Got the big bucks? Can't close your wallet because there is too much money in it? Can't remember how many zeroes after that first number in your bank account? Well we have the article for you. The top dog for anyone wanting to go the NVIDIA route is the GeForce 8800 Ultra, it's a fast card but it doesn't exactly scream performance to cost ratio. With pricing that starts around $600 to $700, they're certainly not cheap. The Radeon HD 2900 XT is the card sitting up top of the ATI pyramid. Pricing is closer to the $400 mark for just about all brands. A pair in CrossFire is going to set you back around $800. It's expensive but nothing compared to the GeForce 8800 Ultra single price tag. - TweakTown

Sapphire Radeon HD 2900 XT CrossFire Twin Review

Sapphire have moved over to a new package for the Radeon HD 2900 XT, and we must say it looks great! It's up a bit on size compared to our standard VGA box, but this is becoming quite common on higher end cards these days. It's a bit annoying from a freight perspective but the cards are also getting bigger so it does make sense. The front of the box has a see through panel which lets us view the front of the card. We also have the main features listed across the bottom. This is all very standard these days but it's certainly nice to see a new box from Sapphire, as change is good.

Sapphire are actually the first company we have seen stick with the OEM flame design and have only opted to place a sticker on the fan. The flame design on the cooler is actually really cool and it looks a bit tacky when a partner has placed a sticker on top while still having the flames slightly visible. The front of the card is mostly taken up by the heatsink, leaving not much room for anything else. Doing a quick spin around the card we have our two power connectors, one is our standard 6-pin PCI Express connector and the other is a newer 8-pin connector. And, sitting across the top of the card we have the CrossFire connectors.

While we were testing, we made the graphs as the results came through but didn't really notice the performance numbers. The CrossFire setup really kicks butt. But the best thing? It's consistent. What helps CrossFire is the fact that the P35 is such a fantastic board and only currently supports CrossFire as a multi-card solution. So if you want an excellent motherboard that is going to give your CPU huge overclocks, along with the graphics performance to go with it, CrossFire is the only solution. When compared to NVIDIA's SLI arrangement, CrossFire generally manages to scale better as well.

We're glad that AMD have been able to do something good with the Radeon HD 2900 XT. It's a pity that it took so long, but you know what they say, better late than never! The playing field could become a whole lot more competitive though. Come September, the release of the X38 and its CrossFire and SLI compatibility means that NVIDIA and AMD are going to be on an even playing field when it comes to chipsets. For the first time we will be able to really compare SLI versus CrossFire with the only difference being the graphics cards. So some quite interesting time ahead.

While the Ultra is not a heap of crap, to be brutally honest it is not far from it! Huge price tags and a ridiculous price to performance ratio doesn't make the card that attractive. Throw in the fact that a large amount of people still feel more comfortable using their Intel CPU on an Intel chipset and you really see yourself looking at CrossFire as an enthusiast setup. We mentioned this the other week but the bottom line is that thanks to the ridiculous price tag of the GeForce 8800 Ultra it makes the Radeon HD 2900 XT smell like roses. The difference is just to big and the ratio is much better with the Radeon HD 2900 XT accelators.

If you have the money and the motherboard, check out the Radeon HD 2900 XT in CrossFire. It is safe to say you won't be disappointed, especially if you're the owner of a screen which is capable of those lovely High Definition resolutions. And thanks to more and more of them being released lately, pricing has become more aggressive, making a screen of this calibre a more viable choice.