Video card specifications and reviews that really get into the nitty-gritty are great - that is, if you have the time to digest everything. At the end of the day, all a gamer really needs to know is what is the best video card for the money. So if you don't have the time to research the benchmarks, or if you don't feel confident enough in your ability to make the right decision, fear not. THG offers a simple list of the best gaming cards on offer for the money:

Best AGP Card For ~$175 - Geforce 7600 GT
Codename: G73, 90 nm technology
12 Pixel shaders, Five Vertex shaders, 12 Texture units, eight Raster operations processors
128 bit memory bus
560 MHz core, 700 MHz DDR (1400 MHz Effective) Memory

The 7600 GT is an amazing card in this price range, sporting new SM 3.0 technology and very high clock speeds to deliver excellent performance. Its weakest feature is its 128 bit memory bus, but its high memory speeds offset that disadvantage and make it competitive with 256 bit cards like the X800 XT/X850 XT. The 7600 GT is the AGP user's savior, a decently priced card that can actually perform well for the money.

Best PCIe Card For ~$200 - Radeon X1900 GT
Codename: R580, 90 nm technology
36 Pixel shaders, Eight Vertex shaders, 12 Texture units, 12 Raster operations processors
256 bit external memory bus (512 bit internal ring bus)
Version 1: 575 MHz core, 600 MHz DDR (1200 MHz effective) Memory
Version 2: 512 MHz core, 660 MHz DDR (1320 MHz effective) Memory

The X1900 GT is based on the X1900 XT core, except it is crippled with some pixel shaders disabled and has a lower clockspeed. There are now two versions: the original 575 MHz core/600 MHz memory version, and the new 512 MHz core/6600 MHz memory version. Both perform similarly. The card's main competition is the 7900 GS, which it soundly beats in almost every benchmark. The worst thing I can say about the X1900 GT is that its X1900 XT 256MB cousin performs much better for not much more money.