Originally posted by: dguy6789
Originally posted by: yacoub
If ATi could get their drivers straightened out I wouldn't feel so hesitant about buying one of their cards. As things are, I would still go for the 260-216 or wait for the 275 to drop in price.
And given my past experiences with ATI cards, you don't want to recommend I buy an ATi card unless the drivers are actually as solid and stable as NVidia's have been for me, else I'm going to b*tch up a storm about wasting money on an ATi card if all it does is crash out of games because their drivers still suck. =
ATI's got the best bang-for-the-buck cards out right now and I hope they succeed in profitability and revenue for being the better deal right now, but I can't support them by buying a card if it comes at the expense of my system's stability.
Most people have absolutely no problems with ATi drivers.(Same with nVidia) There's probably at least as many people who have problems with nVidia drivers as ATi ones. Both drivers are incredibly solid. Problems are more likely to be caused by user error or by using some really way out there system configuration.
As far as anecdotal evidence goes, I've purchased at least one ATi card a year for the last ten years and not once did I have an issue. I've purchased nVidia cards slightly less, but still had my fair share of them and not once did I have an issue with their software either.
QFT
Compared to any other system component Graphic card drivers are so solid and easy to work with.
Yes sometimes there might be a few quirks with the very first iteration of a driver for a new card but mostly the problems people report are to due with something else in their system they fiddled with.
I have repaired my fair share of systems with 'graphic driver issues' and almost always it is because of something user error, often unrelated to the graphic card itself, that the problem is there in the first place.
Bottom line is, neither ATI or nV drivers will cause problems, they both go through the WHQL program and are tested fairly thoroughly
Except for the occasion bug which is about equally likely in either camp, people who claim either side has worse drivers are basing their statement in their own experience with single incidents, or just talking nonsense.