nVidia vs. ATI tipping point -- when?

[Luffield]

I'm thinking about getting a new graphics card. I don't really need one, my current nVidia 7300GT works well, but I started driving a new racing sim recently (iRacing, brilliant!) and my card can only give good FPS if I use the lowest graphics settings.
Anyway, I can wait a while before I get a new card.
So it got me thinking: should I wait until the open-source ATI drivers are equally good or better than the closed-source nVidia drivers? Basically I'd rather buy an ATI card because their drivers are open-source, but I understand they have some way to go before their drivers are on par with the nVidia ones. And I like my compiz :)

Any estimates when this tipping point is expected to arrive?

[Ub1476]

Linux already beat fps rate played on Windows woth an ATI card. That was a year ago. ATI has just got this dual-card stuff and some antialaising settings I think. You should check out Phoronix.com for updates from ATI and NVIDIA.

I'm not sure which I would choose, but eventually I think the ATI cars will be quite good by Ubuntu 9.04. It's a long time, but what do I know..

[Luffield]

I think the ATI cars will be quite good by Ubuntu 9.04.

Makes a lot of sense, actually. ATI release a driver update every month IIRC. Intrepid will be released soon and it's hard to believe ATI drivers will be significantly better than they are now. But by 9.04, it's hard to believe they won't.

I'll check out Phoronix.com. Thanks Ub1476.