GTX 550 Ti

is this:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7337565&CatId=3669

the same as the card shown here?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPddsNUHG_M&feature=related

Yes, although that card is quite ugly.

Also want to add that depending on your system you may or may not get that same performance

Thanks guys.

Hey, if its a good card, appearance doesn't matter, does it? (besides, im going to have some almost blinding LEDs in there )

would this card work significantly better? (assuming it works like it should in a 2.0 slot)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150534

Yes, outperforms the 550ti by 15% or more.

...or less

Not sure if the price difference between the two cards listed in the thread ( $80 vs $140 inc DiRT3) justifies the performance difference tbh

I agree, but depends on what his price range is.

Yup.
But then, I'm just going from the two choices the OP has tossed out there (and you know he's going to come back with another dozen or so before the thread dies of boredom)...as a comparison shopper the OP seems to be taking the lazy road ( i.e. for the $140 he'd plunk down on a 6790 he could get a 6870 for example). I was more looking to prod him into looking a bit further -ie. reviews- rather than hand-feeding and the thread turning into another "hey, I like this Blahblah 1Gb, but what do you guys think about a Yadayada 2Gb...or maybe I should get CrosSLI zZz superspecial edition's".

Between us we seem to be running four GTX 580's.........HEY! ikesmasher, you know what you should get?....

OK, how about this.

140 is my MAX budget. I would prefer to spend around 115ish. What is the best possible card I can get in that range?

For that kind of cash ($115-140) you're looking at a HD 5770/6770/6790 or overclocked GTX 550Ti (the Gigabyte card is clocked 8% higher than stock)- both offer much the same performance. If you aren't adverse to rebates, and/or are prepared to scour the online outlets then you can get the next step up in performance such as the HD 6850

Use this graphics card hierachy chart and cross reference with online reviews to determine what card best suits your need for the type of gaming you do at your default screen resolution