Graphics Card Choice

[Overlord5]

I was checking out graphics cards, and was wondering which was better:

Geforce GTX 260M
Mobility Radeon HD 5850

The Nvidia uses a new type of shader, that covers pixel and vector faster, but the ATI supposedly runs most things faster. The Nvidia has physx built in, and has many other of nvidia's features allowing those to run faster, but it only supports DirectX 10.1 while the ATI supports 11. Can I get the pro's con's of both? And which would you pick?

[Redskin11]

when it comes to graphics cards i personally believe that nvidia is the better card and being that its the 200 series there is no way you can go wrong

[thetan]

i have 16 GTX 260 systems at my work running i7s. We use them for video game beta testing. SoE, activision and EA contract through another company that likes our using our facilities

So in short, we've tested games that haven't been released yet at my work, and they pur on these systems. I'd say stick with nvidia imo.

[msbachman]

When the price comes down I imagine I'll get one of those big cards too to get my family through the long Ukranian winters. Typically when I awake I turn my computer on its side and let two or three youths crawl inside the open case for warmth and protection.

The heat output of my cheap 8200 GT is less than ideal however. It seems just yesterday I had to pull the carcasses of three local youths from my case due to the fact that my computer went into hibernation mode and they unfortunately all froze to death. In the future with one of these beast cards I'll be able to heat my whole village.

[thetan]

They actually don't run all that hot. Sure given they sound like leaf blowers when you turn them on though

[Overlord5]

On the point of beta testing, is there a website to sine up on?