I have finally decided to upgrade my HP Pavilion I bought way back in 2008. I would think that my CPU and RAM is still sufficient for now, so I have decided to upgrade my video card (a 8500GT) and buy a new 500W power supply. I have narrowed down my choices to these two: 
GeForce GTX 560 1GB - $179.97 after rebate
Radeon HD 6870 1GB - $159.97 after rebate
I would like to hear opinions on these two cards to help me decide which I should choose. I've also heard that some cards require 30 amps from power supplies? I am mainly buying this in anticipation for Battlefield 3 and Skyrim, I'll post my current specs if you guys think I need to improve in other areas.
 
Current Specs:
OS: Vista Home Premium SP2  32bit
CPU: AMD Phenom 9500 Quad-Core 2.20 GHz
RAM: 3 GB
Video Card: Nvidia 8500GT
 
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
EDIT: I ended up foregoing the above two choices and bought a GTX 560ti. Due to some complications, I ended up having to replace my motherboard. I also decided to upgrade my CPU (in for a penny, in for a pound). This is turning out to be an expensive stop gap. Hopefully it'll all work out in the end.

30A on a 12v rail would equate to 360W, and neither of these cards use that much power, even in total system power draw. Sometimes these things are blown out of proportion, I see people recommending 1000W PSUs for a machine that barely consumes a third of that. Either way, it'd still be useful if you listed what sort of PSU you currently have, wattage, brand, +12v, etc. Edit: I just noticed you already had planned to get a new PSU, so you can ignore that last part.
 
Your CPU is a bit on the weak side honestly. The older Phenoms are not too great, and with that low a frequency they could prove to be a bottleneck to the new card you're planning to get.

Where are all these PC aficionados on this site? The last thing I want to do is just build a new computer. Would that be better? Or can I still save my current one?

You can still get one of those cards, but you'd have to be aware that you're not using them to their full potential. They'll still function well, and give you vastly superior performance to what you currently have, though.
 
Depending on your motherboard, it's very likely that you can upgrade your CPU to one of the more recent Phenoms without changing anything. They are, after all, backwards compatible with AM2+.

Buildning a new PC isn't that expensive. I just built a Sandy Bridge m-ITX (small form factor) PC for €300 and the only things I took from my old PC was the video card and hard drive. I have to say having a small PC is awesome. It's not quite Mac mini size, but it's still tiny compared to a regular computer case.

Here is a picture. I highly recommend it. It was €90 for the case including a 450W 80+ Bronze rated PSU. There is enough room for all but the very largest video cards.

Also, I'd say go with the ATI, but that's because I've only had trouble with nVidia. the last nVidia card I had no problems with was a GeForce 4.

Alright, your motherboard is going to determine your new CPU if you're going that route. Or you can buy a new mobo, cpu and get a new gpu. I recommend the GTX560 just because from my experience nVidia cards are more powerful and you get what you pay for. Reply back with your plan pertaining to your mobo for more cpu info. 
-Ghooble

@Ghooble: I don't think I'll change motherboards, I might as well start from scratch by building a new PC if I change too many things in my old one. I'm on the fence on whether I should upgrade my CPU. I suppose overclocking it would be unwise.

560, you don't wanna risk flawed drivers from ATI.

I just want to let you know that both of your links show the same card.

You still haven't told us what motherboard you have. the MOBO will allow us to decide whether you can upgrade to a newer CPU without having to upgrade the MOBO 
 Also, you should go for the GTX 560 Ti. how much more expensive than the 560 is it for you (on that website)? 
 
3 GB RAM is.. well, it's hard to tell. BF3 might be a 64-bit game, but probably not.. 
 
P.S. Nvidia cards are better. ATI occasionally release faulty drivers, and i've seen waaaaaaaaay too many games not function well on ATI on release, and require a patch for them to work (The Saboteur comes to mind)

The general consensus is that ATI cards have shitty drivers and Nvidia cards overheat and are noisy.
 
Both aren't without a shade of truth but I really doubt either will yield any real issues for you.

@Ahmad_Metallic: Truth is, I don't know what model the motherboard is. It came with computer. 

The cheapest GTX 560 Ti is $40 more than the 560.

 Don't let anyone fool you into thinking that one is ultimately better than the other.

Quick question; I'm currently upgrading my PC (haven't done it in years) but I'm thinking of replacing my processor since it's a 1.6 Ghz Dual Core processor. Does anyone know what I need to look out for? For example, wheter or not it's compatible with my mobo. 
 
Also, to chime in, I've been using ATi cards for years, their drivers work fine. 

The 6970 is a fantastic card (reviews are great) but I would go with the 560.

They scale really well in SLI if that's an option down the road.

If you really wanna rock out with your cock out - jam on a GTX 570. I bought one about 3 months ago and so far it's been fan-fucking-tastic.

@FrankCanada97 said:

@Ahmad_Metallic: Truth is, I don't know what model the motherboard is. It came with computer. 

Start => All Programs => Accessories => System Tools => System Information  
in windows 7 my motherboard is listed next to "BIOS Version/Date" on System Information. Probably the same for you on vista.  
 

The cheapest GTX 560 Ti is $40 more than the 560.

If that is within your budget, then i recommend it. It's always recommended it as the second best (after GTX 580 / 570 which are the top)

If you really wanna rock out with your cock out - jam on a GTX 570. 

Buy Canadian, Buy ATi / AMD  ;) 
 
I'd personally buy a XFX 6950 2GB version that has a voucher for Deus Ex: Human Revolution and STALKER, for around $230 CAD (with mail in rebate) http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=59610&vpn=HD695XCNFC&manufacture=XFX&promoid=1365
 
Or go a bit cheaper with the XFX 6870 Black Edition and get Shogun 2: Total War along with the two games already on the offer for $170 CAD (also with MIR)  http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=56598&vpn=HD687AZNBC&manufacture=XFX&promoid=1365

I had a similarly aged computer

Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0ghz

4Gb Kingston Hyper X 1066 DDR2

and recently upgraded my GPU to a GTX 570.

So far the improvement in performance has been amazing and the best part was the advice to go for the GPU upgrade came from Tested

http://www.tested.com/news/living-with-technology-upgrading-a-classic-gaming-pc/2010/.

If you have the extra cash go for the GTX 570.

@SlasherMan: Brilliant post.

So, I ended up foregoing the above two choices and bought a GTX 560ti. Due to some complications, I ended up having to replace my motherboard. I also decided to upgrade my CPU (in for a penny, in for a pound). This is turning out to be an expensive stop gap. Hopefully it'll all work out in the end.