When we got approached with an ATI Radeon HD 4870 video board to check out, we immediately groaned and mumbled yet not another Radeon HD 4870. So after we got told which specific graphics card and a few seconds spent googling, we immediately perked up considerably. ASUS' republic of gamers line has released some of my favorite components like the 965P Commando and the X48 Rampage Extreme. This is the first republic of gamers branded graphics card we've laid my hands on, so we were quite jittery with excitement. This card continues with the color trends established with a black PCB, the dark shroud and their republic of gamers emblem prominent, it does really make it special. - Legit Reviews

ASUS Extreme AH4870 Matrix 512MB Version Review

The ASUS Radeon HD 4870 Matrix, sadly doesn't bring anything new to the table regarding stock performance. It features the original 512MB of GDDR5 memory that the reference ATI Radeon HD 4870 launched with, clock frequencies that fall within the averages of factory overclocked cards, and the same core used on all Radeon HD 4870 boards. So, what has improved? ASUS has included a double fan configuration with a quad heatpipe assembly. And no joke, this thing has the cooling capacity for a chip much hotter than the RV770 chipset. The backside is rather plain and more or less a common sight that all share equally.

The ASUS Radeon HD 4870 Matrix edution is a most unusual card to overclock. Unlike nearly every other video card we have overclocked, this particular card has been equipped with everything you would really need to reach the limits of the components. With ASUS' iTracker software, you can increase the GPU and memory voltages well past what would be useful on air cooling. The overclock was achieved with 1.425V for the GPU and 1.6V for the GDDR5 memory while solely using iTracker. This ended up in a very high 882MHz core and 4400MHz memory clock speed. That is one hell of boost, just looking at the core speed.

Now in the months since the Radeon HD 4870 launched, NVIDIA has increased performance through driver optimizations and released slightly stronger cores for its GeForce GTX 260. Due to these improvements, the ASUS Extreme AH4870 Matrix no longer scores an easy victory, and in fact gets pushed around a bit through all the tests. The ASUS Radeon HD 4870 Matrix more or less would hold its own against a stock clocked GeForce GTX 260, but with most GeForce GTX 260's selling with +600MHz core overclocks from the factory, that comparison would have made no sense though ASUS has a damn nice tweaking edge.

We rather like what ASUS has done with the otherwise bland Radeon HD 4870, and even though it is outperformed by the competition at the same price point, we feel the Radeon HD 4870 has more potential for the average consumer. When we overclocked the GeForce GTX 260, We weren't able to adjust core voltage so we were more or less hoping the card wouldn't artifact noticeably while gaming. With the ASUS Extreme AH4870 Matrix, you can insure stability by increasing voltages and monitoring temperatures to keep everything in check. It is a tough call to make, overclocking aside it isn't a fast and hard sell with this card.

To reach the performance of the competition requires an overclock the average consumer may not be comfortable performing. If the card were priced $25 lower then we would wholeheartedly endorse it, but as it stands for the plug and play consumer you may want to look to a different graphics card. In the end this board desperately needs 1GB of GDDR5 memory to be competitive at high resolutions, where it really belongs. And the ASUS Extreme AH4870 Matrix edition may be an overclocker's dream, but the average consumer may find it a bit underpowered due to the frame buffer size.