If you where forced to choose between them which one would you pick and why? Doesn't ATI have more driver problems than Nvidia?

The 8800GT is far better than the 3850 and costs a lot more, so you can't compare them.

Well 8800GT... performance is worth the extra money..

The 8800GT only cost $30 more. I would spend it on that.

The last person who tried to force me to do anything, seriously regrets it now.
 
Don't let people force you into doing anything.

I would say the 256Mb 8800GT, because it's just the better card.  However, I just bought a 3850 for my dad's B-day because I didn't want to go over $200.  If it was my comp, I would pay the extra change.  

I dont regret it, cruiseO

I picked Nvidia for a few reasons:
A. better card
B. I like Nvidia better
C. It gives the AMD/ATi fanbois a hemorrage.

The 3850 is good if your on a budget as it can be had at $170. The 8800GT 256 is the better card, but also costs $40 more!

If going between those two 256MB cards, I'd take the $160 HD3850 from bestbuy.  I don't like the way the 256MB GT gets destroyed by the 512MB version so far in what we have seen.  I wouldn't spend over $200 on a 256MB card anymore.

 
Can anyone answer that?

And when is Tom going to put the 8800 gt 256 in their VGA charts?

everyone has problems w/all drivers. sometimes i have problems with nvidia's and sometimes with ccc. 8800gts in one system and 1900xt in the other. gts better in games / xt better watching movies. everyone has different experiences. everything has it's downside. i preffer ccc over forceware though.

 
the 8800 GT and 38x0 series are coming very soon!
 
As for driver problems, haven't seen anything of note in years except some vista stuff. Both Nvidia and Ati have their quirks but no show stoppers in XP.
 
As for which one I'd pick... if it was the same price, the 8800 GT of course. At the prices they are, either is fine...

I had the same decision and I chose the 3850. It seems to run all games well at high resolutions (1680 x 1050), plus I'm a casual gamer and don't want to have a super good graphic card, because I would feel more obligated to use it more ;P

What games at what settings? And what is the rest of your system?

3850 and 3870 is already on the VGA chart
 
And 8800GT will beat a 3850 hands down, no question about that.
 
Maybe you meant 3870? but the GT still wins

Arrgh the VGA charts won't come up!  
 
And I meant the 8800 gt 256

ati devs think that drivers are people who drive cars
Dont expect much from them...

3870 if you're going for crossfire...8800gt if you want only a single GPU.

and here are the GPU benchmarks...
 
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/607/8/