A 9600gt benchmarks SO close to an 8800gt its amazing and you can get some fantastic $110-130 deals if you're willing to wait on Newegg.
What games and what resolutions?
But if you go to Newegg right now there are a couple of good 9600gts on there for $125 with MIR vs $180 or so with the 8800gt. Thats the perfect price for an awesome card. It performs at circa 3870 levels, consumes less power and accelerates HD video.
If you want a better design and the same performance a 3870 consumes the same ammount of power but it has dual slot cooling, which means the 150 watts of heat at load are exhausted out the back of the chassi. $157 after MIR
Lastly the 8800gt - Great performance, not as much higher than the 9600gt as to justify paying 50% more for it. Also single slot cooler which is the same and worse than the 9600gt because it introduces more heat into your chassi. This causes your PSU fans etc to run harder and makes more overall noise IMO.
Tease.
