Depends on what you want and use. If its a new PC, and you want to have anything to mod - go with ATI.
its to be used in 3D applications for modeling and texturing and display pretty heavy stuff in realtime renders.. this decision is pretty much key in my new system setup and i dont wanna pay 2000 for a QuadroFX card... i've read that ythe chipset between the quadros and the geforces is slightly different.. what about their ATI counterparts? thanks a bunch S
Buy the (US) $100 2600XT and try the firegl mod. If it doesnt suit you then return it for a firegl card. The new ones are benchmarking better than the quadros. I use a Quadro FX1400 and it works pretty well for solidworks.
If you're using XP32, you can get most FireGL cards out of their Radeon counterparts (that is, you can softmod HD2600 and HD2900 cards; I think it's not possible yet for the more convenient HD3XXX cards) If you go nVidia, you will have to find some pretty old card (6800) and softmod it, or pay the full quadro price you will get much better benchmark results with the modded ATIs than with the modded 6800 or some inexpensive quadro, but remember: benchmarks aren't all I would go with a quadroFX570 (or a quadroFX370, if those extra $100 are really a problem) I have an HD2600XT@FireGL, and I've regretted that choice quite a few times; I feel the inconveniences and the trouble that the bad drivers are causing me, but I don't feel the benefits from the extra performance, though I have to admit that maybe it's because I have it (perhaps after using my HD2600XT@FireGL a quadroFX370 would feel unbearably slow, but I'm not using very complex scenes so far, so I doubt it)
