Sorry for all the NVidia fans out there, but as far as I can see, the company has dropped the ball for the past YEAR. They simply let ATI hold the top spot for the past 8 months or so now, and now that they've released their new card (sort of), it seems that ATI's 9800 is still beating it. That might be the card you want to go for, Tony. I know I'm very happy with my AIW 9700

*edit*
I would check if I have that problem with smoke effects, but I don't have the games you've listed, and I can't remember off the top of my head if any games I own have much smoke in them. Does GTA3 have any?