ATI or NVIDIA

It seems to me that I am seeing plenty threads on this forum and other forums of of people having issues with ATI cards but not any with people having issue with NVIDIA on W7. Personally I tried my first ATI card around 2 months back but eventually with all my issues I had with it I had it changed out and went back to NVIDIA.

So what card would you say works better for you?

Also see this thread Graphics Issues – What chipset combination?

ATI. I was an nVidia guy for a long time and especially liked their chip-sets for their integrated graphics. But then they forgot what efficiency and clever design was like Intel did with the Netburst P4s. Now we have to throw so much power at these cards they need special supplies and separate feeds. That just raised the price too much to be competitive with ATI which didn't need all that extra junk, was on a smaller fabrication process and as a result ran cooler on less power.

ATI for me.

I have never really had any issues as many have had. But I only run a single card so that might be some or I may just have been lucky.

/facepalm on another fanboy thread.

Despite the arguments this thread will generate, I will vote and post regardless...

In my personal experience, I have yet to have a real problem with an NVidia card I have bought. My first card was an ATI Raedon (I forget the model) which burned out on me, back before I really knew much about computers, and had my dad's friend drop in a new card (which turned out to be a NVidia 7500GT I think). That card has lasted me (and still works to this day!).
My next card was an NVidia 9500GT, because it was cheap (on sale for $40) and I was more familiar with NVidia cards. My current card is a NVidia N260GTX, and I really like it (I do with it had DX 11).

Now, this is the important part: I have yet to have a major issue with an NVidia card.
Before I bought the 260, I grabbed an ATI HD5770 from the shop and dropped that in the rig. I liked how the card looked, felt, and it was special because it was my first "high power" graphics card. I took my time installing it, took pictures, and just enjoyed how cool it was.
Then I turned on the computer.

Don't get me wrong, the card displayed just fine, etc. The problem was installing drivers. I couldn't. After around 8 hours of research (thats right, constant research) and finding LITERALLY almost no information (I did not find info on temps of cards (intending to OC), driver installations, etc). Just nothing! It was as if no one knew ATI made the card! There was next to no info on their site as well.
I downloaded drivers from multiple sites, etc. In the end, I got the driver to install by running it from command prompt (after having to figure that out), and waited for like 30mins for it to work.

To be completely honest, the card was great, it overclocked well, and I really, REALLY liked how it performed.
But it was the complete lack of information, the terrible support on ATI's forums (by its members and staff), and the TERRIBLE drivers (apparently it is a known FACT that ATI does not know how to code drivers....) that made me return the card and get an NVidia card.
I should say that I did go back and exchange it for a different brand (same model, from XFX to Sapphire) card to try again, with the SAME results.

So for me, I might try ATI again, but they have REALLY disappointed me with their drivers and support.
I would go NVidia if you want a stable and easy to install card.

~Lordbob

I've done my time with ATI - I'll be going back to Nvidia next time around.

I've had just too many niggling issues that has soured the entire ATI experience for me. Great hardware marred by woeful support. 'nuff said.

All the years I have run NVIDIA I have just inserted the card loaded the software and that was it. None of this tweaking here and tweaking there to get it to work

I've used both.
my gaming cards have been in this order:
ATI 9600XT
NV 6800
NV 7800GS
ATI 1950Pro
NV 9800GT
NV GTX260
NV GTX285
ATI HD5850

I have used Nvidia for a long time now and as stated above the only problems I have experienced was with ATI cards. I do run multiple cards in SLI and still have not had a single hiccup with Nvidia, they just work.

Best of luck with whatever you choose to use.