Quality/Performance Radeon Card for good Price?

Hey guys,
Im looking at uprgrading my current graphics card: Sapphire Radeon 9200SE 64MD DDR. I want a good card which will be prepared to nearly be killed by Half-Life 2 (LOL) when its released.....if it ever is. Would a 9600XT be a good choice, or should I go that extra few bucks for a 9800XT?

Thanks in advance

(PS: Is it just me, or does it seem that ATI are buying nVidia out? I noticed alot of games with the "nVidia, the way its meant to be player" logo are being packaged with Radeon cards. Its not a big issue, just makes me laugh!)

9600xt would be playable, though probably not on the highest detail. A 9800xt costs more than twice as much, so its not really "a few bucks". If you can afford that, you can probably afford the x800, which is faster and better and would be enough for games for several years in all likelihood.

However, if you're on more of a budget (like most of us), I would get a 9800 pro. Its just under $200 at newegg, or about $50 more than the 9600xt, but it is a substantial performance increase.

Anyway, its up to you.

Okay, Im in Australia, so I use www.techbuy.com.au and they dont have the specific card I was after, Hercules 3D Prophet 9800 Pro, or a 9800 w/ a blue LED at all for that matter, would a 9800SE overclocked be good?

Cheers

The SE will be inferior, even overclocked (esp. since you can also OC the 9800pro...). It is possible to do a softmod of the 9800SE, effectively making it a 9800pro, but if you mess up, the card is shot. For that reason, I don't recommend the softmod unless you really know what you're doing.
If you want the blue led, you can get other gpu coolers with that. I have a vantec iceberq, which has blue led's, and cools much better than stock, allowing a higher OC.

Okay, I'm looking at:

PowerColor Radeon 9800 Pro, 128MB - $410.30c AUS
Vantec IceBerq4 Pro, LED - $20.19c AUS
Via

http://www.techbuy.com.au

Thanks for the help!