It depends on how much money you have and how long you're willing to wait before you upgrade to dx9. Eventually you're going to need to, but if you'd rather wait a month or two for the prices of the 9700s and 9800s to drop then you can, but I personally doubt that the 9700s will be at the price level the 9600xt is at now ($150) when HL2 comes out, and when HL2 comes out, you're going to want dx9. But right this moment, if you're satisfied with your 4400 then don't spend the $150 on the 9600, because by April when you're really going to want one, they should be a least a little cheaper. They're still the best bang-for-your-buck cards out there though, because for $150 your getting a card that will handle all of the games that are going to come out this year and most of next... so the choice is yours really.