Listen Asigh, here we are in a noble purpose, helping others and sharing knowledge. We are not here to hurt others
or fighting against each other. You said something and I said something and both felt sorry for each others comment.
If I hurt your feeling, sorry for that.
Now cool down.
And I didin't try to say CUDA is superior than Stream. I just said there are more software applications that support CUDA.Obviously in common fields (where CUDA and stream both are supported), ATI has slightly better performance with their 5000 series cards. In fact ATI FireGL cards are better than Nvdia Quadro. Checked in Tom's Hardware.
And other thing is PhysX support. Now 3D Studioo Max and Maya both have their PhysX plugin. So using Nvdia GPU you can actually design object based on Physx engine.
Source: *www.geeks3d.com/20081207/physx-plugins-for-3d-studio-max-and-maya-available/
And there are lot of other softwares like
TMPGENC Video Editor 4.6. It is an excellent editing and converting software for both the novice and advance users. But it only support CUDA.
From your posts it looks like you are a die-hard fan of AMD/ATI. Then you will be happy to know that ATI stream is much promising due to the architecture of ATI gpus. 1 ATI stream processor is consisiting of cluster of 5 pus. So actual SP count of ATI card is total/5 (4870 is having 800/5=160). These 5 pus can process only one thread at a time. But their architecture is much closer to CPU architecture, ie. open architecture. So it is easier to develope general processing architecture for ATI gpus.
And again we r not fighting here, just cool down
And Desi, thanks for your clarification. Yes a gaming card never become equivalent to a dedicated work station card. But at least you will get some benefit from it. For normal home users who are actually working in home I think CUDA will be helpful. At least we can get a performance boost (may be not as big as for the workstation card). That's why I recommended the Nvidia card.
I know we are not here to fight with each. We are here for the noble cause. Of course...!

Was never fighting with you, was putting my point across.
The reason I was sticking to my point was -- we cannot make generic statements in here (and believe me I have too), about certain hardware. I guess it is misconception that today's consumer marketing has bought us to. nVidia and ATI are trying to sell their cards as multi-functional, that they can render games as well as 3D work. But it just does not work that way. 3-4 posts back I had mentioned that the Quadro/FireGL and GeForce/Catalyst cards are not interchangeable at all.
One of the primary reasons that the professional cards are expensive:
They have drivers which have been officially and tested as per company standards. The driver pack is certified, and the user can honestly claim, that they are using a set company standards. Artifacting and pixelating should be less of an issue with professional cards as compared to gaming cards.
And since these drivers (pro series), are officially licensed, certified, and am sure have proprietary patents, the pro cards cost a bomb.
Also all of use did not read the OPs requirements correctly, or understood them in a different flavor.
Hell..even I recommended a HD4850 to him...!
Nopes, I am no AMD/ATI fanboy. Infact my last card was a GeForce, and my current processor is an Intel.

If you read my other posts (just kidding of course you do not need to), I am never bent or biased towards a specific product. I just show "both sides of the coin" and love to play the devil's advocate. Till date I have no stand on ATI vs nVidia, Corsair vs CM, Intel vs AMD, Physics vs non-Physics.
The OP can look at these cards, I am using a RV7200 (though not listed here) and it is pretty good.
Sapphire FireGL V3600 256 MB @ 7035
Leadtek Quadro NVS 285 64MBDDR @ 4200
Leadtek Quadro FX370 256MB DDR2 @ 6468
There are other Quadro cards too available
here.