Help with some old games on my ATI Radeon X700 SE card.

[Codename:Cobra]

Hello, sorry to bother you all, now, i'm sorry if i am going to come across as an idiot, but, i really need some help.

I recently took possession of my parents old XP computer when they upgraded to the win 7 computer i am using to send this message, because i wanted an older PC to play Older PC games, I’m seriously into classic gaming, because i DONT like the mechanics in Modern games much, and i have a particular HATRED of regenerating health. it makes games unplayable for me because i dont "understand" the "blood on screen" hint... the curse of Asperger’s Syndrome (variant of autism) in my case, and as we know, 90% of modern action games use it. grrr.

it is a good computer for its age, its got Windows Xp Home with service pack 3, Direct X 9, a 3.6 GHZ Pentium 4 CPU, 2 hard drives of 90 Gig each, and 1 Gig of SDRAM.

HOWEVER, it has an ATI Radeon X700 SE Graphics card, and I have read that the AMD ATI Radeon series is NOTORIOUS for graphical Rendering issues with certain graphics engines.

its currently running catalyst 05.8..

the games i wish to get are.

No One Lives Forever (GOTY edition) (have ps2 version currently, it’s a lot better than reviewers said, but, I want the REAL version of the game, the PC version)
No One Lives Forever 2
Contract JACK
Die Hard Nakatomi Plaza
(I have heard that Lithtech is PARTICULARILY prone to rendering issues with ATI Cards)
Solider of Fortune II Double Helix (gold)
007 Nightfire
Star Trek: The Next Generation Elite Force II
Half Life II (and episodes)
Serious Sam The First Encounter (HD), Serious Sam the Second Encounter (HD)
Serious Sam II

however, i need to know if any of these games have issues with the ATI Radeon x700 SE card. and if so, what are those issues?, and how do i cure them, if possible,

Also, do i need to download any patches or an upgraded version of catalyst?, as the computer is not currently connected to the internet and I’d rather not connect it as its antiviral software has been uninstalled.

i also wonder, is XP backwards compatible to NT games? as i kind of want the Original Soldier of Fortune, Star Trek Voyager Elite Force, and Half Life 1 with the Gearbox Software Developed addons, such as opposing force and blue shift,. however, they max out at windows NT. will any of those games work on XP?. or will i need to get the rather shabby console ports of Hl1, SOF1 and Elite Force 1, wich i am less then willing to do?

I also heard XP can run windows 98 Titles like SIN, is that true?

also, are there any other old pc games , going on that list, that will work on my system and i may like? (NOTE! i already have Project IGI and IGI 2 covert strike, they were free with the computer when we got it, but i havnt been allowed to install them until recently as parents said the pc was for WORK and only consoels were for play, its why i am a total NOOB with PC, so please forigve me for that, it was NOT my choice, they bopth work fine, no issues, and i think they are brilliant, i prefer igi 1 for gameplay, but i prefer 2 for everything else, lol) And if any have issues with ATI Radeon X700 SE cards, again , please tell me how to cure them

also, explain the issues and the cures, VERY SIMPLY! Please, I do not understand “computer”, so kindly don’t give me any jargon, because i am afraid you might as well be speaking Klingonese if you do.

thanks