I think I'll stick with my 5900nu jobule for 249.00 (about 6 weeks ago).
If the new 52.16 drivers are increasing overall performance like they say it will, I will be gaining a hell of a lot more than 5% for free. We shall see. Waste of money for the 9800XT. Just get a 9700 and that'll do just fine. Waste of money for the 5950 also. I mean for me. Depends on games that come out next year. Who knows, I might just wait for the NV50 or R500 or so to come out and bypass the NV40 and R400 completely. It's us against the marketing machine guys. Don't fall for it...
IMHO
GM