ATI Radeon 9800 or Nvidia GeFrove FX 5900 ?

I'm sure this question was here in atleast one thread, but i just wanted to know, which one is the better card ?

Which card has a better performence, speed and etc. ?
Which one will last longer ? and how many years ?

And would the extra $100 worth getting GeForce FX 5900 over the Radeon 9800 ?

I want to buy some new games like Live 2004, FIFA 2004, Max Payne 2, Flight Simulator 2004 and some more, and i want a card which can load this games smoothly and with the best details it can be loaded.

So, anyone ?
Please comment ...

i recently bought a radeon 9800 non-pro for 270€. it´s a great card, but the biggest plus is that you can easily mod this card into a 9800 PRO, by just doing a bios-flash and overclocking it to pro speeds. saves you about 80-100€(PRO cost about 360€ at the time i bought my card).
i also like the way ati is going with their drivers(catalyst), very good performance and IQ.

games performance is great, i´m running nhl 2004 and freedom fighters @1280x1024 with max details, no slowdowns whatsoever.

Go for the Radeon 9800Pro ,its better then the GeForce 5900 and also cheaper.

For the latest generation of graphics cards, ATI is on top. If you're willing to wait another month or two you could get the new ATI 9600XT which will be both faster and cheaper than the 9700.

I would buy Geforce FX but Radeon is more ecenomical selection.

Personally suggest you to choose the card after the release of Live 2004.

In 2003, the game just work better on Radeon series...you can wait and see if this is the case this year or not.

shouldn't this be in general talk?

Radeon 9800 Pro

No doubt about it, it is an all round better card.

Faster and better image quality.

Most definitely the Radeon 9800pro.

If you want to pay more for a card that pretends to be a DirectX 9 part and that will need updated drivers EVERY single time a new directx9 game is released so nvidia can replace their inferior shaders you get the FX5900U.

If you want a card that actually followed the dx9 specs and has superior image quality and speed, get the 9800pro. Simple as that. Catalyst drivers may have some problems still, but they are no longer the nightmare that ati's drivers used to be.

And if you're familiar with flashing bios' i recommend what someone else said earlier. Get the 9800 non-pro and flash it to the pro. Save yourself another $80.

Thanks, guys.

And i to ask you which card will last longer, and how much do you think i will last with anyone of them ?

I want a card that could play my games solidly for the next 3-4 years.
And what card is the friendsliest to the user ? meaning, updating drivers and installation ?

Any card "Built by ATI" is going to be excellent quality, they also have an excellent warranty.

Sapphire actually produce the cards for ATI and they have a pretty good warranty and are quite a bit cheaper.

Thanks, guys.

And i to ask you which card will last longer, and how much do you think i will last with anyone of them ?

I want a card that could play my games solidly for the next 3-4 years.
And what card is the friendsliest to the user ? meaning, updating drivers and installation ?

to be honest, no card can garantee solid game play for 3-4 years nowadays, not even 9800pro and 5900u. The development of display card and games is just toooooooooooooooo fast. (actually, the development of graphic processing unit has already break the Moore's law)

So, imo, dont bother to think how long a display card can be used before buying it. Just share my experience: I used to think that my Ti4200 can give me smooth game play for 2 year when I bought it a year ago. But now, I can list a dozen of games that I cannot get 30+ fps.

Although I personally recommend 9800pro, I must say the driver of nVidia is more user-friendly. Also, the compatibility of nVidia's driver is still better than ATi's at this moment.