Just like professional sports teams the most consistent thing is the brand name and colours.

I would say buy your new rig on bang for buck. Do not buy based on past performance. Buy based on what you need and the best value for money for it.

So even if AMD owns ATI unless they bundle some nice combos that hit the quality for price pressure points it really won't matter to the end consumer. If they start making exclusive combos then they might find themselves freezing themselves out of the market. There is always an exception to the rule, but since Apple has already cornered that side of the market... I hope for our sakes and AMDs that it stays as compatible as possible with all combinations out there.

Old timers do you remember when a certain chip set was limited to a certain expensive RAM... that went down like a lead balloon.