POWER CARDS
1 New Best Buy Gainward GeForce3 PowerPack Ti/450 $169 95
FEATURES: NVidia GeForce3 Ti 200 chip, 64MB of DDR SDRAM, 350-MHz RAMDAC; S-Video-out, composite-out; software DVD player.
SUMMARY: Earned very high frame rate scores, but had some glitches in one of our test games (Test Drive 6) and only middling image quality scores.
2 ATI Radeon 8500 $250 93
FEATURES: ATI Radeon 8500 chip, 64MB of DDR SDRAM, 400-MHz RAMDAC; DVI-out, dual-display capability, S-Video-out, composite-out; color-calibration utility, software DVD player, and one game.
SUMMARY: This high-end gaming card's driver installer automatically updates your system to DirectX 8. Includes game and a bevy of hardware extras.
3 Visiontek Xtasy 6964 $320 92
FEATURES: NVidia GeForce3 Ti 500 chip, 64MB of DDR SDRAM, 350-MHz RAMDAC; DVI-out, S-Video out; color calibration utility.
SUMMARY: Fast frame rates for all games (especially at high resolutions), but expensive and lacking the features of other cheaper cards.
4 New ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 8500-DV $330 90
FEATURES: ATI Radeon 8500 chip, 64MB of DDR SDRAM, 400-MHz RAMDAC; DVI-out, dual display capability, audio-in and -out, S-Video-in and -out, Composite-in and -out, IEEE 1394-in and -out; video editing software, software DVD player, color calibration utility.
SUMMARY: Loaded with features and with strong overall performance, this card would work well for the user who wants to play games and edit videos.
5 Asus V8200T2 Deluxe $230 89
FEATURES: NVidia GeForce3 Ti 200 chip, 64MB of DDR SDRAM, 350-MHz RAMDAC; S-Video-in and -out, composite-in and -out, video editing software, software DVD player.
SUMMARY: Provides high framerate scores and strong image quality at a very resonable price.
1 New Best Buy Gainward GeForce3 PowerPack Ti/450 $169 95
FEATURES: NVidia GeForce3 Ti 200 chip, 64MB of DDR SDRAM, 350-MHz RAMDAC; S-Video-out, composite-out; software DVD player.
SUMMARY: Earned very high frame rate scores, but had some glitches in one of our test games (Test Drive 6) and only middling image quality scores.
2 ATI Radeon 8500 $250 93
FEATURES: ATI Radeon 8500 chip, 64MB of DDR SDRAM, 400-MHz RAMDAC; DVI-out, dual-display capability, S-Video-out, composite-out; color-calibration utility, software DVD player, and one game.
SUMMARY: This high-end gaming card's driver installer automatically updates your system to DirectX 8. Includes game and a bevy of hardware extras.
3 Visiontek Xtasy 6964 $320 92
FEATURES: NVidia GeForce3 Ti 500 chip, 64MB of DDR SDRAM, 350-MHz RAMDAC; DVI-out, S-Video out; color calibration utility.
SUMMARY: Fast frame rates for all games (especially at high resolutions), but expensive and lacking the features of other cheaper cards.
4 New ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 8500-DV $330 90
FEATURES: ATI Radeon 8500 chip, 64MB of DDR SDRAM, 400-MHz RAMDAC; DVI-out, dual display capability, audio-in and -out, S-Video-in and -out, Composite-in and -out, IEEE 1394-in and -out; video editing software, software DVD player, color calibration utility.
SUMMARY: Loaded with features and with strong overall performance, this card would work well for the user who wants to play games and edit videos.
5 Asus V8200T2 Deluxe $230 89
FEATURES: NVidia GeForce3 Ti 200 chip, 64MB of DDR SDRAM, 350-MHz RAMDAC; S-Video-in and -out, composite-in and -out, video editing software, software DVD player.
SUMMARY: Provides high framerate scores and strong image quality at a very resonable price.