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Benchmark Setup

For this we review, we used the following testing platform:

• CPU: E6700 Intel Core 2 Duo at 2.67 GHZ (333 * 8) 
• Motherboard: Asus P5W DH Deluxe
• Memory: 2 gigabytes of GSKILL PC2-6400 CL4D-2GBHK DDR2 RAM (2 * 1024MB @ 833MHz 4-4-4-12/2T) 
• Power Supply: OCZ 850W GXS
• Hard Drive: 250 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA, w/16 MB cache
• CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U 12

We assembled a nice group of video cards to test against the VisionTek HD 3870: a NVIDIA 8800 GT 512MB, a XFX 8800 GT 256MB (XXX overclocked version), a MSI RX2600XT, a BFG 8600 GTS, a XFX 8800 GTS 512MB (XXX overclocked edition), and a PowerColor HD 3850 Xtreme PCS 512MB.

This should give us a good idea of where the HD 3870 sits in relation to the pack. The VisionTek HD 3870 is around the price of both 8800 GT cards, roughy twice the price of the RX2600XT and 8600 GTS cards, and 2/3rds of the price of the XFX 8800 GTS 512MB.