Price: $220 Street

Availability: Now

NVIDIA has been the one company to really put the spurs to the 3D video card market, seemingly releasing a new chip revision every couple of months. While the powerful GeForce2 GTS and Ultra cards have served to accelerate not only games, but the obsolescence of your current 3D solution, the innovative and inexpensive GeForce2 MX shows that NVIDIA is also interested expanding their influence in the entry-level areas as well.

The NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS and Ultra cards currently occupy the very high end of the 3D video accelerator market, with the GeForce 256 DDR in the mid-range and the GeForce2 MX occupying the entry-level position. The GeForce2 GTS is also a mid-range option, but it is still one of the fastest 3D cards money can buy. This combination of high-end performance and features, coupled with a palatable retail price, makes the GeForce2 GTS a viable option for many that cannot afford the newer NVIDIA cards.

ChainTech Computer Co. is a name that most would associate with cutting edge motherboards. Their selection of quality motherboards remains undiminished, but ChainTech has been adding a nice selection of 3D video cards to their product line. Currently, these are mostly NVIDIA-based products, using chips such as the GeForce 256, GeForce2 MX and even the low-end Vanta. Their foray into the higher end of 3D video is the ChainTech Desperado AGP-RI90, a GeForce2 GTS board featuring 32 MB of DDR memory.