help me decide which card plz

i'm in a build right now for a pc and i'm trying to decide if i should go with the 256 8600gts or dish out another $100 bucks for 320 8600gts. i'm not looking for anything super stellar but it would be nice to play crysis. right now the build has 2gigs ram 533 and a 2.4ghz core 2 duo processor.

 

sorry i meant 320 8800 gts

 

You might look into the new Radeon HD3850/3870. According to http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html the 3850 has 8800GTS performance for about $179 @ Newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103049

 

Im confused, you dont want anything stellar but you want to play Crysis, the most demanding game ever made in history!

The 8600 is a midrange gaming card at best. If you want to play Crysis grab a 8800gt. It outperforms the 8800gts and its cheaper. Ive got a similar cpu to yours (AMD 64 x2 4600 2.4 GHz) as well as 2 gigs of RAM (clocked slower than yours) and I can play at maximum DX10 settings with 20-30 FPS. Not outstanding performance but playable.

 

you don't need another power supply for the ati do you? it didn't say you did but i was just wondering, also one last thing about that card, will it fit in a micro atx case?

 

First off love the avatar... Yoshitaka Amano is the best. Second, the 3850 is about 9" long and a little bit longer then that with the power connected. chances of it fitting in a micro case are slim. "450 Watt or greater power supply with 75 Watt 6-pin PCI Express® power connector recommended (550 Watt and two 6-pin connectors for dual ATI CrossFireX™)" , and the power supply specs are right from ati's site.

 

both the 8800 series and 3000 series are rather long as lanfear pointed out. I run a 3850 and games play smooth. I have crysis set at high with dx10 and I get no stutters or anything . outperforms the 8600 series by approximately 30%. I came from a 7950gt and noticed a nice improvement in gameplay.