What's so great about the TOP line-up from ASUS is that they don't get a card and just add an extra 10MHz to the core and 20MHz to the memory, the TOP line-up of cards are really well overclocked cards that stand out from the competition. That latest card to carry the TOP name comes from the AMD team, the Radeon HD 4870 has quickly become a hot product for so many people thanks to the aggressive performance and even more aggressive price tag. Today we'll be checking out how the ASUS overclocked version goes against a stock clocked offering and see if it's worth paying the premium that the TOP cards carry to get the larger out of the box clocks. - TweakTown

ASUS Radeon HD 4870 TOP Graphics Version Review

The Radeon HD 4870 TOP uses the new smaller package that we've seen for the last few ASUS cards that we've looked at. There isn't a whole lot going on with the front of the box. Across the top we have the ASUS logo. Across the bottom of the box we have the model with above that we have some of the main features like the card being overclocked, coming with 512MB of GDDR5 memory and more. In the middle of the box we have a picture that explains the overclock performance and gives us the speed. Turning the box over, we have some more details on the features the Radeon HD 4870 graphics card offers.

With the package out the way, it's time to move onto the card and instantly you think that it feels a bit girly. While we may have a picture of a woman in some battle gear taking up a large chunk of the card, it's hard to miss all the pink flowers that are going around the outside. Apart from this, we have an ASUS sticker that sits on the fan. Like all Radeon HD 4870's we've looked at, the card does use the standard cooler which of course manages to take up the majority of the card. Looking around the card, there isn’t anything out of the ordinary. Towards the back of the card we have two 6-pin PCI Express connectors.

Running across the top of the card, we have our two CrossFire connectors if you want to run two or three of these video cards together. Being a TOP model, as mentioned earlier the card is of course overclocked out the box. ASUS has increased the core from 750MHz to 815MHz. The memory clock has also been increased from 3600MHz to 3700MHz data rate. The Radeon HD 4870 continues to show its value time and time again and this time around is really no different. The good overclock on the core along with the slight memory overclock helps performance stay up against the stock clocked offering at all times.

And with it being able to pass the GeForce GTX 280 at some points and at others stay extremely competitive against it for a very reasonable price. It would have been nice to have seen a game included in the bundle, since ASUS do have a Radeon HD 4870 which comes with Alone in the Dark. It's not the end of the world, though, and what people really want when they buy a TOP card from ASUS is performance and this card manages to deliver. The only thing that we're not digging on the card is the feminine look of the cooler with its pink flowers. Again, though, this isn't a major issue since you don't see it really all the time.

But it was still a surprise to see the design when pulling the card out of the box. Overall, the Radeon HD 4870 TOP from ASUS is a pretty good card. It gives us a bit more performance than the stock clocked card and comes with all the cables and accessories we need to get the card up and running straight away. If you're not interested in overclocking yourself and wouldn't mind a bit more performance for a few extra dollars, the Radeon HD 4870 TOP is a good option from ASUS.