A colourful, high-performance board that has good documentation and comes with every cable and break-out connector you'll need.

EPoX's nForce4 Ultra board performs well and has the basic features you need for a mainstream or high-end system.

The P5AD2-E's overclocking controls aren't as precise as those on some other boards, but it's well-designed and has a fine manual.

A standout Athlon 64 motherboard.

This board should capture the imagination of the gaming market, thanks to its cooling innovations, fast specs and red-illuminated edges.

Don't expect dual-core to be the top performer today for games and other demanding single-threaded applications but that will change as applications are rewritten.

When it comes to blazing gaming performance, this is the chip to get. There is no real advantage with regular application processing though.

Good performance and helpful features make the WinTV PVR-150 a solid choice.

Impressive features for a reasonable price make this USB tuner a top solution for putting TV on your PC.

Great value for money.

A reasonable alternative for enthusiast gamers, but it is outdone by some offerings from Nvidia.

A reasonably competitive card with a great software bundle.