I'd say for the average user, ATI and nVidia are equal. For the poweruser, gamer or experimentor the nVidia can handle more stress. Just my opinion. But I do not have extensive experience with both, but the experience I do have tells me to stay with my nVidia. As I said, experience...I have not used anything above a 9800 ATI or a 5500 nVidia. I NEED MORE POWER! Looking to get something massive for X-Mas.

As a gamer, I prefer ATI's cards for the simple reason of visual quality and drivers.  NVIDIA's drivers are just not good unless all you care about is FPS (which is not the be all-end all in my book). Plus ATI cards work better with Stardock's stuff (like Window FX).  But, at the moment, I would say that NVIDIA's cards are in the lead. ATI fell behind a product cycle and that's just not good in this market.

nVidia has two big things for me that make them the more attractive cards right now:
-Pixel Shader 3
-Better Multi-monitor setup

I'm a bit irked that my X800XL doesn't do PS3.0 even though it's considered a contemporary to the 6xxx line and priced to match (expensive). I also have never been crazed with how the ATI drivers do dual-monitors. I like how nVidia for example extends the taskbar across all screens etc...

For my uses, nVidia has traditionally been the better card and I plan on switching back to them on my next PC.

ATI has never been known for good driver support and the Catalyst suite is proof. My last ATI was a 9800 Pro and I loved it but these days I have two Nvidia Computers.
This one: Socket 754 3200+ AMD 64, 1 Gb RAM and A 6800 GT.
my New Gaming Box: Socket 939 3700+, 2 Gb DDR Evga 7800GT. It is a monster without clocking.
I am even going to pick up an X-box 360 tomorrow. (Won the lottery!) And then I'll sell it!

(Won the lottery!)

Congrats!

On laptops, ATI. Try to find an nVidia laptop.

On my Dell laptop I have a nVidia Quadro FX Go1400 with 256MB, it screams.

I'm a ATi User... and i'm not happy...
I have a Radeon x800GTO and yes for the performance/price it's a good buy, but now with the release of the 6800GS I fell now bad... But I had ordered this x800GTO before that the GS come avalible...

But if you look matter of power in the TOP END... "Generaly" ATi won...
Radeon 9800XT was OWNING the GeForceFX 5950ULTRA
Radeon x850XT PE was better than the Geforce 6800Ultra
...

But this is not true in mid level and low end...
The Geforce 6600GT cannot be beten by anything bellow a x800 or x1800...
Don't think to see a x700XT or x1600XT making better performances than it.

But ATi had trouble in term of compatibility... I can't even not install Linux on my PC...

But if you look matter of power in the TOP END... "Generaly" ATi won...

Nope. You haven't taken the Gforce 7 cards into account.

ATI in my desktop - I stopped using nvidia for ages as at the time ati performance was way ahead (9700/9800 series back then and currently using an X850XT) and also because nvidia was pathetic when it came to working with windowfx. Have they fixed that yet? I havent tried wfx in months since the wb5 betas 1st started to come out.

Though i recently got a laptop and am running a 6800go in it.. nice card that.. cant complain about performance in games or wb5 really.

What's your average FPS all you ATI owners?

"Supposedly" ATi is faster in Civilization IV? (Mem usage?)

I have a GeForce 6600 and when an in-game dialogue box comes up, when pushing the End Turn button or when it is switching views to show a battle it can get a bit slow for a second.

The 7800 series is smooth and very fast. Can't wait to add a second GT in SLI mode. nothing ATI has for less than $600 us comes close

i wont buy a 7800 to much money for me i perfer cards under 200 bucks im into 1st person shooter games like americas army & call of duty also love need for speed underground & most wanted

unless i win the lotto im not touching nvidia i perfer ati

Aha but if you had the money you would Trust me when you get to see one in action you will understand. BEST. GRAPHICS CARD. EVER!

Nvidia! Got a GeForce 6600GT. Why Nvidia? I've just gotten an LCD monitor and only Nvidia supports "centered output", which means that I can stay in the LCD's native resolution, but the picture itself will be centered, leaving a black box around it. Now that's COOL!

What does ATI stand for? Because they are better by far.

ATI is the VERY MINISCULELY SLOWER but more flexible video card, they can be major uber overclocked to speeds that blew my girlfriends clothes off and still handel gaming on a widescreen monitor. Also their warrant is lifetime, they trust their own product.

nVidia is the UBER DUBER SPEEDY GONZALES but standard video card, they start out really fast but can't be overclocked and usually wont play most games on widescreen resolutions. Also their warranty sucks a**.

blew my girlfriends clothes off

Well, that would sell me right there.

Year old thread. Come on, guys.

BFG 7800GS OC AGP just bought and compared to my ATI X850 XT it blows it out of the water. Will for sure stick with NVidia in future VC upgrades.

I have an ATI card and I happy with it

My Dell Dimension C521 is kinda messed up It comes with a nVidia GeForce 6150 LE integrated chip but also comes with an ATI Radeon X1300Pro, which I am using as my default card...it kicks some serious arse...I really dont care about brands as long as it works great.

i have an ATi 9600 pro 256mb and haven't had a problem with it, Nvidia may be a better brand
but with that comes price too. I'll stick with ATi

I'll stick also with ATI. My onboard chip is ATI.
I don't want to buy a nVidia card and have troubles afterwards with some conflicts between the ATI onboard chip and the nVidia card.

ATI for life?

Nvidia has won the GPU battle for the next 3 months and they have won the previous 3 months as well. Interesting that ATI doesn't start pouring more money into R&D.