SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM MADE UP BY THE @$$HOLES: Trust the review sites, one or two might not be accurate but all the sites put together should give you an accurate picture on both 3D performance and IQ of the said cards. Who cares if there is any so called "cheating"? If they cheat to the point where IQ is more than noticably affected, then that will be noticed and commented on and chances are if the IQ is poor enough it will stop consumers from buying such a card.
The whole concept of an issue with driver cheating is completely absurd, today's cards are so damn good we've got to dig so deep to find something that could possibly smell slightly foul, it makes me laugh at how retarded this situation truly is, if only everyone would just take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Seriously, why would anyone care about cheating at all? Just so they can be bigger fanboys and have reason to flame and defend their rediculously priced purchase?
If this were accurate it would be a good point. It's sad to see a consumer who is so complacent about businesses actively deceiving their customers. Carpe Diem and all that, right? Is that what you say to someone who did the research and bought a card based on the reviewer's benchmark's performance indicators, only to find out they were jipped by some driver hacks?
Heck, $400 a pop a top end video card is 2x as expensive as an entire gaming console, and the expensive cards are the only reason there exists fanboyism, otherwise you'd expect people to be going around and pimping their NIC card and CDBurner makers (OOOOoooOO EDIMAX AND MITSUMI OWN JOO!!!) but that doesn't happen because such parts are inexpensive to the point they are practically dispossable.
You've never seen an Intel v 3Com argument, have you?
3Com guy: "But mine has wake on lan, and is $25 cheaper because it doesn't say intel!"
Intel guy: "Yeah? YEah? Well, you are teh suck!"
DLink guy: "Um, I paid $25 total for my card, and it does all that."
3Com guy, Intel guy, simultaneously: "Stay outta this you ignorant peon!"
:rolleyes;
Fanboyism/Brand loyalty exists at EVERY level of consumption. From cars to computer parts to diapers to batteries, people will be brand loyal. That's the entire idea behind marketing -- build brand loyalty, and maintain it in as many people as you can.
Get over yourselves, right now whatever decision you made/make can't be too wrong, both ATI and nVidia are doing fairly well as of late.
Couldn't agree more. The latest offerings from both companies are both very good. Unfortunately the FX59x0 and the FX5700 are saddled with the recent history of their predecessors, and that whole cheating debacle. They are very nice performing cards in their own right, and definitely are not anywhere close to the disappointment the FX5800 and the FX5600 were.