Graphics card suggestions

So here we go. Show your pride as a Geek/Nerd and give me some suggestions for graphics cards. Assume I have a budget of about 300 dollars. Mother board suggestions are also welcome. =)

What OS are you running?

Xonotic uses OpenGL and hence NVIDIA is preferable to ATI if all else is equal.

If you are running Linux and are looking for a GPL driver then ATI is preferable as the Nouveau driver is not as advanced at this stage as the free ATI driver.

If you're running Windows, then choose ATI, because you'll get a more powerful card with less money.

If you're running Linux, then nVidia, because ATI's drivers really do suck a big time. nVidia offers proper Linux drivers. But, in case you're a opensource-geek, than choose ATI on Linux, as stated above, ATI opensource drivers have 3D acceleration when Nouveau (nVidia opensource driver) does not.

Well I run linux and Windows 7.

I hope to go with an nVidia simply because of the driver support.

Actually Ati drivers on Linux aren't so bad as ppl say. I got a Radeon HD3850 and it runs quite fine with proprietary Ati drivers - I get to run TheGameThatShallNotBeNamed in 1920x1080 at high detail really smooth (only a small glitch with kwin effects happens sometimes and I got to turn off and on effects). Plus Ati GPUs have more power nowadays than nVidia for a smaller price (HD5xxx... yeah ;-) ).

Yeah, I was thinking about getting the ATI HD5870 but it's really expensive =(

I use an Nvidia 7600GT..... I got it used for $25 on ebay..... and have been using it for about a year or so. It works GREAT on the 'not to be named' game.

I consistently have 150FPS. Hey, for the price it was great!

I opted for this card because I did not want to have to put up with all the noise from the fan. This has a fan, but it's just a little one!

Wait for the nVidia GTX 400 series. It has the most beastly hardware tessellation support.

I agree. The GTX 400 is going to be great. But if the GTX 295 is going for 450+ I don't even want to think about the price of the GTX 400 lol

I can honestly say that the Nvidia GTX 285 is the ballsiest, nastiest card I've ever owned. Not a single compatibility issue with Linux or Windows, unbelievable performance, and it's just plain cool looking. If you can spring for the 295 go for it. I'll prob wait the the 400 is affordable before upgrading. Aside from Xonotic, I'm not really a gamer, I do mostly photoshop/video/audio editing on this machine.

Right now I can CRANK thegamethatwillnotbenamed with a 256 bit, 1GB big, NVIDIA Geforce 9800GTX on 1280 X 1024 and hold it 60HZ with 46fps (absolute lowest it will drop on my current settings). In the future I plan on jumping to AMD though since NVIDIA started slipping big time while AMD has lit a fire under the asses of the guys over at ATI. I'm currently running Linux Mint 64 bit. I can fully max the game and then some at 1280 X 1024 if I can live with 30fps (typically the lowest it will ever drop) with a 1 or 2 fps drop here or there.

Mobile Intel Laptop here.

with lowest settings and r_sky 0 and r_showsurfaces 3 I can get 60fps

well r_showsurfaces 3 can actually be slower then normal rendering in some cases.. just because it looks bad does not mean its necessarily faster

I've had good luck with the AMD 790X series boards + ATI cards. First off what CPU you going with? Last system I priced for someone was:

Phenom X4 Black Edition around 3.5 GHz
AMD 890GX (I've never used this board before because it just came out)
Radeon 5770 1GB (card is about $175)
4GB DDR3
quad SSD 30GB + dual sata 750GB
Raidmax Aztec case
600W or 650W PSU

It totaled around $1300 iirc. That would be an amazing system for the price. For Windows ATI and NVidia cards should all work nicely, under Linux it's always the issue of drivers. ATI cards in the 4000 series and newer should be easy, just make sure to check the HCL. You don't want to get stuck with an ATI legacy card, and Newegg still has legacy cards in stock. Another thing to keep in mind - the entire ATI 4000 series is openGL 2 with the exception of the 4890 which is openGL 3. The 4870 is identical to the 4890 in every way other than GL 3. The 5000 series all supports openGL3. The 4890 out-benchmarks the 5770, but based on what I've seen about support from ATI even a few years after purchase I'd rather get the newest series and sacrifice a few fps. You don't want to price an ATI 58xx card.