All Video Components

The Bottom Line: ATI's Radeon X1950 XTX is the fastest single-chip 3D card that you can buy. Unfortunately, with Windows Vista and its accompanying gaming technology, it's going to become obsolete in just five months. ATI adjusted the price of the Radeon X1950 XTX accordingly, but at $450, it's still not an insignificant purchase. We recommend it only if money is no object.

Specs: ATI Radeon X1950 CrossFire, 2560 x 1600, 512 MB, PC, 2

The Bottom Line: The GrandTec Ultimate Wireless offers some potentially useful video-conversion ports in its base unit, but the wireless output is composite video only, which greatly limits its appeal.

Specs: 1600 x 1200, PC, Mac

The Bottom Line: Though it improves upon the category leader, with CableCard's technology for PCs on the horizon, ATI's latest TV tuner chip, the Theater 650 Pro, is only a stopgap solution for those looking to add TV to their PC.

Specs: PC

The Bottom Line: Nvidia'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.

Specs: PC

The Bottom Line: PNY's highest-end 3D card is overclocked and comes with a few helpful accessories. We just wish that it included a game or two, as a $500 graphics card isn't very useful if you don't have anything to play with it.

Specs: nVidia GeForce 7900 GTX, 2560 x 1600, 512 MB, PC, 2

The Bottom Line: Its sub-$300 price makes the Radeon X1800 GTO tempting, but its performance isn't compelling enough, and upgrading to two cards is expensive and inefficient, thanks to ATI's clunky CrossFire technology.

The Bottom Line: The GeForce 7600 GT is a powerful, affordable 3D card. If you're looking for a stopgap graphics card to hold you over until Vista and Direct X 10, you won't be disappointed.

Specs: RAMDAC 400 MHz, 2560 x 1600, 256 MB / 256 MB (max), PC, Mac, Linux

The Bottom Line: Nvidia's GeForce 7900 GT is the current 3D graphics price-performance leader, but a lack of image-quality features hurts its outlook for some current high-end games, as does the forthcoming glut of upcoming titles.

Specs: 2560 x 1600, 256 MB / 256 MB (max), PC, Mac

The Bottom Line: If you're looking for a single high-end 3D card, the Radeon X1900 XTX shows a lot of promise. If you have dreams of upgrading to a dual-card configuration, stay far, far away.

Specs: ATI Radeon X1900 XTX, 512 MB / 512 MB (max), PC, 2

The Bottom Line: The 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.

Specs: 2560 x 1600, 512 MB / 512 MB (max), PC, Mac