Are ATI graphics cards any good?

[Ben Edwards]

I have been a nvida user for years and thought I would give ATI a try.
 I got myself a 'ATI Technologies Inc Mobility Radeon HD 3450' and so
far I am totally underwhelmed.  After upgrading to Ubuntu 9.04 (To
ensure I using latest drivers) I had to ssh in and just about managed
to get things working  using the binary drivers (the standard config
gave me no picture).  Even with these I cant get video out working.

>From looking on the net ATI on Linux looks  a bit flaky.  I'me not
saying I did not have to mess about a bit with nvidia but I did manage
to get video out.  Should I sling the card onto ebay and go back to
nvidia or have I missed something.

I also got a box with 'ATI Technologies Inc Radeon HD 3200 Graphics'
built into the motherboard and I have to turn effects off to get
stable video playback.  This box is running 8.10.

So ive tried ATI twice and both times not had a very positive experience.

Any ideas?
Ben