"Hi all", This is my first post here, hope this hasn`t been covered before !!!In the next week I want to update my mobo, also CPU XP2400+ to XP2800+ (I have 1gig of 333 mem) & currently running 9700Pro with latest Omega drivers. XP Pro operating sys.My problem is which video card to get. ATi seem to have loads of problems & incompatabilities with a lot of software, as I was thinking of a 9800 Pro.BUT the Creative Blaster 5 FX5900 Ultra 256Mb sounds tempting !!!Has anyone updated from ATi to this card ?What was the difference ?What is the quality like ?Would you recommend this choice of card ?I will await your expert answers as it`s bloody expensive. Thanks in advance. Robps Flight Sim is the main "game" that I play. Other use-MS Office applications, photo & video editing, internet, watching DVD`s.

I have both cards, the 9800 Pro and the 5900 Ultra from Creative (beautiful card and noiseless).The ATI was giving me great fps ( around 37 at Seattle, with everything more or less at 75% maxed at 12800X1024, with 4 AA and 4-8 AF. My system is P4 3.00, 1024 DDR Dual channel, Audigy 2. I bought my first ATI, one year ago, it was the 9700Pro, a very fast card, but I decided to upgrade to the 9800 Pro (basically a 9700 Pro in FS)because a friend of mine wanted to buy my card. But my experience with ATI, is not very satisfactoty. Always there is a issue to solve remaining, you are always waitng for the next Catalyst 3.X.Tired of waiting, I decided to buy the 5900 Ultra.My first impression was a bit dissapointing.The same situation at Seattle , was giving me 27 fps. Image quality was very good; ATI vs NVIDIA quality question, for me doesn

The subject has never come up before. Buy the ATI.

"The subject has never come up before."ROFLMAO :-beerchug

What issues? What compatibility problems? Never any here. Unless, that is; you want to play EAW or one of those other old games/sims. Then buy a GF2 card. Last really good Nvidia card. Otherwise, buy the ATI. You won't find any compatibility problems unless you don't get all that Nvidia driver garbage removed. You know, that stuff Nvidia leaves behind on your harddrive on purpose to cause their x-customers grief. What a company?

Another thing, I discovered, some months ago, The fanATIcs are really dangerous if you don

I have 5900 Ultra for FS9 and I love it. I've tried the 9800 Pro but went with NVidia just because I've always used a NVidia card. It doesn't really matter b/w the two, really.Tim

miguelpp; I never had any trouble with my 9700 Pro and I bought it when it first came out. The reason I didn't is because I read the rage3d forums and discovered almost immediately that all the trouble folks were having was do to the 8xAGP motherboards. The early 8xAGP motherboards were junk and caused a lot of grief to the 9700 Pro owners. They're better now. I bought a 4xAGP Intel board at the time. No problems whatsoever. The one time I read and believed Tom's Hardware respecting motherboard reviews and stability issues. This 8xAGP hipe is just that. Junk marketing that gets you nothing but extra cost and extra problems. Maybe some day programs will utilize 8xAGP; but that's doubtful in gaming anytime soon. As far as being computer literate, I'm just barely. I never mess with the OS and seldom change drivers or tweak anything. Flightsim04' has required a couple driver changes that otherwise would never have been done. And wouldn't you know; by not messing with my system, my system always runs great. If my 9700Pro wasn't the most awesome video card I've ever owned, I wouldn't be saying much about it. But; hey' if asked; I'm gonna tell it the way it is. At least for me!!

Thanks all for the quick & usefull response.Thanks Miguelpp for your in-depth answer, very, very helpful & I`ll be going for the FX5900 Ultra next week. I`ll post my observations here in case it helps others.Special thanks to Bigshot for your input, I`ve had some bad luck with my health lately & your posts made me laugh (best medicine)BTW Bigshot, I don`t mean to be sarcastic. Rob

Radeon 9800 ALL the way :)I used to be an nVidiot, not anymore! :-hah

Hi, i have the ATI 9700pro with an ASUS A7N8x MoBo and i never had one single problem with the card, not in FS9 (other than the menu-flickering which is resolved now with the Omega 3.8 Cat's) and not in any other programs.I only can recommend this card. Smooth performance in FS9 and great image quality. And you can run the card with high AA and AF setting without suffering from poor performance.Cheers,Michael