I agree. GO with a quality brand like EVGA or PNY. Cheap brand names = new Card in 3 - 6 months. Quality cards = years of service (Like my evga 9800GT+ that is 7+ years old now), and I switched to EVGA gtx 460sssc. Guess what? Its phenomenal!
Go quality, not Crap, it will make a world of difference! As for which card, any 400 series Nvidia card will do, as well as any 6000 series ATI card!