For anyone interested in the latest PC technology, you probably know that the next generation GFX cards from ATI and Nvidia are here, and they are looking great (the ATI ones anyway).

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From Nvidia we have the GTX200 series, which sports two cards, one mid range and one high range. Currently, the performance of these cards doesn't warrant the price you need to pay for them.

GTX280



- Bus Type: PCI Express 2.0 (Backwards compatible with PCI Express)
- Memory: 1GB (1024MB) GDDR3
- Core Clock: 602MHz
- Shader Clock: 1296MHz
- Memory Data Rate: 2214MHz
- Processor Cores: 240
- Shader Model: 4.0
- Texture Fill Rate: 49.2 Billion/sec.
- Memory Interface: 512-bit
- Memory Bandwidth: 141.7GB/sec.
- API Support: Microsoft DirectX 10 and lower, OpenGL 2.1 and lower for Microsoft Windows
- Display Connectors: 2 Dual-Link DVI-I, HDTV + TV Out
- RAMDACs: Dual 400MHz
- HDCP Capable
- HDMI Capable
- 2-Way & 3-Way NVIDIA SLi Support
- Card Dimensions: 266.7mm x 95.3mm x 38.1mm

The GTX280 is the new high end card from Nvidia. It is currently the best performing card on the market, but it comes at a rediculously high price considering it is meant to be only marginally better than the 9800 GX2. See reviews here.

GTX260



- Bus Type: PCI Express 2.0 (Backwards compatible with PCI Express)
- Memory: 896MB GDDR3
- Core Clock: 576MHz
- Shader Clock: 1242MHz
- Memory Data Rate: 1998MHz
- Processor Cores: 192
- Shader Model: 4.0
- Texture Fill Rate: 36.9 Billion/sec.
- Memory Interface: 448-bit
- Memory Bandwidth: 111.9GB/sec.
- API Support: Microsoft DirectX 10 and lower, OpenGL 2.1 and lower for Microsoft Windows
- Display Connectors: 2 Dual-Link DVI-I, HDTV + TV Out
- RAMDACs: Dual 400MHz
- HDCP Capable
- HDMI Capable
- 2-Way & 3-Way NVIDIA SLi Support
- Card Dimensions: 266.7mm x 95.3mm x 38.1mm

The new mid range card from Nvidia, coming in at a more affordable price than the GTX280, it sports almost as much memory as it's bigger brother, giving it comparable performance to a 9800GTX, in some cases even better. See reviews here.

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About a week after the release of Nvidia's next gen cards, ATI gave it's offering, which are a real winner in terms of performance for price. These new cards from ATI really dwarf the Nvidia cards in terms of performance for your cash. Both of these cards are available in 512mb or 1gb versions. It is also important to note that these cards seem to have very good scaling when used in Crossfire, with almost 100% greater performance when paired up in some games.

ATI Radeon HD 4870



- ATI Radeon HD 4870 GPU @ 750MHz
- 512MB GDDR5 Memory @ 3600MHz
- 24x custom filter anti-aliasing (CFAA) and high performance anisotropic filtering
- PCI Express 2.0 support
- ATI CrossFireX Multi-GPU Technology
- Microsoft DirectX 10.1 support
- Shader Model 4.1
- ATI Avivo HD video and display technology
- Unified Video Decoder 2 (UVD) for Blu-ray and HD Video
- Built-in HDMI with 7.1 surround sound support
- On-chip HDCP

The 4870 is the higher specced card from ATI, released only a few days ago, and currently not available in 1gb at the moment. This card really is the one to buy if you need a great card for a cheap ammount of money. The concensus is that this card will beat the GTX260 above, while two of them in Crossfire will easily beat a GTX280. See reviews here.

ATI Radeon HD 4850



- ATI Radeon HD 4850 GPU @ 625MHz
- 512MB GDDR3 Memory @ 1986MHz
- 24x custom filter anti-aliasing (CFAA) and high performance anisotropic filtering
- PCI Express 2.0 support
- 256-bit GDDR3 memory interface
- ATI CrossFireX Multi-GPU Technology
- Microsoft DirectX 10.1 support
- Shader Model 4.1
- ATI Avivo HD video and display technology
- Unified Video Decoder 2 (UVD) for Blu-ray and HD Video
- Built-in HDMI with 7.1 surround sound support
- On-chip HDCP

Currently the very best performance/price ratio on any card on sale. This card is comparable to a 9800GTX in performance, but while costing only 2/3 of it's price. As before, the scaling in Crossfire of this card is very good, and two paired up will give a GTX260/9800GX2 beating combination, for less than £280. See reviews here.

Also, ATI is releasing the 4870X2 sometime in august/september which is basically two overclocked 4870s running in crossfire, stuck onto one card, and is expected to beat the GTX280 hands down, and for less cash (unless Nvidia gets smart and drops the GTX280's price considerably to make it a viable alternative). It is also rumoured that there will be a 4850X2 released as well.

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So, now you all should know (if you didnt already) about the new cards that were released in the last few weeks, and how the perform. If you are looking for a new graphics card anytime soon, I recommend either the 4850, 4870, or possibly even two 4850s in Crossfire. I am looking to upgrade before i34, probably either to a 4870 or two 4850s .