The 8800GTS is by far the best of those.

8600gts ≤ 9500 gt< 8800gts

8800gts is far better than 9500gt and 8600gts but between 8600gts and 9500gt i think you should go with 9500gt because performance of 9 series cards are far better than 8 series cards though most of them are rebranded version of 8 series cards..

So it's basically a toss up between buying the 8600GTS and the 9500GT, but you want to know how they both fare against the 8800GTS? And yeah it's already been said that the 8800GTS is far better than the 8600GTS or 9500GT, but I've got to disagree with deenace, after doing a quick comparison at gpureview, it would seem the 8800GTS is better than the 9500GT despite having older hardware... Maybe I'm doin' it wrong?

It seems that deenace mentioned that the 8800 GTS is superior. He was taking a pick between the 9500GT and 8600GTS.

The 9500 gt would be a more economical choice but in any case i would go for the 9600 gt instead of the 8800gt. It'll run most modern games on any screen smaller than 19" !

yea id suggest go for the 9600gt ATLEAST....dont go for any of the 8 series cards because they dont have many of the features of the 9 series

I'll say this again, out of all those cards mentioned, the 8800GT still is the best choice. Followed by the 9600GT.

but i think i would still go with the 9600gt

D'oh! That was 'tarded of me! Indeed yes 8800GTS seems like the best of them all at the moment, but the 8600GTS probably best bang for buck.