GTX 275, GTX 260 superclocked with 2x fans, or Radeon HD 5770
Prices in order: $225, $180, $200

Best price to performance ratio for 1680x1050 gaming?

Get a Radeon HD 5770.

I guess if I had to pick one the 275 is the best card in that list.

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gaming-graphics-cards-charts-2009-high-quality-update-3/compare,1699.html?prod[3197]=on&prod[3260]=on&prod[3264]=on&prod[3253]=on

275 is pretty overpowered for that resolution. 5770 or 5750 will do fine for you.

I heard the 5770 doesn't support PhysX and alot of the games I play make extensive use of PhysX, what do you think?

Also, would the GTX 260 be a better buy than the 275 if I'm just going for 1680?

Btw, thanks for the help so far. Honestly appreciate any feedback, not trolling for once.

Rest of my setup is a 2.67ghz quad core and 4gb RAM, pretty default shit.

i have a brand new "rma" with lifetime warranty BFG GTX 280 oc ill sell you. hit me up for price.
http://www.bfgtech.com/bfgrgtx2801024oce.aspx

i wanted to upgrade and got the 295.

Also, would the GTX 260 be a better buy than the 275 if I'm just going for 1680?

Maybe, it mostly depends on how much you want to spend really, both cards (260 & 275) are going to be able to handle whatever you throw at them. The 275, though, is going to outperform the 260 in almost all cases (1680x1050 included) so it's up to you really... is $45 worth a marginal increase in performance? There's a ton of benchmarks out there that compare the two so search around and make a decision based on that.

This might be a good place to start, even though most of the benchmarks are at 1920x1200.
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gaming-graphics-cards-charts-2009-high-quality-update-3/compare,1699.html?prod[3197]=on&prod[3202]=on
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-275-review-test/10

I have had my 260 for a year now, and it still runs everything perfectly fine (Including BFBC2)

EDIT: I actually had an issue on mirrors edge this past month, but I didn't when i first bought the game.

i have a 8600 gts. ^_________^ need2upgrade soon

I decided to go for a different alternative, I ordered an overclocked Radeon HD 4890. I did alot of research on some of those benchmark links you guys posted and some checkups on overall performance, and it seems like the way to go.

That's what I have. It runs everything wonderfully. The only issue I've had with it are some choppiness with far cry 2 (a shitty game anyway), but that's only because it was poorly designed. Many fixes never came with the patches. Anyway you should be happy with it.

until nvidia quits fucking everything up (for example, releasing new whql drivers that disable hardware oc'ing), ati is at the top of their game

very tempted to upgrade from my borked 285...

Yeah i was pretty upset with nvidea, their drivers that allow SLI to be enabled even when using multiple monitors not working upset me. My next PC will be built using all the opposite products from which i have pretty much..