Nvidia Graphics Cards

The Bottom Line: Nvidia's GeForce GTX 295 is the single fastest 3D card on the market, and for a relatively aggressive price. Added bonuses like power efficiency and PhysX support sweeten the deal, but even without those extra benefits, we'd still recommend this card for its processing power and comparative value.

Specs: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295, 2560 x 1600, 1792 MB, PC

The Bottom Line: The step-down GeForce 8800 GTS is no slouch compared to Nvidia's flagship GTX card. Like its powerful big brother, the slightly more affordable GTS supplies top-notch performance and sweeping architectural changes that provide a solid foundation today for the OSs and games of tomorrow.

The Bottom Line: This one is easy. Nvidia's GeForce 8800 GTX not only beats ATI to market with its next-gen 3D graphics hardware, it also eliminates ATI's image-quality advantage in current-generation titles. Throw in its sheer horsepower, and Nvidia gives the high-end enthusiast every reason to make this purchase.

The Bottom Line: It can't hang with ATI's faster (and wider) Radeon X1900 XT in performance, but if you're building a small PC or you're concerned about noise levels, the GeForce 7950 distinguishes itself as the only single-slot 3D card in its price range. If efficiency is more important than speed, Nvidia makes it easy.

Specs: NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT, 2048 x 1536 / 85 Hz, 512 MB, 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: 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: 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

The Bottom Line: Though it's not the speediest, Nvidia's GeForce 7800 GT is a smoking-fast card at a price notably lower than the category-leading 7800 GTX's.

Specs: NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT, 2048 x 1536 / 85 Hz, PC, 2

The Bottom Line: If you're looking for the fastest, most cutting-edge 3D card on the market, look no further. For now, Nvidia's GeForce 7800 GTX is it.

Specs: 2048 x 1536 / 85 Hz, 256 MB, PC, 2