Video card suggestion

[KS <lists04@fastmail.fm>]

Hi all,

I am planning on assembling an AMD based system. I noticed that most of
the motherboards that I am looking at (socket AM2 or AM2+) do not
onboard video card. That isn't a problem as I will put a dedicated video
card in there. But I'm a bit confused as to which brand to go for:
Nvidia or ATI.

I have had a 5700LE Nvidia card(AGP) and it has been working great with
it's proprietary drivers (and nv driver also). I got it almost 2years
ago. How has the graphics cards scene changed since then? Does ATI based
cards support 3D acceleration and are as easily recognized as Nvidia
cards? The ones that looked attractive (price wise) are:

ATI:
ASUS EAH2600XT/HTDP/256M Radeon HD 2600XT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI
Express x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121082

SAPPHIRE 100220L Radeon HD 2600XT 256MB 128-bit GDDR4 PCI Express x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102708

MSI RX2600XT-T2D512EZ Radeon HD 2600XT 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127298



as opposed to - Nvidia:
XFX PVT84JUDD3 GeForce 8600GT XXX 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150229

MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC GeForce 8600GTS 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127284

XFX PVT84GUDF3 GeForce 8600GTS 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150228

Thanks,
KS.