Not everyone has $400-$500 to spend on a new video card; however, everyone wants to be able to play the latest games on High IQ settings without a case of the dreaded "laggies", and this is where mid-range video cards come into play.

Earlier this year, we reviewed EVGA's GeForce 6800GS here and, at the time, it was a great video card value for the money . But, as we all know, the hardware industry never sleeps and new product releases are inevitable. It was just a matter of time until a new card came along to steal the "Best Value" crown from the GeForce 6800GS, and that time looks to be now.

With nVidia's release of the 7600GT series to replace the 6800GS, ATI did not wait a single day to launch their counter salvo in the press--the X1800GTO--and within weeks it was seen in the wild. When we have video cards from both the red and the green team in the same price range, the question is, "Will going with green have you seeing red, or will going red leave you green with envy?

Today, Sapphire's Radeon X1800GTO squares off against the EVGA GeForce 7600GT CO to see who will be crowned the new King of the mid-range video card market.

Sapphire easily wins the packaging contest as their X1800GTO comes in an attention grabbing, mirror finished box with alien heads pictured on the front. I am not sure if alien forces help attract customers, but Sapphire's marketing department won't need the help as the box looks very appealing and will certainly get consumers' attention.

Sapphire has a pretty decent bundle in the box as well. It is not uncommon nowadays for video cards to come with anything beyond a CD with outdated drivers and the needed cables--Sapphire, however, sweetens the pot by including CyberLink's PowerDirector 4 and PowerDVD 6.

Also included is a CD that has four game demos for you to check out--then you get to pick the two you like via product keys that unlock the full versions. The game choices bundled with the X1800GTO are Tony Hawk's Underground 2, Prince of Persia Warrior Within, Richard Burns Rally, and Brothers In Arms Road to Hill 30. Though all of these games are a bit dated, I love this approach to bundling games.

The other accessories are a S-Video cable, 2 DVI Dongles, HDTV cable, power cable for those who don't have a PCI-E equipped power supply, VIVO cables and, of course, the manual. Not at all the bundle you would expect from the budget segment--well done Sapphire.

EVGA's packaging is pretty standard. They don't use a flashy box, which is perfectly fine IMHO--"humble" being the key word there. The front of the box shows the clock speeds, memory type, interface, and amount of memory. The back of the box has all the important features and a cut out for the serial number.

Compared to Sapphire, EVGA's bundle is weak. Some will argue that the extra software drives up the cost needlessly because you may have the included games already, or you're simply not interested in the titles. Though that argument does lose a bit of steam with Sapphire's approach to game bundling.

EVGA included HDTV cables, two DVI Dongles, and an S-Video cable. There is no power cable because this video card gets all of its power from PCI-E.