If you look at the attatched screenshot from Half-Life 2, the textures look really flat, especially on the handlebar things. I don't seem to recall them being like that before I changed my 9600XT for an X800 XL. Are they normally like this or could it be a card issue? All the graphics settings are up MAX, apart from the screen res is set at 1024x768 because otherwise, the screen flickers due to low refresh rate.
It's ok ... sorted it now! Turns out that the texture detail had set itself to low in the ATI control panel without me knowing!