AMD’s next generation of CPUs brings 45nm technology and higher clock speeds - but is that enough to compete with Intel’s latest and greatest?

The move to a new platform brings credible new challengers to Intel’s Core 2 processors

A smartly engineered processor, but for today’s applications it’s lacking in bang per buck.

An old standard, but one that still provides decent performance at a great price.

While Intel is rolling out new designs, AMD's focus is on getting the most out of its existing Phenom II process. The AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black edition is just what the doctor ordered.

Nothing incredible in terms of design, but it’s an impressively cheap way to get quad-core in your PC.

As you can see from the performance table, Core i7 is still a safe bet in terms of sheer speed, though the case for AMD is not as simple as that.

A capable little package at an attractive price

A decent board, but the Hybrid SLI feature doesn’t justify the high asking price

An uninspiring board with no strong selling point

Cheap, but there’s not much here to cheer about

A cheap, lightweight choice for single-core applications, but you get the performance you pay for.

Like the KT4 Ultra, the ASUS A7V8X is an Athlon XP board that uses the VIA KT400 chipset. It packs in a truckload of extras, such as Serial ATA, FireWire, Gigabit LAN, AGP 8X and even RAID.

The A7N8X Deluxe features dual-LAN ports, which allows you to connect to a broadband service and share it without the need for a separate PCI network card.

Both the fastest and the priciest card on test.

A capable card – decent performance without a high price.

The ATI HD 4800s hit a sweet-spot of performance and price. If you're after high-end performance at a few hundred dollars less than the 4870, then this is your card

A cheap card, with the bonus of reasonable gaming ability.

Not particulary quick, but a resonably priced media card.

Both graphics card giants have unleashed powerful new additions to their ranks recently, and their battle for supremacy is hotter than ever. We put the new arrivals through their paces