In your scenario there is little reason to jump to an interim card unless there is a game you can't play (I'd be surprised if that were the case since you have a GF4ti). IF you are talking about a year away upgrade then maybe and R9800 would be ok 'til then, but if you are upgrading in the near future no point in wasting money in between.
As for a bottle neck to the CPU, slow memory, slow drives, etc. Everything has an impact. You can get around any graphical 'bottleneck' by changing resolution/quality settings. But if you like the newer games, and you like them big and shiney, then yes your GPU could bottleneck the CPU.
Some games like UT2K4 the CPU represents the biggest impact, but for something like Tomb Raider or <A HREF="http://firingsquad.com/hardware/x800_pro_pentium4/page6.asp" target="_new">Lock-On</A> will require more VPU power to get the most out of the game
Funny thing is even with the new cards it appears that the AMD64 3800+ is still somewhat of a CPU bottleneck for many games like FarCry despite all it's wonderous visuals. In <A HREF="http://www.guru3d.com/article/article/136/4/" target="_new">Guru3D's review</A> the X800XT and X800pro are neck and neck except for at 16x12 on the 3800+ where the Pro shows a slight dip, yet the XT gives pretty much the same results at 10x7,12x10 and 16x12. Even the GF6800s show significant drop of at 16x12, but the X800XT is still at the same level as before and the same level as the X800pro at lower res. So these cards abviously have even more in the tank, whether it's 5% or 50% is unknown until we get more powerful CPUs.
My advice to you, only buy an interim card if you aren't planning on building your new rig until winter.
- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK
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