I'll second that. I went from a 9800XT to an X850 Pro (modded to X850 XTPE). I was literally blown away.. and still am. Hundred bucks is a steel. I paid £116 for mine
It is quite honestly a world of difference. I have a floppy pre done with the necessary files to quickly flash it. I stuck with the stock cooler but held the speeds back to X850 XT speeds.
My system is a P4 Northwood 2.4 @ 3.38 (189 FSB), 1gb Geil memory, SB Live 5.1 (wish I had an audigy 2)
I'm currently running:
Water=0
Effects=0
TypeClouds=1
2xAA, 4xAF. FPS AVG on Black Death 5secs to 1:10 secs 53 (V-sync on)
I ran Excellent before with only 2xAA. FPS AVG on Black Death 5secs to 1:10 secs 47 (V-Sync on)
I'm sure you will be more than pleasantly surprised.
You can always check the differences here: (posted to the links section)
Graphics card comparison - 9600 128Mb v X800 AGP
Check out the clock speed, memory bandwidth and fill rates as well as Fragment Pipelines (the more of these the better). It may also be worth doing a little research on possible unlocking of extra pipelines. Here's the difference between X850 Pro and X850 XT PE
X850 Pro AGP v X850 XT PE AGP
I'm waiting for my bosses card to turn up so I can fit it for him. He's running a 9800 Pro and wants to see the benefits. I'll post back my findings when he gets it!