New graphics card recommendation

Hey guys,

I'm building a new PC in the next few weeks and I'll be putting Vista on it. Right now, the specs are looking like it's going to be:

• GIGABYTE GA-MA69GM-S2H
• AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+
• 2 GB memory
• Other stuff

I have two questions. The first is, RAM is pretty cheap now, so would I see a noticeable increase in performance by going with 4GB? And of course the original question: what video card should I go with? I'd like to spend LESS than $300, but still get a good card. Normally I use ATI cards and I especially like now that they are owned by AMD. However, saving a few bucks or getting better performance is stronger than my loyalty to AMD/ATI so I'll definitely consider an Nvidia card. Please make a suggestion!

 

My friend tells me that Nvidia has the edge right now, so I'd go with Nvidia, but I'm not too sure. The best thing to do is to Google some reviews and read up on the cards and see what the general population thinks about it. I don't know if NCIX delivers to the US but they have some well priced stuff, or if you have something similar over in the US you should probably use that as well.

 

Since the 8 Series that nvidia brought out nvidia are best at the minute.