At the end of September ATI Launched the Radeon HD 5850 video card, and by all accounts it has been a hit. It was launched at the right time and at the right price, making it a runaway success.

Of course, the downside of buying just below the highest end card available means that you don’t get the fastest performing card around. Naturally, many enthusiasts turn to overclocking their shiny new card to reach the same performance levels of the bigger Radeon HD 5870. Up until recently all that we have seen were reference based Radeon HD 5850′s, but that is all changing with higher binned parts and custom PCB and heat sink designs.

Today on our test bench we have the ASUS EAH5850 TOP (model #: EAH5850 DirectCU TOP/2DIS/1GD5). This Radeon HD 5850 employs a custom heat sink that ASUS claims to run up to 20% cooler and up to 35% quieter than reference 5850′s. ASUS has also given their EAH5850 TOP a custom PCB and power circuitry to help provide a big gain in overclocking.

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• READ MORE (Source): ASUS Radeon HD EAH5850 DirectCU TOP Video Card Review – ASUS Radeon HD EAH5850 TOP – Legit Reviews