Leadtek A360 TDH Ultra

The ASUS graphics card (reviewed page 34) comes with ATI's latest chipset, so now it's time for nVidia to hit back with its GeForce FX 5700 Ultra. The first card to ship using the new chip is the Leadtek A360.

As with the ASUS, the 5700 Ultra is a card aimed at people who want fast gaming but at a sensible price.

Performance wise, this turned out to be faster than the ASUS 9600 XT, scoring higher in our tests and gaining a slightly quicker frame rate - 83 frames per second (fps). Even when we decided to turn on some advanced features and effects, the frame rate only dropped to 70fps, which is still very good.

Like the ASUS, the Leadtek has a single fan to cool it, so noise shouldn't be too much of a problem. It also has VGA, DVI and S-Video ports, which means you have a good choice of displays to connect it to.

The software bundle comprises some DVD playback software and a couple of utilities and games - not quite awe-inspiring. However, this card is marginally faster than its competition and a little cheaper.

Contact: Leadtek, no UK number
www.leadtek.co.uk