Hey, Im running Mandrake 10 and I have a Connect3D Radeon 9600.
Up until recently, i have been using the default graphics driver and been avoiding using any graphically intensive programs.
I just downloaded and installed ATI's radeon driver for xf86 4.3.

The module (fglrx, i think it is) was built and i went and modprobed it. I altered my XF86Config-4 and the driver is still not in use.

My old Gefore 2 ran Chromium (my general test of OpenGL graphics) better than my current 256mb Radeon.
When i run a lsmod, the fglrx module is there, but has nothing that is using it.

Any suggestions for getting my card to work better?

Should work fine. Post Device section of xf86config, please.