If you think back to a few years ago (circa 2002 to 2003), ATI was flying high with the release of some of the best graphics cards on the market with the 9800 and 9700-series which were considered to be the crème de la crème at the time. These cards were competing against a somewhat mixed bag in the Nvidia lineup which included the solid 4-series and the lackluster 5-series. At this point you may be wondering why we are talking about relics from a bygone generation in a review about a brand new product.