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Power

Going full-bore, at load, the EAH3850X2 saps a bit more juice than I thought, even sapping more than the 9800GX2! When idling however, the power usage isn't too extreme for a dual GPU card.

The EAH3850X2 requires two PCIE power connectors: one 6 pin, and one 8 pin connector. If you are interested in this card, you might want to check to see if your power supply has a 8 pin connector, as they are not that common. You can use the EAH3850X2 with two 6 pin connectors, but this isn't recommended, and you will not be able to overclock. Asus recommends a 600W or greater PSU to power this card.

Conclusion

The performance of EAH3850X2 was a very impressive. When we reviewed the EAH3870X2 T.O.P, back when it first was released in early February, it was... a bit lackluster. At the time, I chalked this up to the poor state of the Vista Catalyst drivers. Now, in retrospect, I think that guess was correct. Well, time has passed, and this situation has changed. There isn't any doubt about it now: the Vista CrossFire drivers have matured. ATI has a lot riding on how well Catalyst CrossFire setups scale, and it seems like they are going in the right direction.

While initially it seemed somewhat strange to put two of your next-to-top-end GPUs on a video card, instead of your top-of-the-line GPUs, in this video card, it works. I'm not sure why Asus has been the only company yet to offer a HD3850X2 setup -- but if it was a gamble, it has paid off. The performance levels for this card were excellent, across the board. If the EAH3850X2 was overclocked just a little bit, than you could handle any game that could possibly be thrown at you -- Crysis, Age of Conan, whichever, you'd be ready to go.

Selling for around $350 -- and even less, such as this current deal going for $319 -- puts the EAH3850X2 in a very competive position against all the high-end NVIDIA offerings: the 9800GX2, the 9800GTX, and the 8800GTS 512MB. From the cards that have come through the Neoseeker labs, this is currently the best bet for over $300 that we have reviewed for a while now.

The bundle has everything you need, the performance is right where you want it, the cooler is competent and the Asus software works. In my books, all these things make the EAH3850X2 a winner.