Manufacturer: Matrox Tech: AGP based G200 board with 16Mb SDRAM and NTSC/PAL TV/S-video out Bundle: Drivers and three neat titles (Incoming, Motorhead and Tonic Trouble (OEM demo)) Price: $149 w/ 8Mb - $198 w/ 16Mb

You do know Matrox right? Once upon a time they cut the mustard with their stunning 64-bit graphics engine powering the original speed demon: the Matrox Millenium. Ah… those were the days. But what happened next? Possibly a 'Mistake' right? After some less than impressive attempts to dominate the 3D market, they fell from grace hitting a low point in their previously distinguished history. Products such as, the Matrox Mystique (one of the first 2D/3D boards) sadly lacked in the feature department and was unable to maintain frame rates. Then Matrox tried to jump on the '3D only' bandwagon with their somewhat amusingly titled m3D, which used NEC's/VideoLogic's PowerVR PCX2 technology. Again the product was not far off from being a disaster (in fact you can still find the m3D selling for a laughable $25 at Fry's- Sharky) causing another low point. Matrox's first dabble with the 3D scene caused them to fall from grace in 1997. But that was then and 1998 is a different story. Matrox are ready to make a serious comeback and once again compete for the performance hungry users out there. Enter their G200 chipset, which even has Tom's vote.