The 8800GTX for sure. 9800 PROs are old and outdated, 8800GTX is currently the best card out there, but remember, if you have a poor computer, your system will bottleneck it, making it slower than its full potential. But really, both companies are good, just some are better in their own special ways

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I have not used ATI anytime but there are issues with the NVIDIA cards I have used. At the higher end I dont think there would be much of a difference between the two> BUt with Vista ATI works better. As for SLi, ATI cards can also be used two at a time thanks to Crossfire. The only thing that should matter is price if you are using XP.

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I prefer NVIDIA because its graphic drivers don't suck as royally, especially in free and open source operating systems. People say they've improved, but I still say they haven't improved enough!

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Although this topic is a few months old I think I could be able to talk about it; since these two companies are good at what they do it would be a tough decision to figure out which one you want. I wouldn't give it a second thought and I would go with Nvidia because they are well known brand. However as I learned in my hardware class there is more then just a name brand, and so I have done some searching and found the following sites that review each graphics card your trying to decide. However, before I go over those reviews you have to remember several concepts; Cost Factor (how much do they cost), Compatibility Factor (will it work with my OS, Motherboard and other hardware, and Reliability Factor (can it handle the power from the power supply and not go into a meltdown).

Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX

Cnet Review

In this review they talk about how extreme this card can get when it comes to beefing the anti-aliasing and it seems it can handle the load better then one of ATI cards they used for this review. However, due to it's settings it requires your computer to have some power to it (power supply), they recommend at least 450 watts and of course dual core technology as well. Then of course cost the money factor comes in and at $600 it is a lot cheaper then the crossfire card which tops out at over $1,000, and as you can see it is a lot cheaper.

techspot review
guru of 3d


Radeon™ 9800 PRO 256MB

Cnet

Well Just coming from this review it I already can tell you Nvidia just won if you look at the date of the review this video card is over 4 years old compared to the 1 year on the Nvidia, so this card is already outdated and outclassed by time. I would make mention that this card had some tough competition against the Nvidia GeForce FX 5900 Ultra card. So it is obvious from those two Cnet reviews that this card is outclassed in every way, but time was what the key factor was in trying to compare the two graphics cards.

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I have both an nvidia and ati card. (do graphics, have two pc's) Bought em at the same time, wanted to get two geforces, but they only had one in stock, so i decided to get the same priced ati. Ati is a real *BLEEP*. The drivers are awkward to isntall. require re-installing coz they corrupt or something every once in a while. Using omega drivers helps, but not much. The control panel is stupid and the card freezes often too. I thought it might be the card(like a faulty on) so i had it exchanged, didn't help. Still games freeze. Like the sound goes on, but the video dosn't. Sometimes it comes back, sometimes not, so i jsut use my nvidia pc for gaming.

My advice: Go with nvidia. they are trusted and experienced, and also made up of those who used to be at 3dfx good old Voodoo

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