Greetings,

I am probably opening Pandora's box with this thread but what the hell.  I will preface by saying that I looked for a specific thread on this subject and didn't find one.  So if someone knows of one forgive my redundancy.

I am going to build a new PC with XP 64 and an AMD dual core AM2 processor.  Anyway, I am not a gamer but I would like to get a good video card.  I read a thread that stated that VCs have no effect on rendering speeds.  This is not my ultimate question; but, if that is true then why do the respective web sites claim better rendering for gaming graphics?

My question is what would you recommend as a good graphics card?  I currently use an ATI Raedon 9800 which is a few years old.  I always read good things about NVidia.  Do they have a leg up on ATI?  These are the two brands I'm considering.  Again, I'm not a gamer nor do I want to become one.  I just want a good card for creating graphic arts.

Thanks in advance for your opinions.

Even if you're not playing games, your Poser work will benefit from a higher end graphics card that is good at OpenGL.  Might think about an NVidia 7800GTX off of Ebay, or a 7950GTX.  If you have deep pockets, there is the 8800GTX (probably overkill by your standards).

Nvidia 7000 series absolutely.
I had an ATI card and it didn't hold a candle to the Nvidia 7300 I use now!
Go for the highest 7000 series card you can afford unless of course you can afford one of the Quaddro's

I agree with pjz99.  The video cards he mentioned are excellent.  I just got done building a system during Christmas using the AM2 dual core processor.  I currently have the 8800 GTX which is probably the best video card I've ever used.  I personally don't like ATI due to buying 2 of them and both shot craps in a few months.  Even though you are not a high end gamer, it's always good to have a very good video card when using Poser or other 3D Apps.

Well, so far, on your recommendations I am looking at the Nvidia 7950 which is Xp64 compatible and reasonably priced.  The 8800 is probably way more than I need and very expensive.  Thanks all.  Keep'em coming though.

Go nVidia. 
ATI OpenGL drivers are crap, and for 3D work you NEED good OpenGL support.
nVidia also has good Linux and XP 64 bit drivers, and I expect them to have good Vista drivers within a couple of weeks.

I sing the praises of NVidia too, My machine came with an ATI but after a couple of days I decided to get rid & swap to an NVidia, I'll never go back to ATI. I dual boot with XP & Linux & both run perfectly with an NVidia card.

Make updating the drivers a priority when you decide on your card ;)

Nvidia cards are very good, with excellent driver support. I've had very good luck with the ATI professional FireGL series cards and OGL (high end stuff like quad buffered stereo), but they are more expensive. 

I have a laptop (personal) with a Nvidia Geforce7600Go, and it performs quite well with P5, P6, Carrara Studio 5Pro, UVmapper, C4D, etc. At work I have an older (2 years) mid range ATI FireGL V3200 that has been rock solid, performs very well with Carrara 5 Pro, AutoCad Map 3D, Leica Geosystems Stereo Analyst and Virtual GIS, and Visual Nature Studio, but I don't use Poser at work. For my work applications, especially the quad buffered stereo, the ATI FireGL cards always seem to be a little bit better than the Nvidia Quadro series. At the consumer/gamer level cards I've only used Nvidia, and they have always been very stable.

Note: Poser, and other "low end" 3D applications don't use quad buffered stereo, and many of the "pro" level OGL functions/calls, so a good consumer/gaming card such as the 7xxx or higher series Nvidia cards will give nearly as good performance as the equvalant pro level cards. You probably won't notice any performance difference between a consumer card and an equivalant pro card with Poser, though benchmarks will show differences.

I just upgraded my Mac Pro with an ATI Radeon X1900 XT. $400. Outstanding for 3D work, as well as for video editing, and a big improvement over the stock Mac Pro card. Don't know if there is a difference between how Poser 7 for Mac and Poser 7 for Windows when it comes to how well they work with the ATI versus Nvidia.

Thank you again all for your input.  It looks like NVidia is the way to go and so I will.  Besides (no slam to ATI) I've only used ATI VCs in the past so maybe it's time to try a new brand.

Another huge nvidia fan here!  You probably already know this but since the site hasn't been mentioned in this thread - here's the plug www.newegg.com

I have been checking them out.  It seems they have the best prices and highest ratings.  Thanks