7950GT or 8600GTS

[mblue]

well, I still haven't made my final decision yet... I'd like to go with an X1950XT 512MB but I have 3 concerns. Perhaps someone here that is ATi savvy can help me out here.

1.) I have heard of driver troubles both with XP and Vista. I have not owned an ATi since my old Radeon 8500 about 5 years ago... I don't even remember how the drivers were but I remember it being a pretty decent card at the time. How is ATi's driver support these days?

2.) I have heard the Sapphire version creates tons of heat. My 7600GT gets up to 70C during heavy duty gaming on a warm day and it worries me but I've seen tests confirming this card goes OVER 80C. While that wouldn't be a huge deal as I'd add a Zalman cooler and some AS5, I wouldn't want to void the warranty out of the box. Is the heat really that bad on the ones with the X8xx-series cooler on it?

3.) Do you think the price will significantly drop in the next few weeks as R600 approaches? If I buy this thing for $240 and it goes down to $180 or something in two weeks because of the R600 launch, I'm going to be rather agitated... Any advice?

Thanks.

1. Both makers have driver issues from time to time, it's going to happen, there will never be a full prof card driver combo.

2. Again, both can have issues with heat and both can be addressed with an after market cooler or adjusting the fan speed. Example, my x1950xtx was running hot when I installed, but was very quite. I installed ATI tool and found the fan ran at only 20%, set it 50%, still quite and now much cooler 42 idle 53 load.

3. No idea. I have seen cases were people wait for that premium price and then the cards are just not around anymore.