The 9000 cards don't offer much of value other than running a bit cooler IMO. The fact is that the good 7000 cards aren't really available in retail anymore, so it only matters to people (like me) that already have a good 7000 series card. If I didn't have one and was looking for a new card I would have no problem picking up a 9000 series card as long as the price wasn't ridiculous.