I'd say don't bother about soundcards with built-in preamps, especially in that pricerange.
An M-Audio 2496 audiophile soundcard (99,-) and an M-Audio DMP-3 dual preamp (159,- or less).
That would give you a great homerec combo.
I picked up my M-Audio Firewire 410 at GC for $349, NIB. It is normally $399, but I told the guy there I couldn't really afford that much so he took $50 off the top.
I know that's still $50 more than you want to spend, but it has 2 mic pres, and its firewire, so you can get the latency very low on a decent system. I real happy with mine, big step up from the SB Audigy I was using before.
-k