This 9800 SE is a much better choice than the one you listed. It's 256-bit (makes a huge difference), already clocked at 9800 Pro speeds and has a 75-80% success rate on softmodding. Mine softmodded just fine. Unlike flashing a bios, a softmod has no chance of damaging a card if unsuccessful. It's simply a driver modification that if posing problems can be uninstalled and the correct drivers reinstalled. I'm using the Omega drivers that are modified cats. They are arguably faster than the cats, automatically unlock the other 4 pipes, come with a set of 3rd party utilities and run stable for me. As far as comparing to the 9600 XT, even without the softmod, the card is just about as fast and is still cheaper.
Here are some benchmarks between the 9600 XT and the 9800 SE, keep in mind this 9800 se is the 128-bit version, not the much faster 256-bit as I have already linked to!
NoobBoob - yes they do disable the 4 pipes for a reason, but if they work fine for an end user's machine while unlocked and don't cause problems, why not unlock them? They probably test the cards in extreme ambient temperatures and under severely harsh conditions which is well beyond the scope of the average end user's home office/living space.
Edit : 75 - 80% is based on newegg's customer reviews, check em out for more info
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