I too would like to know how it works.
I bought a FDX8500 LE Radeon 64MB last year and it has been superb (faster than the 9000 or 9200 with a couple of less DX9 hardware stuff which has been rarely used).
Its lasted way longer than my usual Graphics card lifespan of 6 to 8 months.
Im now looking to buy a card that superceeds it significantly for around £150 to £200 and ive noticed the 9600 is below this price and apparently a very fast card. Id consider it if it makes a big enough leap in speed.
I have a AOpen AK77-8XN(software bios with many overclocking features) mobo with 512mb of 400hz PC2700 RAM, a 40 Gig ATA 133 7200rpm Harddrive connected to a Athlon 2.2Gig CPU running at 400 FSB and sounblaster Live! soundcard and a TFT sony monitor.
my fps in AH range from around 35 to 59 (limited by TFT 60hz refresh) with 2X Anti-aliasing on (and 2X smoothvision anisotropic filtering??or something

).
if i can max out my computer at 60 FPS without it ever dropping that would rock

maybe the 9600 128MB could do this for me?.