hey guys, i'd like to follow up. i bought a ATI Radeon X1300 PCI last monday, and installed it. aweful instructions on how to install it, and i later realized i needed a new cable for my monitor. $140 for the video card and $10 for the cable. not bad, as i was expecting to pay closer to 250 for a mid line graphics card, but that idea was shot down seeing i have only PCI inserts (GAY!!!).
now the review, besides being difficult to install, i'm not really impressed with the quality of gameplay. CS:S, HL2 and savage run awesomely great, 25 FPS+ in combat with medium settings (1024X864 and medium graphics), but i find some games don't really agree with the video card ei. Rise and Fall, which lags like my old card. movies still play great, and i'd give it a 7/10.
i appreciate everyones help. overall, i'd recomend the card to a casual gamer (e.i. me) playing a few games a few hours a week