What is the best Video Card, Now and in the Future?

Then go with intel, they are #1 right now, and likely will remain #1 for some time.

Now if you want a solution that can actually play above 640x480 resolution then both ATi-AMD and nVidia will be your best candidates for the next few years.

ati will win then nvidia will win.

hopefully it keeps on going that way.

right now its nvidia. but in the highend video cards.
in a month or two it might be a different story.

When does the R600 come out?

I've also read that perhaps SLI causes fewer "issues" than Crossfire. Do you think this would be a reason, if one were planning on using 2 Graphics cards together, to stick with nvidia?

sli is older/more mature.

i wouldnt sli or c/f anything yet as amd/ati are releasing their new cards
next month or the month after like prozac said.

and nvidia will do the same with mid-range cards.

if you are looking to build a new system then get a cheap card now
something like 7600gt or x1900gt.
unless you are looking for a mid to high end card.
the nv. 88gts might fit the bill.

if you can wait a month or so that would be your best bet.

Not yet, but that's likely somewhat the future scenario only because their developers will work closer together, although nVidia isn't as close as AMD or intel's own engineers, and they have competition in the intel MoBo segment from SIS, and in the graphics segment intel is going to go discrete so they will start to puch away nV too.

BUT, neither will cripple the opposition's hardware in order to favour their own, that just hurts themselves.

LEt's say before the GF8800 you liked playing Oblivion, then the best solution was the intel C2D and an X1950XTX in Xfire. After the GF8800 launch now it's still the C2D and the GF8800GTX in SLi. And once the R600 comes out it may go back to ATi and if AMDs future CPUs are better than that aspect may swing too. To cripple any solution would just keep people away from your hardware.

The main thing is what exact 3D are you doing, gaming is different than something like Maya, SolidWorks or 3DsMax etc. Also what 'mutlimedia' as some prefer specific solutions? Something like that may be the tie breaker.

Just two things to consider IMO;

First I prefer LG optical drives, but if you have a reason you picked the Samsung, then go with it. I find Lightscribe handy and have developed an afinity for having disks labelled by something more than my illegible penmanship. The premium on the disks is a little high though.

Second, what is the price of the GF7950GT and why did you choose it? I seems like sort of a halfway point for cards, close enough to competition that start making more compeling arguments for things. If it's tempo, then a card like the cheap GF7900GSs out there is good.

I'm not familiar with FORMZ requiremenets, and whether it has a preference for certain hardware. So unfortunately that doesn't do it for now as a tie breaker.

I would be curious why bother with a GF7950GT and not a GF8800GTS unless you get the GT at a good price.

Also I would consider the upgrade path. If you're going with 2 R600s, then having the X19xx series as a physics or math co-processor makes alot of sense too.

I would say the best path would be to either get a GF8800GTS now and then upgrade with another, or else get an X19xx series card and then move it down a slot or two once you know your R600 situation.

Just my take on it.