Asus has designed a card that uses what it calls the "Ultimate Armaments" to build a card that performs well not only at stock speeds but to push the envelope when overclocked. Lower RDS on MOSFETs that run cooler, solid capacitors for a longer service life, shielded DVI connections for improved clarity and covered chokes for cooler operation and better efficiency are the things that ASUS uses to separate its products from the reference design cards. Pricing on the reference HD 4770 cards runs anywhere from $99 to $119, which is right at the price point for many of the reference design HD 4850s, which could put a crimp in the sales of the 4770. Rumors of a shortage of 40nm chips may have prompted AMD/ATI to drop the price on the HD 4850 to keep the pressure on nVidia at this price point since really this is where the money is made for the most part. What you have in the Asus EAH4770 is a video card that performs above its price point when overclocked, delivers cooling performance without the noise penalty associated with AMD/ATI reference heatsinks and is built with high quality components for a price that won't break the bank.