Sapphire RADEON 7000

Last December, I was assigned the task of building a low -cost PC for a relative. With only a maximum of 35 pounds to spend on a video card my choice was limited. I finally opted for Sapphire's version of the Ati Radeon 7000 model.

It cost about 28 pounds at the time, and is possibly the finest budget card I've come across. One of its main advantages is its stability, I used a tool called Riva Tuner to overclock it somewhat, the heatsink handled it fine! Sadly though, the overclocking didn't produce any marked improvement, the only benefit being a slight increase of frame rate on Counter-Strike and Medal of Honour: Allied Assualt.

This aside, the card is fantastic for the price. It runs popular games such as Counterstrike (Non-source of course) aswell as any game predating the year 2002. However, it doesn't run more recent graphically intense titles such as Elder Scrolls III or Battlefield 1942 at all.

Installation is a doddle, you simply slot the card into one of the motherboards agp slots, and secure it using the screws provided. When I received the card, there was no instruction manual to speak of, instead there is a disk which installs a program that allows easy tweaking of the screen resolution and color depth.

While its speed is minescule compared to the models available for 4 times the price, the 7000 remains the king of budget video cards. If your constructing a PC on a budget, I highly recommend you purchase this great card.