> I've got to use a lower screen resolution, move my monitor closer, or get
> a bigger monitor. I'm having that much trouble making out the text.

Why not use OWB's zoom feature (or alternatively, define bigger fonts for OWB's webview)? :-)

> but that kind of a PCI-e 9600.

X600 XT has up to 370 MHz VRAM (pega-1's screenshot shows only "351 MHz", though) whereas fastest 9600 only has 300 MHz VRAM, resulting in a bandwidth of up to 11.8 GiB/s (= 11.2 at 351 MHz) vs. 9.6 GiB/s. Not much difference, but not just a "PCI-e 9600" either.

> I still want to go to a 9700 or 9800

I think that current support for 9700/9500 and 9800 is no worse than for 9600 (and now X600 internally for that matter).