The Radeon HD2900XT has been a long time coming and in our eyes, it was well worth the wait. This card offers everything the competition offers and a touch more. Unfortunately we were unable to test DirectX 10 games this time, but we expect to see some promising results.

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.

While the cooler on this card differs from the norm, nothing else really separates it from the crowd. Its default clock speeds are slow for the price, so if you're looking for an inexpensive gaming card, you'll have to look elsewhere.

The MSI NX8600GT is a decent and affordable mid-range graphics card that's suitable for playing today's games, but it might struggle to run DirectX 10-based games when they're released.

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.

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, 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.

The Gigabyte 8600GTS is an affordable mid-range card which will be able to display DirectX 10-based games in all their splendour when they're finally released. That being said, the fact that it's quiet and comes with a decent bundle makes it good for its price.

We don't like the EN8800GTS' large packaging, but it's a reliable card, with a good games bundle and a competitive asking price.

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.

The ASUS EN8800GTX AQUATANK didn't produce stellar results in our tests and so we recommend buying ASUS' regular non-water cooled 768MB GTX instead, which will leave enough room in a PC case for an SLI solution, too.

This graphics card offers good performance, but it's just too big and not well built.