Two somewhat separate hardware configurations were used to provide the basis for this article, both on AMD-based systems built around I/O and logic cores specifically designed for GeForce and Radeon cards. Processor, memory, and storage drives remained the same, while graphics cards, chipsets, and motherboards changed. The first table details the hardware components for the ATI build using a Crossfire Xpress 3200 chipset.

The table below lists components selected for the Nvidia-based build using an nForce4 solution:

Another common denominator in this graphics card build-off is the software overlaid upon the hardware configuration:

Fedora Core 5 was chosen for its ease of use, quick installation, and well-designed package management system, although other platforms could certainly have been substituted.