on a price to performance ratio?

preferably 512 or above

[Hair|Trigger]

Nvidia 9800 Series (There's GTX, GX2 and heaps of useless numbers and letters)  -  Theyr usually around $500  (I understand they are the highest performance avaliable) 

The 8800 Series (Still very good performance) is about 200 - 300 bucks (Im pretty sure they're about the best of the best when it comes to value)

Both will be able to max out just about any game out there. 

But it depends, what game (or application) do you want to run?

[SadistAtHeart]

ATi Radeon 4850. I was playing the crysis demo on very high with it last night, and it never dropped below playable. It would've probably stayed above 35~fps if I didn't have such a huge damn monitor. (i love my 22")

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129112

Another excellent budget high performance card is the Nvidia 9600gt. Excellent pricetag, great performance. Not as good as the 4850, but not quite as expensive either.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130334

But remember one thing for now about the 4850 that I love so much: it does not yet have correct fan speed drivers. I was wondering why my computer was so damned quiet... and hot. So I opened the catalyst control center and found my card to be 70 degrees Celsius. (or 158 Fahrenheit!)

Basically I panicked and changed the fan speed from it's stock 12% (ATi dropped the ball on this) to 60%, bringing it down to a nice 30c~. Now it also sounds like a wind tunnel.

TL;DR: The 4850 is awesome for under $200 but it'll melt unless you speed up the fan. (tutorial here)
The 9600GT is awesome for it's price. Just not as awesome.

[MY_FIREMAN_IS_HUGE]

ATi Radeon 4850.

or 8800 series gt, ultra are good.

[SadistAtHeart]

ATi Radeon 4850.

or 8800 series gt, ultra are good.

The 8800GT and 9600GT perform very similarly. 9600GT is a better deal in my opinion.

[Captain Ben]

it needs to be able to handle 3ds max 9 and spore

[PapaSurf]

hd 4850 is really good for the price, the 9600gt is probably all you'll need for spore tho.  I don't think that game is as graphics intensive as something like crysis.