Monday Hardware Reviews

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Recently we saw ATI quietly introduce their Radeon X800GT graphics cards into the market which are designed to compete directly against nVidia's mighty mid-range GeForce 6600GT. Today we're looking at GeCube's version of the X800GT which is overclocked a little to match the clock speeds of the 6600GT. Read on as we examine ATI's latest VPU and see how it stands up against nVidia's mid-range hot cake.

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Today we are reviewing two of MSI’s NX7800 GTX video cards based on the new G70 GPU and setup in a SLI configuration. Available in two versions, the regular NX7800GTX-VTD256E and the NX7800GTX-VTD256E (Lite) (the Lite does not include any games), MSI hopes to draw you away from the other countless brands of GeForce 7800 GTX video cards with their own offering. Read on to see if there is a reason to choose MSI over the others.

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Although Sapphire may be best known for its high-end ATI video card solutions, the company also offers a variety of entry-level ATI-based graphics cards. I actually took a look at Sapphire's X300SE HyperMemory card back in may. Today, it's time to review a card that is a notch up in the entry-level segment -- the Sapphire Radeon X550. While the X300SE HyperMemory costs around $50, the X550 can be found for about $75.

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The 7800GT stretches Nvidia's latest series below the pricey high end level, and while it is clear the 7800GT isn't at the same level as the 7800GTX performance wise, neither is the price tag, making it a far higher value choice for gamers who want all round performance without too much of a burden on their wallets. Not only that, but a clear future upgrade path is here via SLI if your system supports it, making the 7800GT really a great choice for its price range, representing all you need in features, performance per dollar and future proof ability.

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Foxconn brings a lot to the table with the NF4K8AC-8EKRS board. Solid performance and a broad spectrum of features. Sporting 8-Channel Audio, Gigabit LAN and RAID, Foxconn really scores on giving Joe User lots of bang for the buck. In terms of layout, our complaints are minimal and those are limited to the chipset placement and its not having a fan header mounted nearby. Outside of this, Foxconn gets high marks on layout maximizing access while minimizing cable clutter.

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The Epox 9NPA+ SLI supports any current and future socket 939 AMD Athlon64 processor and is based on the Nvidia nForce4 SLI chipset with support for up to 4GB of PC3200 DDR memory. The Epox EP-9NPA+SLI motherboard adds on to this capability with an on board PCI Express-based Silicon Image SiI3132 Serial ATA II controller. The SIS SiI3132 supports two additional Serial ATA II channels, and thanks to port multiplier capabilities it can accommodate up to 30 SATA HDDs (fifteen on each port) with an appropriate port-multiplier device.