The Basics:
Based on what I have seen from other manufacturers, the layout of the
ASUS EAH3850 TOP is fairly standard, featuring a red PCB that measures roughly 23cm by 10cm. The cooler is low profile, meaning that you will not block the adjacent expansion slot, but the hot air is not exhausted out of the case.
As shown below, the "Company of Heroes - Opposing Fronts" graphic covers the bulk of the cooler, while an ASUS logo has been applied to the hub of the red fan. Underneath the plastic shell, the heart of the cooler is constructed of Copper measuring about 3mm thick.
The backside of the card does not feature much of interest, except for a metal brace that supports the cooler with through bolts, and a variety of labels with bits of manufacturing data printed on them.
The EAH3850 TOP ships with translucent blue caps covering the various connectors, which you might as well leave in place on any one you don't plan to use. There are two DVI connections, an HDTV-out port (s-video), and tabs for a CrossFireX setup that are compatible for use in up to a four-way setup. As we will see when we get to the "Accessories" section, a few adapters are included to allow the three connections on the back of the card to be compatible with a variety of different display formats.
An end view of the card is provided below where a bit of the heatsink extends beyond the shroud of the cooling fan. While not very tall, the cooler does cover quite a bit of area, and all components that could possibly need cooling are installed to make contact with this one piece of Copper. The RV670 graphics core, 256MB of GDDR3 memory, power regulating chips, and video processing chips are all under there.
