the best nforce mb and vid card combination

I am next week (when it arrives) going to replace my "quirky" ecsk7s5a mb with a gigabyte with nforce 2 chipset board..this maybe a stupid question but does a nvidia video card work better that an ati card. I plan to upgrade the whole system but little by little....with out breaking the bank which card would you go for...I a game a bit . Thanks in advance

 

No, an ATI card will work just fine on an nForce chipset.

To answer your second question, it depends on how much you want to spend, and what games you want to play. If you play first person shooters like UT2004 and Far Cry, you'll want the best card you can afford. The absolute top of the line cards are either Geforce 6800 Ultra, or Radeon X800 XT. Right now these cost about $500. The next step down would be the X800 Pro at about $400. (I think) To get into the more affordable range, the Radeon 9800 Pro 128Mb is about $200. This is the one I'd recommend. IMO, it will give you the best bang for the buck. Then there's the Radeon 9600 and Geforce FX 5600 at about $125. If you play first person shooters, this is probably the cheapest you'll want to go. Otherwise, you might be better off saving some cash and getting a sub $100 card like a 5200 Ultra, or Radeon 9200.

 

and to back that up. I am running a 9800 PRO on an nForce2 board. Works like a charm!