Ashen, you are basing your points/comments on his assumptions and to do that you are making assumptions, only one thing is certain, the 8800 is and has been here for 6 months, just because ATi/AMD has taken 6 months longer to release theirs does not actually mean:
1. They are faster in DX9 or DX10
2. They will have better IQ
3. They will have stronger supportin DX10/Vista
4. They will be better bang for Buck
To Beleive any of these are meerly assumptions, what we do know is that Nvidia.....love them or hate them has made Billions already and Ati have lost out to date, as I said in an earlier post, I want the R600 to be better than the 8800, because then we the consumer are better off in many ways but for people (not aimed at you specifically but in general) to criticise NVidia for putting something on the market that millions of people wanted 6 months before it's main competitor is ludicrous, and to taint that by refering back to past mistakes, making assumptions that because R600 has taken an extra 6 months to release was purely becuase ATi wanted to get it right therefore it must be faster and/or better supported again is pure assumption, lets wait till the cards arrive, I will be buying one if the price is competative, has better support and are better Bang for Buck, all else is really pretty futile until they arrive.
And perhaps all of us are overlooking one thing?..........the best method to deduct if a card is a good one is to ask those people who own one and from what I can see most 8800 owners are very happy with what they have, many of those current owneres have owned ATi cards before this one so why do people not beleive them when they say the card is good!