What Card Should I Get?

[Rellikard]

So, in a couple of months when Windows 7 is finally released, I'm going to finish building my i7 machine. One of my main concerns was the video card due to a bad history of cards prior.

Now currently, which has the better chipset line-up? ATI or nVidia? I was used to nVidia cards until about a year ago when I wanted to upgrade my GPU I tried a couple ATI cards, can't remember the models but I had huge issues with them where the card would turn itself off and restart which of course closes out FFXI so I got tired of it, tried a different model ATI card same thing, thought it was drivers so said fuck it and went back to nVidia. The frustration I had for those couple of weeks drove me away from ATI all together. Now, so is there anything good from nVidia out now that I should try or should I bother going back to ATI? This machine will also be my FFXIV machine, so I want something that'll have future possibilities. I'm not trying to be cheap but also not trying to be really expensive w/ this since the only "real" game I play on PC atm is FFXI and will be FFXIV. I was looking @ a GTX 260 and possibly getting another for SLI at a later date.

Other specs of the machine I'm building:
CPU: i7 920 @ 2.66GHz
MOBO: Intel BOXDX58SO LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
RAM: 6GB DDR3 1600 OCZ Gold
PSU: Haven't bought yet. What wattage should I be going for?
Case: Think I'm sticking with COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Any suggestions? And if you're wondering why that motherboard, got it with the Intel Retail EDGE program along w/ Vista Ultimate + i7 + Win7 Ultimate OEM for $300, so couldn't beat that.

[Kurp]

I'd wait for the ATI 5800 series reviews/benchmarks which should start popping up soon. The last I heard the cards were scheduled to ship in September/October.

[Khalil]

I'd prolly wait for the 5800 series from ATI as well. They're expecting to release the high-end in early Oct, I believe.

Completely off-topic but I have the same full tower from Cooler Master and it's fucking badass. The airflow and the room inside is HUEG!

[Akiyama]

I wish I went with the Cooler Master 932 HAF and waited for a 5800 series, but I went with the Cooler Master RC690 Mid-Tower (which is still a nice size) and the HD4850. Both have performed great for me considering the old piece of shit I had before (An 8 year old P4 Dell 1.9GHz Single Core..) so yeah. D:

I'd wait for the 5800 series though. Shit's going to be awesome.

[Roscobel]

I recently bought a Coolermaster stacker 830 (pretty big, but very nice) and a Radeon 4870 HD (GDDR5 and only 119 euro).
FFXI runs smooth, capped frame rates. Except during Besieged it can drop to around 10-15 fps. But considering FFXI and besieged.. i think that's allright. Demo Lost Planet Extreme Condition runs 100+ fps medium and 70~ fps high (and trilinear filter). I believe that's allright. Downloading the Last Remnant benchmark now to see how that holds up.

But FFXI is a real pain running smooth. It just has it's terrible cap Let me know if there's any tricks or anything.

Last Remnant benchmark average 69 fps @ 1280x720. Ingame it switching between 50>100fps. Looks fluid, no complaints.

[mootsfox]

FFXI is CPU based, and like only CPU based. The difference between a Q6600 at 3.6GHz and a E2140 at 1.8GHz is about 2.2-2.3x with the same video card.

Wait for the 5 series from ATI, should be out in Sept.