Dont compare an GF2 Ultra with a GF3. They are completely different. Although the GF2 Ultra IS the next best thing, its not really that much cheaper. If you want value with speed you want to get a good brand of GeForce GTS 2 64Mb PRO. All I can say is do your research into how overclockable each manufacturers vram are. Trust me almost all manufacturers use different speeds & quality ram. If you can get a good gts2pro and get a good overclock out of it you will basically have a cheap GF2 Ultra but at half the cost.
I have a Prophet III GF3 and I honestly wouldnt have bought a Hercules card IF the UK sold any other brand at the time i bought it. But even now there is only Elsa and Hercules in the UK. Both suck at overclocking but are very good quality cards. The Hercules also is the second prettiest card on the market. The MSI is the prettiest though, because it is bright red
