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Originally Posted by Irishsean
1. Is this the best $200ish dollar card I can pick up right now?
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probably not. Check Lasereth's videocard guide, to be found in this forum area.
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Originally Posted by Irishsean
2. I keep seeing stuff about flashing the Bios and making it into a 9800XT, is this for real, and how is it done?
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It is for real, and it can be done. In theory, it's a question of putting a new firmware/bios onto a floppy, along with a program to put that firmware on the videocard, and rebooting. That will change a few settings, mostly core and memory speeds. The thing is: most 9800 pros you can buy today, have the core chip of a 9800 XT on them.
Do remember one thing before you do any of this: You'll be overclocking your videocard. This can do serious damage to your card; enough to kill it permanently. Do a LOT of research before trying this. And invest in a new videocard cooler, because the stock cooler won't cut it.
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Originally Posted by Irishsean
3. Will I really notice that big of a difference between this card and going out and getting a new MB and a PCI-E card. I just got a new MB about a month ago, the ASUS a7NGX.
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Depends on what you'll do with the machine, what videocard you had, and what PCI-E card you'll buy. Just as an example: I have a 9800 pro, a P4 2.6, and 512 megs of ram, and I have no problem playing Halflife 2 at 1024x768 at medium settings.