We tested the graphics cards on an Nforce 2 motherboard with an AMD Athlon XP2600+ processor and 512MB of PC3200 memory using either Detonator 45.23 or Catalyst 3.6 drivers as appropriate, and using 3D Mark 2003 and Gun Metal DirectX 9 benchmark tests.

Our results show - as expected - that the graphics chip is the most important part of the graphics card, closely followed by the speed of the memory that is installed. Most cards come with 128MB these days, and some have 256MB so the quantity of memory shouldn't be an issue.

There's a wide variance in prices, which is partly explained by the choice between a very basic graphics card or one that comes with loads of extras and software. We often find that bundled games are OK when they are effectively free but it's rare to get one that you really, really want. You also have to decide if you want to pay extra for Video In.

We were impressed by the Radeon 9600 and GeForce FX5600 chips, and felt that the Connect 3D card was good value at £95 for a basic gaming graphics card. If you need more gaming power, the Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro impressed us at £140 and is highly recommended.

It was a close battle between the Leadtek FX5600 and Asus FX5600 as they offered very similar performance, as well as Video In, but the Asus is our overall winner. It is very good value at £130 and it has dual DVI-I ports with no olde worlde VGA at all.