X-bit labs

The Two Tigers: Asus EAH3870 TOP/G/HTDI/512M and EAH3850 TOP/G/HTDI/256M (page 15)

Category: Video

by Alexey Stepin , Yaroslav Lyssenko

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

Performance in Strategies

Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts

The new add-on to Company of Heroes is tested in DirectX 10 mode only since it provides the highest quality of the visuals.

The ASUS EAH3850 TOP gains somewhat more than the senior model from the overclocked frequencies, yet both have problems when it comes to actual play. The same is true for the Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT 512MB, though. This card is far faster than the ASUS EAH3870 TOP in terms of average frame rate but its minimum speed is just as low, which means the same level of comfort for the gamer. The Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT 256MB fails the test due to driver-related problems.

Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars

The game having a frame rate limiter, you should consider the minimum speed of the cards in the first place.

Here, there is no effect from overclocking Radeon HD 3800 series cards. The ASUS HD3870 TOP allows playing at all resolutions just as the reference card. The ASUS HD3850 TOP, like the reference ATI Radeon HD 3850, cannot provide a comfortable minimum of speed at 1920x1200.

World in Conflict

That’s one of the few cases when the overclocked frequencies of the Radeon HD 3870 bring about considerable benefits. The ASUS EAH3870 TOP provides a performance gain of 33-34% over the reference card at 1280x1024, 45% at 1600x1200, and 50% at 1920x1200!

The ASUS EAH3850 TOP doesn’t follow the suit and provides an ordinary 10-15% gain over the reference card. The amount of graphics memory must be the limiting factor for this test.