Hexus takes the Hercules 3D Prophet AIW 9800SE out for  a spin, and also tells you how to open up four more pipelines, essentially giving you a $500+ video card for under $250.

"Do you remember the Celeron 300a? The 2.4C? The TwinMOS with Winbond BH5? all of these kicked some serious ass because you could use them at a higher spec, or mod them - B21 on the old Celerons for forced 100FSB loving.... Anyway we have found a new one the 9800SE which you can open up the 4 extra pipelines easily - get the performance of a 500$ card for 230$... This is just crazy, and you have the AIW features for free! So here is a weekend project for all of you - go grab one from your local retailer and see how you get on, buy 2, 'cos for sure they will sell fast.

I honestly can't think of a more compelling graphics card purchase in recent times. It fits so many possible scenarios. It'll play Half Life 2 and Doom 3 when they appear with good performance, it plays all current games titles just fine with IQ enhancing features enabled to boot. The All-In-Wonder hardware and software bundle just top it off. The price is excellent too."