ASUS EAH3850 Top ATI HD 3850 Video Card Review

Specifications

The ASUS EAH3850 Top video card is overclocked by around 8% according to ASUS right out of the box. The card has a core frequency of 730MHz and a memory frequency of 1.9GHz. ASUS uses 256MB of GDDR3 RAM on my test card. Like all the Radeon cards form ATI, the ASUS EAH3850 Top has a built-in sound card allowing you to get video and sound over a single HDMI cable. The ASUS EAH3850 Top has no HDMI out, but ships with a DVI to HDMI adapter.

Test Machine

For this review I am using a new ATI test machine built on the new AMD Spider architecture. The test machine has the following specifications:

• CPU- AMD Phenom 2.4 GHz
• Mainboard- ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe
• PSU- 700W Seasonic
• RAM- Corsair PC2-8500 2GB
• OS- Windows Vista Ultimate 32 bit

Benchmarks & Testing

To test the ASUS EAH3850 Top I will be using 3DMark06, Crysis, Quake Wars and Bioshock. The first test up for the ASUS EAH3850 Top is 3DMark06.

3DMark06

I ran 3DMark06 at default setting in the Catalyst control panel and default settings in the application. The ASUS EAH3850 Top scored as follows:

• Total 3DMarks- 10257
• SM2.0- 3979
• HDR/SM3.0- 4547
• CPU- 3833
• Return to Proxycon- 32.301
• Firefly Forest- 34.007
• Canyon Flight- 42.040
• Deep Freeze- 48.896
• CPU1- 1.121
• CPU2- 1.633

Since the processor in the test machine I use for NVIDI abased graphics cards is significantly faster than the AMD Phenom I am using in this test machine direct comparisons can’t be made. I have tested a stock clocked ATI HD 3850 in the same Spider test machine and it scored 9664 3DMarks.

Bioshock

The first gaming test up is Bioshock. I ran the game at a screen resolution of 1920 x 1200 with all settings on high in DirectX 10 mode. I used Fraps to record frame rate data starting directly after getting the first plasmid. Fraps recoded the following frame rate data:

• Min- 19 fps
• Avg- 32.757 fps
• Max- 61 fps

Quake Wars

The next game up was Quake Wars, which I ran at a screen resolution of 1920 x 1200 with all setting son high. I used Fraps to record frame rate data on a single player campaign on the Africa refinery map. Fraps recoded the following frame rate data:

• Min- 50 fps
• Avg- 59.915 fps
• Max- 61 fps

Crysis

The final game test was the system killer Crysis. This game brings even the fastest gaming system to their knees. I ran Crysis at a screen resolution of 1280 x 1024 with no AA and all settings on medium. I used Fraps to record frame rate data from the initial insertion point on the beach after the parachute jump until engaging the first enemies. Fraps recoded the following frame rate data:

• Min- 26 fps
• Avg- 49.917 fps
• Max- 72 fps

Final Thoughts

When all the benchmarking was done the ASUS EAH3850 Top performed well. Any gamer who prefers ATI products over NVIDIA will want to check out the ASUS EAH3850 Top. This is one of the few factory overclocked ATI graphics cards you will find. The card also ships with the game Company of Heroes Opposing Fronts as well making for a great bundle.