So what about the configuration tool? I've never once needed to use it. What matters is the actual performance of the hardware during actual use. Not liking Catalyst is a stupid reason to not buy damn good performing parts for a very good price.

I never even used catalyst; like I said it's integration into windows meant I never needed it. The majority of the important things were integrated into display settings in XP and anything immediate was accessible through the right-click menu.

My problem with Geforce has always been that its performance is asymmetric, always has been and seems like it always will be. It's, simply put, always average. With Radeon's if you card wasn't performing great, you simply dropped the resolution and it dramatically increased, however with Geforce it only mildly increased. You have to drop from 1920x1200 to 1440x900, while with Radeon you only had to drop to 1680x1050 to get good performance again.

One thing Radeon always performed poorly with is anti-aliasing, however IMO this has always made graphics look like shit. I don't want blur, I want crispness. Yes anti-aliasing was good when watching 480i TV on a big screen. I don't want to be bullshitted with anti-aliasing when I can't actually see pixels to even notice any blocking on rounded shapes.