honestly I do like Nvidia better, just because I have had better luck with them. I had a bunch of ATI stuff lately (4770s,4830s,4870s) and to me they were just too hot(the 4870s radiated off a TON of heat).
Nothing has come close to the 9600GTs I had so I am quite spoiled when it comes to temps (20-30C range) Even the 9800s are almost 10C hotter.
If I had it all to do over I would have gone with a pair of 1 gig GTS 250s.(but value wise nothing comes close to the 9600s I had)
I was thinking of a pair of 5770s and I like the 1 gig of DDR5 but I just cant pay $150+ each for 128bit.
(they may be fine just it buggs me)
So I thought of a pair of 5850s but $600?? for what? DX11 (dont need it yet) Eyefinity? (I only have 1 LCD) and if the 4870s were overkill for me then 5850s are nuttso.
Honestly I want a card in the middle of the 5770-5850..
So right now the 9800GTs I have (not my preference) are here now and couldnt be sold to recoup their cost so its what I got.
Now they do have a couple of benefits (8800GT series is a kick ass series card)
They are black PCBs
One 6 pin power
Dual fan coolers
Cool display (+ Im making red CF brackets for them)
And honestly I dont pay any attention to benches but they ran Borderlands better than the 4770s did.(and I REALLY like Borderlands)
EDIT:
OK here are a couple of shots of what I did
First I really liked my I/O panel on the TPU Tribute case
So I am doing something similar here
Longer hole on the left is the PS exhaust, the right one s the exhaust for the Hdd
Here is the left side of the comp showing one of the the mods I did to the hot swap Hdd
(cut out door and mounted mesh for air inlet, there will be a hole in the floor as well for even more intake)
Its primer now as I am thinking what color to paint the door.