Oi, where to start without sounding like a fanboy?
This seems like a good start: All three are terrible with drivers.
Intel can write a damn good driver... and then not update it for years and actually build hardware around that driver rather than vice-versa.:shadedshu Pisses me off to no end.
Nvidia can write a pretty good driver most of the time. Their control panel is a bit better, but the underlying driver itself has given me major problems in the past, at least when it comes to registry. Nothing that couldn't be fixed, but for three driver releases, each new release reversed my hard work and again locked the card in 3d clocks, requiring me to tinker to get the same results three times. Also, in multiple driver suites, the control panel refused/refuses to save my 3D settings, no matter what I do. Keep in mind my experiences with Nvidia's more modern cards(6000 series and on) has only been a few cards: a 6600, 7600, two 9800GTX(one was a vanilla GTX, the other a GTX+), and a GTS250.
ATi/AMD is another that
can write a good driver, but they are few and far between. I've found with their drivers that sometimes you have to load and unload multiple drivers or driver suites to find the one that works best for your configuration, especially in multi-card setups. This has gotten better in the last six months or so, but it's still pretty bad when you're installing the latest driver and hoping it will run better than a driver from nearly a year ago while keeping that year-old driver ready to reinstall in case the newer driver is crud. This isn't just a problem I have to deal with as I'm sure most of you have dealt with this even if you've only run one AMD card, and my experiences aren't just recent. This is stretching my entire history of ATi/AMD cards starting with my 9250. From there, the list goes like this: 9250, 9600, x800xt All-In-Wonder(worst driver experience EVER, but that was because it was an AIW. with just graphics drivers installed it ran perfect), x1600xt, two x1800xt(two separate computers), single then Crossfired x1950PROs, single then Crossfired HD3870s, single then Crossfired 4870s, single then Crossfired HD6850s, and finally my current setup, single then Crossfired HD7970s. Most of the issues experienced with these cards were in Crossfire, but that's not to say there weren't issues with single-card setups, either. Bottom line, ATi/AMD has their share of crappy driver releases with a few great drivers sprinkled in.
I had many graphics cards before my 6600/9250 days, but either never had a driver issue or it's been so long that I can't remember. There were a couple of RIVA cards, a couple of VooDoo cards, a couple of RAGE cards, even a Radeon 32m(the first graphics card with built-in TV tuner), and probably others as well. Of course there are plenty of instances of integrated graphics peppered in there as well, but those are memories I'd like to forget
To sum up my feeling on graphics drivers in the last five years(maybe more):
![Bang Head :banghead: :banghead:](https://tpucdn.com/forums/data/assets/smilies/banghead-v1.gif)
![Bang Head :banghead: :banghead:](https://tpucdn.com/forums/data/assets/smilies/banghead-v1.gif)
![Bang Head :banghead: :banghead:](https://tpucdn.com/forums/data/assets/smilies/banghead-v1.gif)
And that's why I'm not voting, lol.