NVidia vs ATI compatibility questions

[monton]

Using a Shuttle AN35N Ultra 400 MB with nForce2 chipset.

Have installed 2 different 9600XT/256mb ATI "partnered" cards. The first was flaky with screen going black, lock ups, dim screen, etc. Seemed to be random and not only on gaming. Returned that card and the new one won't even boot. Tried it in an ECS k7s5a and it was dead with that mobo too. I've used ATI cards for years and have never had any problems with them so I'm disappointed (I'm being nice).

My questions are, should I use an nVidia based video with the nForce2 chipset? Is there a performance advantage? What would be comparable to the 9600XT?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Ps I used latest drivers dowloaded from ATI. Mobo BIOS is most current. Reinstalled radeon 64 vivo 4x and works fine.

 

[vegasgmc]

There seems to be a compatabilty issues with nForce 2 chipset and Radeon 9600 series cards that no one has been able to explain. I have 2 systems with nForce 2 mobos and they work fine with Radeon 9800 and 8500. There is probably a voltage issue with your 9600XT and the K7S5A since that board is about 5 years old. Get a Radeon 9800 or an nVidia 5700 and up for good performance.