Yeh they are a lot better you will get more FPS with hiher detail settings and AA and AS. Also the low end 8800 GTS are only slightly better than the X1950, id go with ATI rather than NVIDIA if you get a DX9 card. Someting in the 1900 range as they are quite cheap too and gives better performance than the 8600.
Plus i just got my spray paint for case
Plus i just got my spray paint for case