Nvidia always had way better driver support, whereas ATI USED to have better quality and lower energy consumption in 2D mode.
Unfortunately, that changed with ATI's new 5k series...the cards do perform outstandingly in 3D, but about half of them has major malfunctions in 2d ( that does include your average desktop work )
Nvidia comes with Cuda...which isnt "the new Physix" as War_Hero said...its just a set of functions that enables your card to handle non graphic related applications on your graphic card without using any cpu power, and of course it comes with hardware accelerated physics
( great....would be nice if more than 3 games would actually make use of it...useless features dont really count )
ATI on the other hand, holds the current performance crown but wasnt able to reach that goal without compromising their old goal of giving you better quality. Lack of Anti Aliasing in some games is only one of the facts that prove my point. Also...DX11...very usefull....as if !
Its a really tough decision wether to go for an ATI or a Nvidia card.
Depending on your wallet i'd choose ATI if its running dry...and Nvidia if it is full of spare change. ( next generation go ! )
From personal experience i can only say that both brands are more than able to create a good graphic card, but with all this feature hype (Nvidia ) and empty promises towards making better drivers ( ATI ) its really up to your current needs.
i really miss the old 3dfx times =/
rest in piece..my good old Monster3d
Last edited by Rutzor; Feb 16, 2010 at 11:51 PM.