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, DirectX, power supply, ATI Technologies, manufacturing, card, games
Reviewed on February 21, 2009HP's Firebird 803 brings the influence of its Voodoo PC acquisition to the mainstream with a compelling design, admirable power efficiency, and strong bang-for-the-buck. What it lacks is any sort of graphics upgrade path. For some, the limited upgradeability kills the deal. For those still interested, this PC offers a complete gaming PC with conversation-piece design.TAGS:HP Firebird, Voodoo, design, HP, power supply, games, video card, PC
Reviewed on March 1, 2007JBL's On Air Control 2.4G requires an annoying amount of wires and has limited compatibility with surround receivers, but its impressive sound quality surpasses that of previous wireless solutions.TAGS:JBL, transmitter, speakers, wire, Harman Kardon, speaker system, power supply
Reviewed on September 5, 2007HP's Blackbird 002 earns the highest rating this editor has ever given a desktop PC. Its design rivals the Apple Mac Pro, it takes risks that benefit your upgrade path, it's fast, and it's competitively priced. If you can afford it, and you want a high-end gaming PC, buy this one. End of story.TAGS:Voodoo, latch, media card reader, DNA, HP, video card, gamer, power supply, hard drive, games, Apple Macintosh, 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, card, DirectX, Radeon, manufacturing, ATI Technologies, GPU, power supply, games
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, power supply, Nvidia GeForce, ATI Radeon, NVidia, pricing, PC, games
Reviewed on March 26, 2009By tweaking its internal components to achieve maximum 3D performance, Velocity Micro has made its $999 Edge Z5 one of the most impressive lower-end gaming desktops we've ever seen. As long as you don't mind sacrificing a bit of productivity speed to get it, we recommend this system to any PC gamer on a budget.TAGS:Velocity Micro, Dell Studio, Intel Core 2 Duo, optical drive, Dell, 64-bit, Gateway Inc., power supply, video card, CPU, Intel, games, hard drive
Reviewed on March 18, 2008Nvidia's new flagship 3D card delivers almost all the performance we expect for its price. If you can live with "almost," at this price range, then this is a solid PC gaming option. We also wouldn't blame you Crysis fans for waiting to see what's in store later this year.TAGS:Nvidia GeForce, power supply, NVidia, ASUS, card, Radeon, ATI Technologies, video card, PC
Reviewed on June 5, 2006Nvidia's GeForce 7950 GX2 should have been an Editors' Choice contender. It brings two graphics processors to a single slot, costs half as much as similarly fast setups, and lays the groundwork for do-it-yourself Quad SLI. But the gap between this chip generation and the next is too close, so we recommend you pass on the 7950 GX2.TAGS:DirectX, Nvidia GeForce, NVidia, card, 3D, generation, power supply, Microsoft Windows Vista, ATI Technologies, gamer, GPU, PC, Microsoft Corp., 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, video card, 3D, memory, games