That is why I always go for intel+nvidia configs in my comps... most games are compatible with them, not that ATI isn't good or anything (just to avoid any flames) but over the years I see more nvidia compatible games than ATI along with the starting "nvidia the way its meant to be played logo thingy...) maybe it's that nvidia pays more money to game companies I dunno...
I only owned (back in 2003) one ATI card in my life and although I don't question the quality, I hated the driver support.
Agreed. This 5870 I own, will be the first and last ATI card. The card itself is excellent, it plays most games perfectly, but the drivers, and driver support are awful, or to be more specific, the QA Testing on the drivers is awful. I remember having to revert to 10.8 drivers until 10.12 because they broke sleep.
Fortunately I've not noticed any major issues with games, but I have friends with dual gpu cards (like the 4870x2 and the 5970) that find every wrong under the sun.
It's a shame really because if ATI sorted their drivers out, they would easily knock Nvidia out of the market. Nvidia know this, hence the premium between an ATI and Nvidia card.