A great performer; however, you definitely pay a premium for the extra processing power

A powerful AGP card to tide people over till the move to PCI Express becomes compulsory.

A good choice for someone wanting a silent PC that can still game well on a budget.

A card with decent performance and a very good software bundle.

The ASUS 7800 GT is a solid performer with an impressive software bundle. Its retail price is reasonable for a card based on this NVIDIA chipset.

Although this isn't the top of the range, its slightly lower performance is negligible, especially when weighted with the price drop. If you're looking for a card to last until you purchase a new system with everything you've ever dreamed of, this card is a great option.

While benchmarks will show little differences between this card and the top NVIDIA card, the 7900GTX, the X1900XTX's architecture gives it a little more longevity and should perform well until it's time to switch to a true DirectX 10 capable card. The only downfall is that this is still an expensive card and if you think you'll be doing an upgrade in the mid, rather than the long-term, you may wish to opt for one of the new cards from either manufacturer that sits at a better price point.

Although it's a step down from the 8800 GTX, this Gigabyte 8800 GTS is superior in many ways to anything from the previous generation of cards and if you want something that will last you into the Vista era there's little other choice.

Although Zotac is a lesser known brand, the card's performance is on par with the competition. We tested and used the Zotac 8800GTS 320MB over a period of time and it remained stable and performed well. We were also impressed with the environmentally conscious packaging.

All up, we think this card is great value for money considering the performance it provides. It runs quietly and comes with the cables you need to use all its video ports. It's a good choice if you're after a new-generation card for a mainstream gaming machine.

Despite its slow showing in the Lost Planet DirectX 10 demonstration, it's still unclear how well this card will be able to handle DirectX 10-based games. But, for current DirectX 9-based games, this card will perform well and its price, along with its game bundle, make it an attractive mid-range option for any Vista-based PC.

All up, this card may be a little expensive considering it doesn't come with any games, but it's a good performer and the supplied DVI-HDMI adapter and the Component cable are useful additions.