Labs

We decided to test this card from the pre-DX10 era alongside our nine main contenders, as until recently it still represented the best value available. The release of the HD3850 has put paid to that claim, but the X1950 is still of interest if your PC only has an AGP slot, since it remains available in that format for only £6 more, which is still shy of £100.

In our benchmarks it outperformed many of the more recent, and admittedly cheaper, cards. A score of 39.5 frames per second in our Call of Duty 2 test was very respectable, as was 45.5fps in Prey. With frame rates like these, you could even increase the detail settings further for a richer graphical experience.

However, the X1950 Pro's old chipset doesn't support DirectX 10 games at all. Given that there are no DX10-only games released to date, this isn't a disaster as long as you're not looking for the most future-proof upgrade.

The X1950 also lacks its more up-to-date siblings' video acceleration and HDMI features, however, making it seem rather old-fashioned. Nonetheless, it's easily the best choice for upgraders with ageing motherboards.