Although it's not for gamers, at this price and this length, with a silent, passive heat sink on-board, it's perfect for media centres and those with low-end PCs who wish to get a little extra utility out of them.

If all you want is a card that'll make a nice job of displaying video, the 2400 XT is a pretty solid bet. It's quite pretty and, best of all, extremely quiet. However, it isn't even able to match the slightly lacklustre performance of the 8500 GT.

Our gaming tests didn't return very promising results, but we expect this silent, budget card will appeal to anyone building a media centre, or a smaller form factor PC, that can still run Windows Vista comfortably.

The Sapphire HD 4670 is an entry-level graphics card that casual users will be sure to love. Like its midrange and high-end siblings, it offers an exceptional performance for the asking price. Another Radeon winner.

The MSI NX8500GT can be summed up as an inexpensive card that's perfect for an entry-level Windows Vista PC, or a media centre PC, but it shouldn't be considered if you want to play current and future games.