Editor's choice.(product evaluation on graphic cards)(Product/service evaluation)

Byline: Emil Larsen

First off, we wouldn't recommend that you buy a graphics card purely on the basis of DirectX 10 functionality; performance doesn't appear too hot on current cards and there are also very few games available that make use of it. DirectX 10 only brings questionable increases in visual quality. From what we've seen, Crysis appears to be the first DirectX 10 game to look superb, but we still see little point in trying to 'future proof' your system.

If you don't want to spend a fortune on a graphics card, Sapphire's Radeon HD 2400 XT Ultimate is worth considering and picks up a Great Value award. It's silent, good at processing high-definition content and can play some games at low resolutions (see our benchmark performance site at www.reportlabs.com for more comprehensive results).

In the mid-range, it's a fine line between AMD's and Nvidia's best. But if you're interested in gaming performance on a budget, then Asus' X1950Pro offers top gaming performance for under [pounds sterling]100 and collects a Recommended award. Supply will eventually dry up, but while Asus produces this card, it's a superb option and really highlights a deficit of performance in some new DirectX 10 cards.

If you're interested in high-definition playback, though, both Gainward's Bliss 8600GT GS GLH and Sapphire's 2600 XT should be at the top of your shopping list. Gainward gets more gaming performance from its card, but Sapphire benefits from an onboard audio controller and an HDMI dongle.

ATI's large number of stream processors on its 2900XT makes it computationally formidable and, as ...