Go with the 8500 (non LE) if you can. It will last longer then a 9000, based on the preformance here: Anandtech 9000 Review

Keep in mind quite a few games coming out in the next year will be using the same engine as Unreal Tournament 2003, so it might be worthwile to hold off a bit, and let ATI introduce a better mid range card (rumored to be the 9500). The other alternative is to wait on NVidia to release their next gen card, bumping down the GeForce 4 line. Both will hopefully happen by years end.

Unless you are going high end with ATI right now, it's a horrible time to upgrade. The gaming engines are making a huge leap right now, and most cards today will not do well next year. (In games like Doom 3, Deus Ex 2, Unreal 2, and many others)

If all else fails and you need a cheep fix for gaming, look into the low end (sub $80ish) range and grab an origional Radeon or Geforce 3. They won't last long, but would hold you over until the video market reforms to fill all the markets again properly. And if you get a PCI version, you can always use it down the road for dual monitor support if you do use it as a stopgap solution.