Reviewed on November 8, 2006This one is easy. Nvidia's GeForce 8800 GTX not only beats ATI to market with its next-gen 3D graphics hardware, it also eliminates ATI's image-quality advantage in current-generation titles. Throw in its sheer horsepower, and Nvidia gives the high-end enthusiast every reason to make this purchase.TAGS:Nvidia GeForce, pipe, NVidia, architecture, 3D, card, manufacturing, power supply, DirectX, ATI Technologies, games
Reviewed on January 16, 2009Nvidia's GeForce GTX 295 is the single fastest 3D card on the market, and for a relatively aggressive price. Added bonuses like power efficiency and PhysX support sweeten the deal, but even without those extra benefits, we'd still recommend this card for its processing power and comparative value.TAGS:power consumption, NVidia, Nvidia GeForce, Radeon, graphics chip, ATI Technologies, card, manufacturing, DirectX, gamer, PC
Reviewed on November 9, 2006The step-down GeForce 8800 GTS is no slouch compared to Nvidia's flagship GTX card. Like its powerful big brother, the slightly more affordable GTS supplies top-notch performance and sweeping architectural changes that provide a solid foundation today for the OSs and games of tomorrow.TAGS:Nvidia GeForce, NVidia, DirectX, card, Radeon, manufacturing, ATI Technologies, GPU, power supply, games
Reviewed on February 6, 2009Even if it's a relative power hog, the Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 X2 brings so much speed and utility to the table it's hard for us to recommend another midrange 3D card. Only the particularly power conscious or those who play games with known multichip scaling issues should look elsewhere.TAGS:DirectX, Radeon, Nvidia GeForce, NVidia, card, PC
Reviewed on August 2, 2007If you're looking to build a home theater PC, we recommend ATI's Radeon HD 2600 XT as the midrange card to use, thanks to its nearly perfect HD video image and its no-fuss installation. But for 3D gaming, you'd be much better off looking for a good deal on a faster, older graphics card.TAGS:Radeon, ATI Radeon, ATI Technologies, Nvidia GeForce, NVidia, DirectX, card, generation, 3D, video card, games
Reviewed on June 24, 2008AMD's new ATI Radeon HD 4850 is a solid midrange 3D card that will run pretty much anything, and it boasts some forward-looking features to boot. It might be worth waiting for the price to drop just a bit, at which point this card will become much more attractive.TAGS:ATI Radeon, Nvidia GeForce, Diamond Multimedia Inc., NVidia, ATI Technologies, Radeon, AMD, card, 3D
Reviewed on February 6, 2009We don't think most gamers shopping for a midrange 3D card are looking for power efficiency, but for those conscientious few, the EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked is the card for you. Otherwise, you can get noticeably more performance and capability from an only slightly more expensive ATI card.TAGS:Crysis, DirectX, Nvidia GeForce, NVidia, card, 3D, ATI Technologies
Reviewed on November 21, 2007Despite the usual caveats of an ever-fluctuating 3D market, for the moment, at least, ATI's new Radeon HD 3850 graphics card delivers the best bang-for-the buck in PC graphics hardware. Until now we haven't had an acceptable sub-$200 option for PC gaming this year. Thanks to AMD, now we do.TAGS:Radeon, DirectX, ATI Technologies, card, Nvidia GeForce, video card, games, NVidia, motherboard, PC
Reviewed on March 19, 2009Apple's new eight-core Mac Pro demonstrates marked improvements over the older model in high-intensity digital media and multitasking scenarios. We also love the design tweaks that improve on Apple's already industry-leading sensibilities. Any Apple-bound design professional would welcome this new tool in his or her arsenal.TAGS:tray, Apple Macintosh, digital media, Apple Computer, CPU, motherboard, memory, card, NVidia, video card, hard drive, Microsoft Windows
Reviewed on February 12, 2007No other 3D graphics card comes close to this bang for the buck, making the 320MB XFX GeForce 8800 GTS mostly an easy decision if you need a midrange upgrade. Nvidia still has to polish off its Vista software, and the sooner-or-later arrival of competing cards muddies the waters a bit, but if you need a midprice graphics card today, this should be your pick.TAGS:XFX Inc, Nvidia GeForce, 3D, card, clock speed, Radeon, NVidia, DirectX, ATI Technologies, AMD, video card, games, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows
Reviewed on October 19, 2006If you're looking for a gaming card to run Vista and play most games, ATI's Radeon X1950 Pro will get you there, but not perfectly, and its real-world pricing is higher than we'd like. We're more interested to see ATI's next-gen cards use the newly refined CrossFire dual-card technology, debuted here, but that will have to wait.TAGS:Radeon, ATI Technologies, card, ATI Radeon, Nvidia GeForce, power supply, NVidia, pricing, PC, games
Reviewed on April 26, 2006The GeForce 7900 GTX offers excellent visual quality and lets you crank the settings on just about any game. Though it's expensive, it costs significantly less than the previous generation of top-end 3D cards.TAGS:Half-Life 2, Nvidia GeForce, NVidia, card, GPU, power supply, memory, 3D, video card, games