I just got battlefield 2, but unfortunately its all but playable with horrible artifacting everywhere. Its so bad that I can't even tell whats going on sometimes, just jagged polygons everywhere. I updated to the latest ATI drivers to no avail. I havent had problems with any other games (HL2, World of Warcraft), only BF2. Anyone else have problems?

I will probably just buy a new video card anyways, and recomendations? How would an X800 or X1600 compare?

Get rid of your ATi drivers and go to www.omegadrivers.net and use their drivers.

Could it be a problem with undervoltage? What kind of PSU do you have and how many watts?

I would go back to the basics. Video card, RAM, 1 HDD. Strip it down enough just so it will boot and nothing more. After you do that then download everest or something similar. Check your voltages with that and make sure your 12V is at least 12.4 or so. If that checks out then it shouldn't be a problem with your PSU.

I forgot to mention that this card was originally a 9800 Pro, it has been flashed to a 9800XT. The previous owner (a friend of mine) did this before he gave it to me. It does have an aftermarket Zalman HSF on it, so it shouldn't be overheating.

Best buy has the X1600 Pro on sale for $179, I'm considering trying that. Any ideas how it would compare to my 9800?

Do you have another similar card you can test on your motherboard? Now that you said that it makes me think its the card. If it plays some games fine, but this other one shows artifacting, maybe it is try to use features of the 9800XT that aren't available from simply flashing the card. I am not an expert in videocards but it sounds like it is your problem.

If the Omego divers are no help, and you don't find any other OS issues (How old is the OS? Is everything up to date?) then try the following

Reset the Bios settings and video card to defaults, adjust memory timigs and voltage if neccesary...BF_2 can be very sensative to overclocking.

Also go up a notch in AGP voltage.

You can also try unplugging unnecesary hd's, lighting etc...and make sure nothing else is connected to the same power connector the video card is on.

Artifacting in general is caused by overheating, or low voltage on the hardware level, try removing the case side panel and use a house fan to realy cool it down. If none of the above helps, it may be the power supply.

EDIT: The fact it was modded into a XT from a pro leads me to believe it's over heating, undo what he did and it will work fine, or you need to get better cooling!

The 7600GS for the same money would be my choice at best buy, ATI is better with Intel, Nvidia with AMD (In general) when it comes to driver compatability, they just seem to work better.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1138088147244

I am sure that you can do way better buy purchasing online, it would be worth the 3 day wait for shipping!

EDIT 2: Hmm I just noticed you might be stuck with AGP, that makes the choice more difficult in the video card dept!

Look around at Pricewatch, the X-1600 is around 120$ way less then best buy!

http://www.pricewatch.com/video%5Fcards/

Did you download all the availible patches for BF2?...........There was a major issue with video cards and that game when it first came out..........install all the patches and try that..........