# ASUS MARS/2DI/4GD3 Dual GeForce GTX 285 4096 MB



## W1zzard (Sep 1, 2009)

If any graphics card has been hyped in the past months it's the ASUS MARS Dual GTX 285. It is the first and only graphics card featuring two GTX 285 GPUs with 4 GB VRAM. The card is set out to dominate every other card on the market delivering amazing performance - at a breathtaking price of USD 1200 per card.

*Show full review*


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## Easo (Sep 14, 2009)

Omgwtfbbqq...


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## wolf (Sep 14, 2009)

Excellent review W1z, I was waiting for this one because you cover so much....

WOW temps are thru the roof, I'd have thought maybe the fan could be boosted more... but wow 95+ degrees under load is far too toasty for my liking.

but SHIT aye, does this thing crunch some pixels, looks like it will hold the leader board hands down till a 5870 can shunt it off, and even then..... it's not going to be an easy task.


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## qubit (Sep 14, 2009)

Thankyou for another quality review, w1zzard. Once again, the best one out there.


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## qubit (Sep 14, 2009)

So, this card overheats while running at stock. I'm not really surprised, given how only part of the fan is allowed to breath in air and it generates such a lot of heat. In every other card, except the other duals, 9800 GX2 and 1st rev GTX 295, the whole fan is exposed. Why limit the air intake on any of these cards and why limit this on a card with so much heat? Styling?!  

This card is handily faster than anything else out there. However, I see that Crysis performance still sucks, no matter what you do - 20fps at 2560x1600.  This one's gotta be the game engine, right? Hey, I wonder if you actually get to see microstutter on this game?!


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## skylamer (Sep 14, 2009)

Easo said:


> Omgwtfbbqq...



ROFLCOPTER!

pros - limited edition
cons - limited edition"

? xD


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## Scrizz (Sep 14, 2009)

wow


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## mtosev (Sep 14, 2009)

W1z don't keep that card. someone may come and murder you for it. and we wouldn't want that


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## pantherx12 (Sep 14, 2009)

Heh isn't that around the same that HD5870 is supposed to get?


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## zOaib (Sep 14, 2009)

with the new tech comin out with dx11 and ddr5 stuff , this thing wud be a waste fo sho.


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## pantherx12 (Sep 14, 2009)

Me just saying that, Imagine what a hd5870x2 will do D:

face melting amount of power!


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## qubit (Sep 14, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> http://tpucdn.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_285_MARS/images/crysis_1920_1200.gif
> 
> Heh isn't that around the same that HD5870 is supposed to get?



Very likely. Buying it from a performance point of view would be a complete waste of money.

Buying it as a collector's item is another matter. Of course, if you do, you must never break the seal on the box, to max out it's auction value later on - so no, you can't even enjoy it!


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## W1zzard (Sep 14, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> Me just saying that, Imagine what a hd5870x2 will do D:
> 
> face melting amount of power!



imagine what a 6870x4 could do. you can always wait for faster, better, cheaper. 
while you wait, i'll finish crysis. oh wait i already did in 2007...


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## pantherx12 (Sep 14, 2009)

Aye that's fair enough, but the I imagine the HD5870x2 won't take to long to come out, so it's nearly comparable.

Edit: fixed typo!


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## lemonadesoda (Sep 14, 2009)

Wow. What a card.

Good timing on launch... I'm sure nV has been pushing ASUS on this... get it out BEFORE ATI launch 5xxx. It will (may) stop them being able to claim "fastest card". = nV keep the crown.

Winter is coming... You could probably heat an aircraftcarrier with this thing.

***

What a shame you didnt have 2 to SLI.


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## W1zzard (Sep 14, 2009)

lemonadesoda said:


> You could probably heat an aircraftcarrier with this thing.



yeah thats how my room felt after the benchmark runs


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## Polarman (Sep 14, 2009)

This makes me think of ATI's 1950 Uber Edition cards that came in a suitcase.


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## ToTTenTranz (Sep 14, 2009)

Meh, I wouldn't be too surprised if a factory overclocked HD5870 2GB beats this card in every possible way.


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## ArkanHell (Sep 14, 2009)

Imo, this card is the biggest failure ever. The 295 is priced around 500 u$d, and this one es more than twice the number, and in the benchmarks in 3dmark05 and '06 the 285 4096 didnt get more than 1k points of difference of 295 in any of the tests (a part from the 2560x1600 resolution where is obvius that 4g memory helps).

Buying this "thing" is just the same to buy 295, and grab and extra 700 u$d and set it on fire in the floor, if you feel like spending this much.


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## Frick (Sep 14, 2009)

Not the biggest failure, remember the 7950gx2? This is just like that, but more expensive.


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## Kitkat (Sep 14, 2009)

W1zzard said:


> imagine what a 6870x4 could do. you can always wait for faster, better, cheaper.
> while you wait, i'll finish crysis. oh wait i already did in 2007...



lmao lol good review


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## newtekie1 (Sep 14, 2009)

Nice review.

Definitely a card with no othere purpose then to be king of the hill for a short period of time, and set records with.  I doubt many normal users will be buying this thing.  And something tells me most of the 1000 were simply given away to reviewers and professional overclockers.


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## mdm-adph (Sep 14, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> Aye that's fair enough, but the I imagine the HD5870x2 won't take to long to come out, so it's nearly comparable.
> 
> Edit: fixed typo!



The 5870x2 won't come out until Nvidia comes back with their new version -- so, it could be as late as December or January 2010.


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## Corrosion (Sep 14, 2009)

Wizz can you do some kind of benchmark with GTA IV with this card?


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## W1zzard (Sep 14, 2009)

no, i refuse to use gta 4 because of its gay drm and lobby system. the game engine sucks btw


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## [I.R.A]_FBi (Sep 14, 2009)

digdugg


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## Wile E (Sep 14, 2009)

W1zzard said:


> no, i refuse to use gta 4 because of its gay drm and lobby system. the game engine sucks btw



Just crack it after you install it.


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## mlee49 (Sep 14, 2009)

Lolz @ Performance per Dollar!


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## qubit (Sep 15, 2009)

W1zzard said:


> no, i refuse to use gta 4 *because of its gay drm* and lobby system. the game engine sucks btw



Yeah, me too - I boycott anything with DRM in fact, except Windows. That means no disc-based games. The only system I find reasonably acceptable is Steam, because it's account-based and is very flexible. I can just about live with the fact that I can't resell my games.


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## TheMailMan78 (Sep 15, 2009)

$1200 Bones!  

Who in thier right mind would buy one of these things with all the new GPUs right around the corner. Yeah you can always wait for the bigger cheaper but damn we will have new "faster" GPUs for cheaper in a month! $1200 to be out dated in less than 30 days should be a crime. My whole damn rig didn't cost that much.


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## Zubasa (Sep 15, 2009)

Someone should make a HD 4890X2 SOC or something, can't let Asus have all the fun


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## mdm-adph (Sep 15, 2009)

Zubasa said:


> Someone should make a HD 4890X2 SOC or something, can't let Asus have all the fun



Screw that -- I wish they would've had time to make a 4770X2.

Twice the performance (nearly) of a 4850 at the same power draw?  Count me in.


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## W1zzard (Sep 15, 2009)

mdm-adph said:


> Screw that -- I wish they would've had time to make a 4770X2.
> 
> Twice the performance (nearly) of a 4850 at the same power draw?  Count me in.



wait a week


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## mR Yellow (Sep 15, 2009)

Thanx for the review Wizz. Once again top class!

This cards is an epic FAIL! This is purely for bragging rights.


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## entropy13 (Sep 15, 2009)

W1zzard said:


> no, i refuse to use gta 4 because of its gay drm and lobby system. the game engine sucks btw



LOL yeah every other video cards reviews seems to have not included GTA IV too after a few months.


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## ty_ger (Sep 15, 2009)

> •Supports SLI - first time GTX 285 SLI



I think you meant to say quad SLI.

I think ASUS Mars gawkers and potential customers overlook a recent hardware innovation.  The ASUS Mars is not the only 285 card capable of quad SLI.

EVGA has released a GTX 285 Classified card which is capable of quad SLI when coupled with its quad SLI classified board.  The product does come at a price premium, but not even close to the price premium of the ASUS Mars.  Also, EVGA's solution is much better in terms of temperature since each GPU has its own heatsink.

http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=01G-P3-1190-AR&family=Geforce GTX 285 Classified

http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=170-BL-E762-A1&family=Motherboard Classified 4-Way SLI

I would like to see a review on that product at some point.

http://www.evga.com/videos/4way.asp

http://www.evga.com/about/pressrelease/default.asp?id=69


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## W1zzard (Sep 15, 2009)

i stand corrected, if you pair the evga 4-way motherboard with 4 evga gtx 285 classified cards (only the 285 classified, not any gtx 285) then you can run gtx 285 quad


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## Frizz (Sep 16, 2009)

Mind blowing... the price/temp and power consumption ><. But on the other hand this thing must kill benchies good to see Asus getting involved with some designs.


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## r9 (Sep 18, 2009)

HD5870 it is going to beat it while costing one third of the price. That is funny.


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## qubit (Sep 18, 2009)

r9 said:


> HD5870 it is going to beat it while costing one third of the price. That is funny.



I wouldn't be so sure. I've seen somewhere that it's going to be about 1.5x faster than the 4890 or so. If true, then that's nowhere near fast enough to take out the MARS.

Best wait for some real 5870 reviews to come in.


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## OneCool (Sep 21, 2009)

Why even have a PC tower anymore.

Just plug a keyboard and mouse to that monster 


The Veyron of video cards


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## handsomerichguy (Oct 21, 2009)

The price is suck. I better wait until gt300 series released


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## handsomerichguy (Oct 21, 2009)

OneCool said:


> Why even have a PC tower anymore.
> 
> Just plug a keyboard and mouse to that monster
> 
> ...


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