8800 GT or 9600GT?

Based on the Tom's HArdware 9600GT review, it looks like the 8800GT and 9600GT have similar performance with the 9600GT showing great performance with antialiasing enabled:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/02/21/nvidia_geforce_9600_gt/page10.html

Comments on some of the threads here say that the the 9600GT has similar price and performance to an 8800GT

So I went on newegg and found these cards:

XFX - 9600GT 512MB 256-bit with 650 Mhz core $180

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150277

eVGA 8800GT - 512MB 256-bit with 600 Mhz core $230

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130318

The 9600GT looks to be $50 cheeper, but similar performance, uhh - $50 is not so similar to me, so I would go for the XFX 9600GT in this case.

Am I missing something, or that is the argument that the 9600GT is same performance and price as the 8800Gt - false?

$50 is not similar in price to me, even though the performance is similar - 9600GT seem to make sense to me.

if you want to use antialaising or want a cheaper price go with the 9600gt 

I would say if you can get it out of your budget, get two 9600GTs and that will easily outperform a Ultra probobly by like 20%. Huge improvement. If you go with two 8800GTs then probobly around 30% improvement over the Ultra. But I would recommend the 8800GT.

Where do you get those percentages from?

I am just guess ing that it could be around there. I've seen some reviews where a 8800GT would get around 32FPS in Crysis while the Ultra would be like at 38FPS, and two 8800GTs would be at around 44-46 in SLI. If I come accorss the review again, I'll let you know. 

 If you have the coin go for 8800gt

I would also go for the 880GT instead of the 9600..

 Don't think the 9600 GT offers the same performance as the 8800 Gt...It doesn't. If you have the money, picking up the 8800 GT..The 9600 GT offers similar performance to the 3850/3870...While the 8800 GT offers better performance then all of them. Regarding the SLI solution, I don't think two 9600 GT's would be better than a ultra...two 8800 Gt's yes, but 9600 gt's would be below or near it..and not worth the money.

 Heres a review that sheds light on the topic of sli and what not 

Aint bad at all..But make sure you pay attention to the settings being used as they differ from some of the benchmarks. Is it worth picking up a nvidia chipset for this? up to you, for me it wouldn't be. I'd rather have two ati cards in crossfire on a intel chipset rather than two nvidia cards on a nvidia SLI chipset. Although skulltrail is different ^_^...Intel + Sli ftw...lol. 

But the performance is there..Up to you if you want to or not....But do keep in mind that intel chipsets are better..so it's a trade off if you decide to go dual. But as a single solution, depends which you want to go for...But don't let all this fool you..the 8800 Gt is a superior card...

The 8800 GT has 112 shader processors compared to the 9600's 64. 56 texture units compared to the 9600's 32....The 8800 GT is capable of more...which I have no idea why these benchmarks looks so skewed considering the 8800 GT can offer similar performance to a 8800 GTX in certain titles. I'd still nab the 8800 GT if I was you...

 Same here on the 8800gt . However i thought it fair to show both sides. The 8800gt has a lot more tooth to it.

So yeah, if you want to go with a single card solution, just go with the 8800GT. The 9600 is not worth it.

Hey, guys, thanx for the info.

Looks like I am moving toward the XFX 9600GT (I had a great support experience with XFX - so I am willing to pay a little more for it) but getting two and run them in SLI -  but the 8800GT does have some teeth and seems to be a better single card option.

 Why does nVidia make it so that the differences (price/performance) in cards is so close?

 AAARRRGGGG!!!!

Since they are very similiar prices I would BEG you to reconsider....the 8800GT will pwn the 9600GT across the board man, I honestly think you would be better off with it...just read through some reviews before you make your final decision. Just my opinion but more importantly its your money.

 Indeed...Those benchmarks look really skewed man..You really should consider the 8800 GT...It offers the performance levels of a 8800 GTX at times...which the 9600 GT is flat out incapable of doing. I don't know why these benchmarks look like this..But the 8800 Gt is a vastly superior card. It beats the 3850/3870 in most benchmarks by a decent margin...Meanwhile the 9600 GT offers the same/less performan than the 3850/3870's....Grab a 8800 GT...trust me...Something is definitely up with these benchmarks o_O.