We'll have to wait until next year for the really juicy developments in graphics card technology. But for now, the Radeon X1950 XTX's improved memory bandwidth is enough to secure it a comfortable victory over the GForce 7900 GTX.

This Gigabyte card runs quietly, and has adequate power for the current crop of games. It does struggle at higher resolutions with high detail settings enabled.

CrossFire can definitely keep pace with NVIDIA's SLI in most games and surpasses it in others, but it is still physically clumsy compared to SLI.

If you don't play high end games, then the PowerColor X1900XTX isn't for you. For serious gamers it could be a worthwhile purchase, though an expensive one.

Overall the card was reliable and performed well. It's perfect for a silent PC and would be an ideal addition to any lounge-dwelling media centre PC that is used for gaming.

The X1800 XL ships with some slick new structural improvements, but this doesn't translate to a much improved performance.

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.

An all round good performer, the XFX GeForce 7800 GT is well worth considering when purchasing a new graphics card.

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.

Even if you're anxious to salvage your investment in a high-end ATI Radeon 800-series card, at this point we just can't recommend the expense and hassle of moving to CrossFire. If you crave maximum graphics performance and resolution then a card based on NVIDIA's GeForce 7800GTX is your best bet. That said, we're not ready to cross out CrossFire altogether, as the technology could prove more exciting paired with ATI's next-generation cards, which should be shipping by the time you read this.

A reasonable choice for those who need DVI on a non gaming machine

This innovative package really takes the pain out of finding and configuring an SLI setup. Great for serious gamers.