Late last month, ATI's division unleashed their latest threat to NVIDIA in the form of the Radeon HD 3870 X2 graphics card. And unlike AMD's recent history with performance, this new card was indeed an actual threat in some regards, as it became the fastest single card solution on the planet. But, the only way this was possible was by pairing two GPU's on the same piece of PCB. Some might call it a cheap move, but it works and that's what's important. But because of this dual-GPU fact, specific issues that arise from normal dual-GPU setups can be seen, most notably in games that won't do much to take advantage of a second graphics card which of course has an impact on the performance. - Techgage

ASUS Extreme AH3870 X2 1GB Edition Board Review

Along with AMD's official launch came offerings from all of the popular manufacturers. Although most fresh GPU launches from ASUS include a TOP offering, the Radeon HD 3870 X2 did not. In fact, the only pre-overclocked card we could find was from MSI, proving right off the bat that the card is not overclocking friendly. So what about CrossFireX mode on this beast? Currently, that is not possible, but it should be very, very soon. It's been rumored that ATI will unveil that technology at CeBIT next month, so all we can do is cross our fingers. The main aspect that is preventing this is the current state of the drivers.

Like the reference Radeon HD 3870 X2, the ASUS version runs with a core clock of 825MHz and a memory clock of 1800MHz and comes with 1GB of GDDR3 memory, which means 512MB dedicated to each core. Compared to a Radeon HD 3870, everything else is simply doubled, resulting in 640 stream processors and 32 texture units of computational power. At current time, we've been unable to find the ASUS version of the card available online anywhere, but when it hits e-tail, you can expect it to retail between $475-500. ASUS products always carry a premium in price as their offerings normally reflect a premium touch.

It goes without saying, this is the fastest single card solution on the market right now. Is it for everyone? Not necessarily. As mentioned earlier, the card doesn't scale as you'd imagine a single GPU to in most games, simply because it's not a single GPU. It's essentially CrossFire on a single card, so oddities that occur with CrossFire and SLI alike can also occur with this card. But even that aside, performance on a single GPU is enough to get you by with all of today's games, but it's with the higher resolutions and anti-aliasing that the X2 really begins to excel and this is most notable with the latest Unreal Tournament game.

For those looking for a single card solution, the Radeon HD 3870 X2 delivers. For those looking to take another route, dual GeForce 8800 GT's in SLI would offer better overall performance while costing roughly $20 less at the same time. But to turn the tables on that argument, AMD will soon be releasing drivers to allow two Radeon HD 3870 X2's to run in CrossFireX, effectively giving us the power of four GPU cores. Performance gains are not yet known, but if executed properly, we might see incredible gains in games like Crysis, but it's impossible to tell until we get our hands on that driver and try it out for ourselves.

Overall, the Radeon HD 3870 X2 is priced right, performs well and would make a solid purchase for anyone wanting a super powerful single card solution in their PC. If you have absolutely no desire to make the move to a CrossFire setup consisting of two Radeon HD 3870 X2's once it's possible, going with two GeForce 8800 GT's in SLI is another option, as it costs slightly less, should prove a little faster and is also better supported.