It really isn't a big deal when it comes to the brand, just make sure it's got a reputable warranty.

Razear wrote:It really isn't a big deal when it comes to the brand, just make sure it's got a reputable warranty.

Oh I know, but some brands clock their cards a bit better, even the same brand puts out up to like 5 of the same card out with tweaks here and there and it can be a mess for one person to figure it out, never mind you the one person has just a general knowledge about video cards and can be very indecisive, so it helps to get more then one mind on the subject.

Also, I've almost always been a Nvidia card person but according to,

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

for my budget, I'd get a better card if I went with ATI but I'm still thinking about getting a,

EVGA 01G-P3-1468-KR GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) FTW+ 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

but that card is 12 more further down on the list but still.... Last ATI card I had burnt out badly but I guess I shouldn't worry about that happening again now.

My personal opinion is that there is so much parity in equivalent GPUs that it's completely up to personal preference.

Guys like the MaximumPC crew lean toward nVidia because Catalyst Control Center can be a bit of a bear to manipulate. I do not mind CCC, but then again I don't tweak my video settings much at all. I do think CCC is a bit wonky when it comes to upgrading drivers, but it's not much different from nVidia because neither company -- for some reason -- is willing to write software that overwrites previous code, and so you're stuck with driver bloat.

So it ultimately comes down to what add-ins there are from a given company, or if you can find a specific card on sale. Also, some companies offer a trade-up program and may charge a premium on their cards as a result.

I've had cards from both companies and been satisfied with both. If you do go with ATI, make sure you completely nuke the nVidia drivers to keep conflicts from creeping up.

I hate to say it... I just buy HIS, because their coolers are so efficient, and their cards have always lived long in my experience, but even now that makes little difference because everyone else is getting cooler crazy, too! And as far as clocking counts... this means little because even the AMD driver has overclocking features. So many ways to make it work better.

Look, find reviews, go with what hits your price budget and gets the best reviews. Sherretz is right, there is no one good answer.

Yeah, I've come to realize that, I will be going with the HIS 2gig 6950 video card, the only thing I'm not sure about the HIS, is that they don't have a life time warranty like EVGA and XFX, theirs is only a 2 year warranty, though, its about every two years you should upgrade your video card anyways so I guess that's not too bad.