ATi or Nvidia?

[Malk101]

I have around 200 to spend on a decent graphics card, been looking around for at least 2 months at the cards on offer but cannot decide.

I see a lot of recommendations for the 6950's but i have never owned an ATi card in my entire pc life, always used nvidia (i know fanboy ), but recently i have been swayed slightly towards an ATi card.

Without turning this into a ATi v's Nvidia slagfest, why should i choose an ATi card over Nvidia?

 

[Malk101]

Interesting replies there, i will only be using 1 screen for the foreseeable future, so rules out the 3d and eyefinity, i would consider buying another card for sli or crossfire sometime down the line as long as my current psu could handle it (enermax infiniti 720w).

I have ruled the 480 out because of heat and power issues, about 4 cards i am looking at:

MSi 560ti twin frozr
MSi 6950 twin frozr III
MSi 570 twin frozr (over budget at the moment) looked at stock msi 570 but do not care for the cooler.
and maybe a 6970 unsure of model yet.

Also i only game on a 1680 x 1050 screen at the moment and upgrading the screen maybe sometime down the line, this might have an impact on what card suits me also.

 

[Malk101]

What card should I buy, ati or nvidia.
I've not been here that long, but even I know its been asked a quadrillion times. Does search not work anymore ?

With respect, i have searched the wonderful web, but wanted the advice from the good folk of these forums who will have had a more hands on experience than say a quick review from some offbeat website.

Another question going round my limited brain cells is this flashing a 6950 to 6970, does this void the warranty and what are the chances of a novice (me ) bricking the card?