Asus EAH3870 TOP/G/HTDI/256M

Compared to other factory overclocked Radeon HD 3870 boards, including Sapphire's Radeon HD 3870 Atomic, ASUS' offering in the EAH3870 TOP frequently manages to put its nose in front of other similar parts, thanks mainly due that relatively large core factory overclock, which really gives it a leg up in modern, shader-intensive titles. It's rather a shame overall that the board's memory clocks didn't get a similar treatment when it came to bumping up clock speeds, especially considering the 1.2GHz rated RAM on this board, as it really could have made it a cut above other AIBs offerings right across the board. Aside from pure performance, the EAH3870 TOP is a solid enough design and bundle, with ATI's reference cooler doing a respectable (if occasionally slightly loud) job, and the board performing reasonably well all in all whether you're talking about either gaming or video playback performance.

If the 8800 GT did not exist, then the HD 3870 would be rocking every PC gamer's universe. For around $250, you can get the power previously reserved for video cards in the over-$400 range, not that long ago. For $250 USD, the HD 3870 delivers the performance that generally bests the HD 2900 XT, and is comparable to the 8800 GTX. Not that bad at all! The Asus EAH3870 TOP can deliver a solid gaming experience, for a fair price. But it's not all roses, because this card's primary competition, the 8800 GT, does exist -- and herein lies the problem for the HD 3870. While the HD 3870 did shine in a few of the benchmarks, such as Call of Juarez, both of our 8800 GT's tested seemed to just out-edge the HD 3870, most of the time. At maximum resolutions with AA, often both 8800 GT cards we tested would have about 10 frames a second advantage over the Asus EAH3870 TOP. Ten frames a second is not a huge deal -- but when two cards are priced fairly similarly, this difference can make or break a choice between two closely-matched cards.