Maybe it depends a bit whether you fancy remote controls and that kind of thing. Personally I completely agree with you (I got a 9600XT recently). I knew that the 9800SE would not be remotely like a regular 9800 as it was explained to me in the shop I bought the XT: the 9800SE only has 4 functioning pipelines as opposed to 8 in a regular 9800, just as the 9600 has 4 btw. What surprised me though was the difference between the 9800SE and the 9600XT. Would have expected the results to be closer together. Needless to say, I'm very pleased with my purchase.
Also the tests show not a big difference between the 9600pro and the XT. I'm not so sure whether the listed prices are still uptodate as I bougth my card for 205 euro. Taking into account the current trading rates that would be consistent with the pricing listed in the article but it usually doesnt work that way. If you take into account that you get a free copy of Half-Life2 when it comes out with the purchase of an XT i think it was worth the extra bucks to get the XT.
BigMac
<A HREF="http://www.p3int.com/product_center_NWO_The_Story.asp" target="_new">New World Order</A>