ASUS Radeon HD 3870 512MB G-DDR4

Not too long ago, Nvidia released what looked to be a stellar HTPC card with the 8800 GT. Not only did the GT have great 3D performance, it also came equipped with H.264 hardware decoding. ATI has countered this with their release of the 3870. Gaming performance is on par with the GT, meaning you should be able to play most cames at 1080p and they have inclded their universal video decoder as well. The temperatures and power draw are probably a bit much for cramped HTPCs, but with quality dual slot active solution such as the ICE-Q series from HIS, you should have no heat problems. It is nice to have choices and now HTPCer’s can choose a gaming card that gives video playback benefits.

The Tweaktown review only focuses on gaming, however, they do mention the inclusion of UVD.