X-bit labs

The Two Tigers: Asus EAH3870 TOP/G/HTDI/512M and EAH3850 TOP/G/HTDI/256M (page 10)

Category: Video

by Alexey Stepin , Yaroslav Lyssenko

[ 01/29/2008 | 03:47 PM ]

F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate

Like Battlefield 2142, this game does not support resolutions of 16:10 format. So, we use 1920x1440 (4:3 format) instead of 1920x1200 in this test.

Notwithstanding its increased frequencies, the ASUS EAH3850 TOP has a very low minimum of speed for you to play normally at 1600x1200. The same resolution is the limit for the ASUS EAH3870 TOP although it delivers a more comfortable minimum speed than the reference card.

The Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT 256MB needs a special mention here. Being inferior to the Radeon HD 3870 in terms of clock rate and memory amount, it provides a considerably higher minimum speed at 1280x1024, which is the consequence of ATI’s saving on the amount of TMUs.

Half-Life 2: Episode Two

The ASUS cards are 7 to 14% better than the respective reference cards but this performance gain has no practical value for the gamer. Interestingly, the pre-overclocked EAH3850 TOP is as fast as the reference Radeon HD 3870 in this test except for 1920x1200.

Although the game obviously has modest graphics memory requirements, the Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT 256MB slows down suddenly after 1280x1024. Nvidia’s programmers have got something to work upon – the drivers call for improvements.