I'm confused, help me choose the right graphics card?

[dark_phantom]

Background: I have a Dell 8400 with the 350W stock PS and a GeForce 8600 GT.

I can not use it with Ubuntu anymore with any new driver from nvidia, have tried everything I could. Maybe because it's faulty, although I can use it in WinXP home with the supplied driver. It also has it's few problems but nonetheless it works with boxee.

Now, I want to use Ubuntu again or maybe the latest XBMC. Because I want to take advantage of the VDPAU as with my XPS with 8800GT, which I will reload with Win 7. Also, I may put this as a media player on a TV but I don't really need an HDMI.

I don't want to spend more than $50 on this. I've found two cards that I can buy, but so far the research I've done have seen mixed results for which is better. Some say to stay with the 8600 GT, but the 9500 GT is newer and it's based on the G96 instead of the G84. Bottom line, which of the two is better for my needs?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[dark_phantom]

Okay, any other nvidia card that is less than $100?