I think it is a matter of personal choice.
I agree. I'm on the flip side of this. I had a GeForce 4 MX 440 on my old computer and it ran the game no problems. With my new computer, I have an onboard ATI (newer chipset than before) and so far, it sucks. I get flashing blue trees all the time. I don't have to sit on a blue screen when I alt+tab, but that's because of the processor and possibly RAM too. I just ordered a Nvidia GeForce 7300LE 256MB and I did tons of research on that card and compared with others in my price range. For my money's worth, it's a good deal.
I definately prefer Nvidia.