Upgrading video card

[Iniamyen]

Well it's been awhile since I've frequented the forums, but I'm back and it's for more advice from those who are still "in the loop."

I have a 9800pro (256 mb!) in my machine, and it's getting a little dated for playing games with. I don't have the funds to build a new PCI-E machine, so I'd like to milk this AGP one for all it's worth. I'm seeing some good deals on X800 and X850 cards that come in AGP versions, but my main question is: Is the upgrade worth it? Will I see much improvement?

I'd like to stick with an ATI card mainly because I feel comfortable with 'em. Also, will I even have to do a driver uninstall if I get an ATI card? I will just be reinstalling the exact same drivers, right?

TIA!

[pam123]

An X850 would be more than worth it and the improvement would be very noticeable.
Best of all, over at the ATI Clearence center the card you want is $139.
Go here and rejoice : http://shop.ati.com/searchresults.asp?dept_id=39

[jfk]

The ATI clearance center also has refurbed X800Xl's, with warranty, for $119. I think it is an even better card than the X850 Pro, as it has 16 pipelines vs. 12 for the Pro. As far as improvement, I replaced my kids 9800Pro with the X800XL. Benchmarks pretty much doubled. They went from playing Oblivion at 800X600 low to low medium settings to 1024X768 with most settings at medium to medium high. HUGE improvement.