just got a 7600gt and it plays oblivion on full settings (with 1280x1024) (no AA because of hdr (but soon drivers will sort this out from nvidia)) nicely, although there is a bit of slowdown in open flowery fields when running away from a few enemies. If you want future proofing then wait till vista and dx 10 as was said above. [edit] I say nicely lol, it looks amazing compared to playing it on my old pc with a ati 9700 pro
nothing is futureproof its a ridiculous term get what you can afford now for the performance you need now
I don't think there is a way to futureproof something as rapidly evolving as computer hardware. If you buy it today, it will be topped next month. But I do think that this is one thing that is relative... If you don't play games, then an old GeForce FX or VIA Integrated does the job quite good, for quite some time still to come. Only heavy games require bleeding edge technology. But in reply to your question, the best futureproof piece of hardware, is the newest, because that will last longer in the future... Longer being relative to the pace the hardware evolves
you say the most futureproof is the newest, but for the price of a 7900GTX now and keeping it for 2 years, you can get a 7900GT now and then a comparable card (8900GT? ~twice the speed anyway, and much faster than a 7900GTX would be) in a year's time With the only slight distance that the second best card is behind the fastest, imo the latter option makes far more sense
