Many of you are gamers, and as such, video cards are one of the most important components of your system. Let’s face it, in the fast-paced world of Unreal Tournament 2003, Call of Duty, and Battlefield 1942; framerate = life. The player with the fastest frame rate wins. We all know this, and it is why we all lust after the latest and greatest video chipset offerings from ATI and nVidia. This is why so many companies manufacture video cards and, it is why we here at GruntvillE are in the process of putting not one, not 3, but currently 7 video cards through their paces. The results of which you will be seeing over the next several weeks.

Of course, we can’t just look at the top of the line “money is no object” cards, because not everyone has $500 to drop on a video card. So we will be looking at a lot of mid-range cards that fall into the $200 range; a sweet spot on the price/performance scale. These are the type of cards where one can crank up the details and eye candy and still get playable frame rates, or where you can run everything at “normal” or “average” detail and get great frame rates.

We started last week with Bellerophon’s review of the ATI 9600XT, which surprisingly enough, is based on the ATI 9600XT chipset. This chipset is one of the current leaders in the price vs performance arena, but it's facing some stiff competition from nVidia’s latest line of chipsets, including the 5700 Ultra and 5900XT.

Today we are taking a look at another 9600XT-based video card from Hightech Information Systems, better known as HIS. A relative newcomer to the US market, HIS has actually been in business since 1987. You can read a bit more about the company history here. They have made quite a splash over the past year or so with their Excalibur branded line of video cards which are based on ATI chipsets. We’ve decided to check out what they have to offer and what sets them apart from ATI and the other 3rd party vendors vying for your dollar.