"changed its policy, improved drivers and software support" As an avid driver junky, I have to humbly disagree. The latest Catalyst drivers (2.4) still have signifigant issues with them, and ATI is just as closed mouthed as ever to the community in terms of support. The 9700 IS impressive as hell, but it still ain't rock-solid. I think ATI could take the gaming king title, but they're going to have to beat nVidia in community support/interaction as well as just making faster hardware. ATI is talking the talk, but they still have yet to walk the walk...I'm still too leary to be picking up any new ATI offerings until I can get a set of drivers for my 8500 that I can be satisfied with.

yep, I had the same problem. bought a 8500, made massive texture and polygon errors in some games, so I thought its broken and got a new one... still no go. tried all drivers I could find incl. omegas, betas, etc. still no go. bought a ti4600 and all worked wonderfully from the beginning. 2 of my friends had the same problem, they wouldnt believe me that ATI is STILL crap. now they learned.