ATI have taken alot of flak for their drivers (which were until 6 months ago rubbish). But as an owner of an r9700 and between me and my friends we have ~12 machines with ATI 9k-series cards, and I must say they have been performing great. No issues with the drivers or support. I put a Zalman heatpipe cooler on mine, no moving parts completely quiet. I can reccomend ATI, from my own and my friends experience, but your milage may vary.