Same here, 1280x1024 is all I ever do, my X800XL does just fine at all games at standard settings. I'm to busy trying to stay alive to worry about the pretty suroundings to even notice how they look...............
I would say $300 is about tops for me, but I haven't paid cash for a card in a while now, the last 2 I got in trades and had the cooling systems broke on them, so I got some great deals.