WE'VE FOLLOWED the story of ATI's slow march to leadership in the graphics hardware world closely. The R300 chip, which powers ATI's high-end Radeon 9700 Pro card, has given ATI an indisputable lead in terms of features and performance over perennial rival NVIDIA. R300 features a rich array of datatypes, including high-precision floating-point color throughout its pipeline. This newfound precision will enable graphics hardware to encroach on the world of cinematic rendering traditionally owned by slow, software-only renderers.

Translation: it's really, really cool.

Now comes the pivotal step in ATI's march. Today the company is shipping its new sub-$200 graphics card based on the R300 chip, just in time for the Christmas shopping season. This card, the Radeon 9500 Pro, directly targets the heart of NVIDIA's lineup: the GeForce4 Ti 4200. The 4200 has dominated the middle of the graphics card market since its introduction this past spring. Can ATI's new card knock the GF4 Ti 4200 off its perch? Keep reading to find out.