Graphics cards - 56 articles

The ATI 5 series Direct-X 11 capable graphics cards are flooding on to the market with numerous versions and models spanning a wide range of price / performance ratios. The 5700 series (5770 & 5750) have bolstered the budget options but ATI have continued to push ahead with the top-end performance cards with the 5970 being the front-runner so far it would seem. The 5870 was the first card to ...

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ATI recently jumped ahead of their closest rivals nVidia by releasing their latest generation of GPUs upon the market, just before the launch of Windows 7 in an attempt to cash in on the early adopters of Direct X 11. However, like always the first run of cards made available were mind blowingly expensive, so what's a mid-ranger looking for an upgrade to do? Fortunately it wasn't long before the ...

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The graphics solution world is constantly evolving with visual quality being stepped up at an ever-growing exponential rate. The launch of Windows 7 and with it the tantalising prospect of DirectX 11 games is perhaps not so much just a single step up but a whole flight of stairs designed to deliver unparalleled graphics quality. With nVidia sliding by the way side, ATI is setting about ...

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With the recent arrival of the new ATI Radeon HD 5 series graphics cards causing a great deal of interest, the previous best performing single GPU from ATI – the 4890 – has been left by the way side a little. Although, on the whole, the ATI DX11 GPU launches have been a great success for ATI, many users will still be sticking to the 4 series, if not older, cards and as ATI seeks to monopolise the ...

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The G92 core has been around for a while now with Nvidia utilising the GPU in a number of different cards making sure to keep renaming though so as give the illusion of a new product altogether. The core has evolved from the 8800GT to the 9800GTX+ right up to the GTS 250. This latest card uses a 55nm process tapping into both the heat and power consumption reductions combined with decent ...

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The cream of the crop graphics cards now tend to be dual core designs such as the GTX 295 or, if we are talking ATI, 4870x2s. However, single core cards are still very much in the scene and competing right at the top end of graphics card technology. Today we will be taking a look at a card from Zotac’s GTX 285 range – the Infinity Edition. This particular one features a GPU water block instead ...

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The top end graphics cards from both Intel and ATI are becoming more and more expensive and with the current economic crisis, the two don’t exactly go hand-in-hand. As a result, ATI have come up with the 4770 with a price point of around £80 which should appeal to a much wider range of users. The card is also ATI’s first to be manufactured using a 40 nanometre manufacturing process and contains ...

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Sapphire first introduced its graphics cards which implemented the Vapor-X coolers back in 2007 with its 3870 Atomic cards. The Vapor-X technology meant that graphics cards could be efficiently cooled and still remain silent using a liquid coolant which vaporised at the hot GPU’s IHS. Recently Sapphire has revitalised their Vapor-X video cards with the birth of the HD 4850 and 4870. Today we’ve ...

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Recently we've been reviewing some pretty high end graphics cards, and while it's all well and good checking out the £100 plus fair, the real money is made for the manufacturers in the budget, to mid range cards. So, if you're looking at the current generation of ATI's GPUs, and anything with 4 and 8 at the start of the name is too much for you, perhaps the 4670 from HIS is up your street; let's ...

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Considering how long it took XSR to get it's first high end graphics card review, it's interesting that they are now one of our most oft-reviewed pieces of hardware. Not to be the exception to the rule is our recently acquired 9800GT from XFX. The smaller brother of the more well known GTX branding, the GT saw excellent sales during the 8 series for it's high end performance, with lower end price ...

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While XSReviews has had the chance to check out GPUs from many different companies, one of the ones we haven't worked with much is HIS, but recently they've decided we're worthy of their attention. With that in mind they've sent us a HD 4850 with their special IceQ4 branding. Let's see how it compares to some of our recently reviewed GPUs from other manufacturers.

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nVidia have recently decided to rename a lot of their 9 series cards with the GT1 series moniker. Fortunately, XFX sent us over a couple before this, so today I'm not testing a GT something or other, it's a 9800 GTX + Black Edition. Let's check it out.

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With ATI continuing to dominate the top end graphics card market, they're releasing cards left right and centre, to get even a firmer grasp on the top end of the industry. Today I'm looking at their 4830 card, which promises some top performance with a reasonable price tag. Let's see how it does.

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When it comes to GPUs, everyone always looks to the top end cards to judge the current performance available on the market. Really though, the majority of money is made in the mid and budget range cards as that's what everyone can afford. The main problem with these though, is often the performance doesn't allow the prospective gamer much head room for what games will be playable. Today we have ...

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Although practically every other review site has beaten us to it, it's still always a bit exciting to receive the world's most powerful graphics card at the time. We recently we had nVidia's top end offering, and this week Sapphire have been kind enough to let us take a look at theirs. This card is called the 4870 X2, and as the name implies it's 2 x 4870 GPUs on one card. It's absolutely ...

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Over the past few years, nVidia have become used to holding the performance crown firmly on their brow. With the recent introduction of ATI as the Queen Bee of the GPU world with their 4 series of cards, especially with the 4870 x2 taking the top performance award, nVidia have been playing catchup. With that said, the green camp have released a wide range of mid-range cards with very low price ...

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Although ATI seem to have taken the throne for high performance graphics cards, there’s still a vast demand for mid-range cards. This demand is in favour of nVidia, who offer some great mid-rangers for low prices. One card which comes with a low price tag and fairly good specs is the 9500GT. Today we have Zotac’s version of this card, let’s give it a whirl.

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Although ATI are taking all the top spots in the graphics card game at the moment, nVidia have their own offerings that promise good performance at a reasonable price. One such card is the mid-range 9600GT OC from Galaxy, which we managed to get hold of today. Let's see how it holds up.

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With all the recent fuss over ATI's 4870 X2 card, it's no wonder the green camp are bristling a little. However, all is not lost if you are an nVidia fan boy, they do have one hell of a hefty card that's supposed to be hot on the heels of ATI's top dog. Perhaps with some overclocking we could coax enough performance out of it to take back the crown? Today I'm testing out XFX's GTX 280 card, and ...

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For the last year and a half, ATI have been the underdog when it came to top end performance, with nVidia truly ruling the roost with it's high power GTX cards dominating anything ATI could throw at them. However, now ATI are fighting back with their latest 4 series cards which promise to match the new 2 series from nVidia on performance, while beating them on price. Today I have a 4850 from the ...

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The PC hardware world is a very "grass is greener" kind of game. As soon as something new and exciting is released, we're all clamouring for the bit of kit over the next horizon. Fortunately - to some extent - in the world of GPUs this was halted for a while with the 8800GTX ruling the roost for just over a year. Now however, we're back to the old system, and while many have their eyes glued to ...

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Well it's finally here, the 9 series of GPUs has hit the shelves and the reviews have already poured in thick and fast. I know we're a little behind everyone else on this one, but our 9600GT review is a bit different. Vvikoo's monstrous 9600, comes with a whopping Zalman heatsink and some hefty factory overclocking. Let's see what it's made of.

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For many enthusiasts looking for a new GPU, it would seem best to wait for the 9 series which will be coming from nVidia over the next few months. However, what do you do if you happen to want something now, now, now? Well, the latest card from the green camp is the 8800GTS "refresh" with 512MB. Is it worth it's price tag? Let's find out.

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While it's always exciting to receive review samples from the big boys in the hardware world, it's also nice to take a look at something a little different and this almost always comes from the little guys. Now, Vvikoo are manufacturers of some top end nVidia and ATI based GPU solutions, so using the word "little" is probably a little harsh, but they are definitely the new kid on the block and ...

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The 8 series of nVIDIA cards have been around for over a year and have almost completely dominated the market in terms of high end support. Now with the 9 series just around the corner, partners are finishing up with their last set of performance cards before focusing on the next generation. One of these last cards is the 8800GT; near performance of a GTX with a sub GTS price tag. MSI might ...

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"Sapphire don't mess with the green camp; they're ATI through and through. This means that they don't just deal with the high end cards though, it also means they cover mid-range and budget cards, even old technologies like AGP. Today we have the 2600 Pro 512mb from Sapphire on an AGP platform. How does it compare to our P4's old favourite, the x1950 Pro? Let's see."

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It wouldn't be stretching the truth to say that XFX are one of the most popular enthusiast GPU manufacturers in the world today and to keep this status, they have to continually release exciting new products. The hot product in the green camp at the moment is the 8800GT, so guess which card we have from XFX?

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"Yes that's right, another 8600GT review from XSReviews; this time it's a Gainward. Featuring a large and interesting cooling solution, will Gainward's card be our favourite 8600 so far? Read on to find out."

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Vvikoo are an up and coming GPU manufacturer based in Paris, France. This makes a change from the usual dominance of the Eastern and Western companies; these guys aren't too far from home. We recently reviewed their 8600GT which turned out very well indeed. Today however, we will be looking at something from the other camp, the 2600 Pro.

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Vvikoo is a relatively young company by GPU manufacturer standards. Founded in February this year you might think it's coming a little late to the game. However, it has some converted heavy hitters from aBit behind it and an extensive list of investors. The first GPU they have sent for us to take a look at is their 8600GT Turbo. These cards from other companies have done well under XSR scrutiny, ...

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XFX are a company synonymous with gaming graphics cards. Their company image and marketing campaigns are constantly geared towards bringing in that gamer buck. For example, their latest 8600GT is endorsed by, you guessed it, our favourite, Fatal1ty. Let's see if adding the alias of a famous gamer can make this card worth the extra few quid.

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There are some advantages to being a reviewer. One of these is getting to review the fastest graphics cards the world has to offer and in the last couple of weeks I've been lucky enough to have a look at two. The second card is this one, an 8800 Ultra from PNY. Is the performance worth the monster price tag? Let's see.

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Even though in previous reviews we showed that 8800Ultras are severely CPU limited, we thought that since we happened to have two in the office for a short while, we might see what SLI performance is like with them.

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Nearly a year on from the release of the 8800GTX, the 8 series cards from nVidia are still dominating the top end of the graphical performance market. The top of this range with most companies is the "Ultra", a higher clocked GTX. Having reviewed one of these in the past, I was interested to see what Gainward's offering for this card would be like.

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ATI were well behind nVidia when it came to releasing their DX10 hardware. 6 months passed between the introduction of the 8800 range from the green guys before the boys in red brought their 2xxx series of cards to the table. Even then, the king of GPUs at the time, the GTX, was still way out of the 2900XT's league. However, many have claimed it is a fantastic mid-high range solution; let's see ...

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Although PNY might not be the general port of call for enthusiasts when it comes to upgrading their graphics card, they produce a wide range of GPUs designed for users of not only the latest and greatest, but the mid range cards too. Today I have such a card, the 8800GTS 320mb which other manufacturers have done very well with. Let's see if PNY can do the same.

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Having recently reviewed 2600XT from Sapphire and finding it an excellent budget solution, I wondered how two cards would fair. Kindly the same company provided me with a second card with which to find out.

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ATI's 2xxx range of cards has received mixed press throughout review sites since their release. Today I get my first play with with one of them, the HD 2600XT from Sapphire. Let's see if it lives up to its budget card ideals.

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When the G84 and G86 cards were released, reviewers around the world posted their reviews, giving generally quite mixed opinions. However, although there were several positive reviews of the 8600GT cards, the GTS ones received very little good publicity due to their mid range pricing with budget performance. Today I have with me the Galaxy 8600GTS OC; perhaps this one can reverse the stigma.

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Having found the 8600GT cards from MSI to be great value for money, I was intrigued when asked to review Galaxy's overclocked version of the same card. How would it perform? And can it be overclocked even more? Let's find out.

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Although PCI-Express has been around for a while now, there are still plenty of people out there that haven't made the switch yet, and are therefore still using AGP cards. However, there is a problem here as a lot of manufacturers offer very few options for AGP gamers. Fortunately, Sapphire are not a company to let this lot down and have sent us their x1950 Pro AGP to let us see what it can do.

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For those that don't know, the performance graphics card market is dominated by two rivals; ATI and nVidia. These two companies constantly play the game of "One Upmanship" with each other and recently it has been no different. As ATI released - after much delay - their HD 2900 series of cards, Nvidia brought to the market a hugely overclocked 8800GTX card, known as the Ultra. This card promised ...

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Although many have been a bit disappointed that the latest hardware renditions that ATI released didn't take the GTX performance crown, they tend to forget that the money is in the mid to low range cards, not the top end. This is a market that is still held pretty firmly by ATI with their x1950 Pro cards. Today I have Sapphire's version of the series which has proved itself time and time again; ...

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Nvidia's 8800GTX has been dominating the high end GPU market for around 6 months now and there has been little variation in this department. However, MSI have now released an overclocked GTX with its own water cooling setup. This is the MSI OC Liquid, let's see if it can give us some nice numbers.

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Nvidia's latest G84 and G86 cards are doing the rounds on review sites at the moment, and because of this they are rather hard to come by. Fortunately, we have managed to get hold of a second 8600GT. Let's see what these bad boys can do in SLI.

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Nvidia has dominated the high end of the GPU market for the last 5 months with their 8800GTX and GTS offerings. However up to now ATI/AMD has managed to hold their own in the mid range market with their X1950 series, specifically the great "bang for buck" x1950 Pro. Now though, Nvidia are bringing in their mid-range muscle; it's time for the 8600GT.

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MSI produce a wide range of components for the IT industry; from motherboards to MP3 players and everything in between. Today they have been kind enough to supply us with their latest version of the G80, the 8800GTS 320mb. Lets see how this card fares.

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There are a variety of ATI graphics cards, ranging from the very high end x1950XTXs to the more budget range x1600s. However, it is often hard to find a middle ground with such hardware. Usually the cards are too expensive or underpowered; but this is where Connect3D come in. Their x1950 Pro card promises top notch performance with a mid range price tag, can it pull it off? Lets see.

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A year or two ago Foxconn were the rising stars of the motherboard world. Having shown the enthusiasts that they were here to stay Foxconn moved onto graphics cards and once again have hit hard into the high end market with a wide range of GPUs on offer. Today I have their 8800GTX which has all the speed of the other manufacturers models, but with a packaging and cooler that our older readers ...

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2006 was the year of Nvidia. Straight off the back of their 7950GX2 release - an awesome card in itself - came the jaw dropping performance of their latest incarnations, the 8800GTX and GTS. Today I have with me Gainward's rendition of the 8800GTX; lets see if this card is all its hyped up to be.

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Noise and power are normally two things that go together these days in the graphics card market. However, with what I have in my hand today, that could all change…

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Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) have come on leaps and bounds in the last year as we saw the two graphics giants, ATI and Nvidia, battling it out for the performance crown. Unfortunately for the ATI fan boys Nvidia stormed ahead with the release of their 8800 range of cards. However, all is not lost as ATI's hard hitting x1950 series of cards comes with a brand new cooler, DDR4 and claims of ...

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Recently I made a large upgrade to my main gaming/review rig. I went from a 3500+ Venice CPU to an E6600 Conroe. From 1gb of OCZ PC4000 VX memory to 2gb of OCZ PC6400. However the most expensive but certainly the most noticeable change that I made was moving from a rather poultry XFX PCX6600 to a much heftier Sapphire x1900XT 512mb graphics card. Now I can play games and top resolutions with no ...

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Finally got my new card, replacement for my X700pro which I reviewed recently, Gigabyte Geforce 7800GT 256MB VIVO. The all powerful 7800GT, but does it really live up to its name? Read on! This card was developed under the NX78 series. This is a card that targets the top end of the market, which means we will be expecting a lot from the NX78. Let’s see what it can do.

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Since I am soon upgrading to a 6800 graphics card, I thought that I would write a review of my current card, the ABIT RX700 PRO 128 PCIE. I have always thought that this card was brilliant, and hopefully if you read on I hope you will see why. This card was developed by ATI under the chipset name of RV410. It’s targeted at the mid range market, which is good news because it means that this ...

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Over the past 6 months, the prices of top of the line graphics cards have become as “xtreme” as their affluent names. Laying almost £1000 on an SLI or Crossfire setup is not hard to do, of course this guarantees you the best frame rates money can buy. However, what about those of us who can’t afford such extravagances? Or those of us who aren’t bound to always running 1900*600 at 100 frames per ...

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