quite frankly i'm sick of hearing this bullshit argument over whether or not ati or nvidia is better. for the love of all that's holy would everyone just shut up. think about it for just a second. each company has their advantages and disadvantages. blah blah blah image quality and speed and detonator drivers being better than catalysts. ITS PERSONAL PREFERENCE. obviously when you go and buy say a 5800 ultra and then upgrade to a radeon 9800 it's going to be faster. but why, is it because ATI kick's nvidia's ass. no, it's simply because that is the newest card and you can rest assured that in a few months or less nvidia will have their next card out that will beat the ATI card. but alas, a few months later, ATI releases their next big "nvidia" killer. it's a neverending cycle.

if you like nvidia, buy nvidia. if you like ati, buy ati. both of the new cards are dang fast in games and benchmarks alike and each one will do better in certain situations. base ur purchase on what you play, how u play it, and how you want your driver/customization experience to be. i know it sounds cliche, but can't we all just get along?