A pretty significant difference - went from Medium to High settings on BF2 @1024x768, though I think I can take it higher. I haven't had the chance to play with it yet.
I paid $250, but I didn't shop long. Seemed to be the only decent AGP card on the retail shelves around my area, and I didn't want to wait (plus I wanted Xmas to be a bit better for me). The X850 XT would most likely be a better buy, but I haven't seen it on AGP.
It'll be a good stop gap until I can start building an Athlon 64 system around PCI-e early next year.
It seems to generate about the same heat as the 9800, so I don't think a side fan would be necessary - but if you have that PCI slot taken up, you might need it.
I haven't flashed the BIOS and I don't intend to at this point. I think a better roadmap forward for me would be the X2 cores (I do alot of video editing too).
It's [the 200T] a nice box though, eh?

Chris