Friday, June 29th 2012

ASUS Readies HD 7850 DirectCu II Dragon Edition Graphics Card

ASUS is reportedly working on a new custom-design Radeon HD 7850 graphics card, to capture a key price-point in the performance market segment. The card uses the company's in-house DirectCu II dual-slot cooling solution, and is labeled "Dragon Edition" (model: DRAGON HD7850-DC2O-2GD5). The card ships with clock speeds lower than those of the HD 7850 DirectCu II TOP, with 910 MHz GPU and 5.00 GHz memory (vs. reference clock speeds of 870/4.84 GHz; and DCU2 TOP clock speeds of 975/5.00 GHz).

Interestingly, the HD 7850 DirectCu II Dragon Edition features a metal back-plate, something even the TOP model lacks. The PCB, too, differs from the that is found in other HD 7850 DCU2 graphics cards, featuring a 6+3 phase Digi+ VRM, which draws power from two 6-pin PCIe power connectors. The main heatsink bears a slightly different design to that of the other DCU2 models based on the GPU. ASUS is likely to price the card somewhere between the stock HD 7850 DirectCu II and the HD 7850 DirectCu II TOP.
Source: VideoCardz
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20 Comments on ASUS Readies HD 7850 DirectCu II Dragon Edition Graphics Card

#1
pantherx12
btarunrASUS is reportedly working on a new custom-design Radeon HD 7850 graphics card, to capture a key price-point in the performance market segment. The card uses the company's in-house DirectCu II dual-slot cooling solution, and is labeled "Dragon Edition" (model: DRAGON HD7850-DC2O-2GD5). The card ships with clock speeds lower than those of the HD 7850 DirectCu II TOP, with 910 MHz GPU and 5.00 GHz memory (vs. reference clock speeds of 870/4.84 GHz; and DCU2 TOP clock speeds of 975/5.00 GHz).

Interestingly, the HD 7850 DirectCu II Dragon Edition features a metal back-plate, something even the TOP model lacks. The PCB, too, differs from the that is found in other HD 7850 DCU2 graphics cards, featuring a 6+3 phase Digi+ VRM, which draws power from two 6-pin PCIe power connectors. The main heatsink bears a slightly different design to that of the other DCU2 models based on the GPU. ASUS is likely to price the card somewhere between the stock HD 7850 DirectCu II and the HD 7850 DirectCu II TOP.

www.techpowerup.com/img/12-06-29/266a_thm.jpg www.techpowerup.com/img/12-06-29/266b_thm.jpg www.techpowerup.com/img/12-06-29/266c_thm.jpg

Source: VideoCardz
OOOOhhh fancy, I bet this over-clocks like a champ!
Posted on Reply
#2
DarkOCean
The heatsink looks like the one on the 670 dcII.
Posted on Reply
#3
Delta6326
Probably is the same cooler, just changed a couple things to make sure they don't touch other components, but thats a good thing because the 670 DCII cooler rocks.
Posted on Reply
#4
pantherx12
The cooling plate looks very GPU block friendly : ]
Posted on Reply
#6
No_Asylum
I've never been a fan of ASUS vga cards. Motherboards and Laptops tho, hell yea. This one however looks pretty nice.
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#7
Animalpak
Thu HUM edition !

I like the idea nice ! Lately graphics cards are having respectable aesthetic attention
Posted on Reply
#8
TheMailMan78
Big Member
I keep reading "Double Dragon" Edition Graphics Card in the title. I'm getting old.
Posted on Reply
#10
erocker
*
With Asus locking the voltage on some of their cards now, it may not overclock much at all.
Posted on Reply
#11
dj-electric
A fairly smart user may bypass this limitation. On the other hand... i don't see much smart people going for this card either :X
Posted on Reply
#12
Random Murderer
The Anti-Midas
TheMailMan78I keep reading "Double Dragon" Edition Graphics Card in the title. I'm getting old.
Don't feel bad, I saw that at first glance as well and I'm pretty sure you've got me by a decade.:toast:


I wonder if the Digi+ VRMs mean it'll have software to adjust the switching frequency of the VRMs like on their motherboards?
Posted on Reply
#13
Hilux SSRG
Is it just me or is this overkill for a 7850? I can see it on a 7900 series and possibly the 7870. Isn't the 7850 low-end of the mid-range series of cards?
Posted on Reply
#14
ensabrenoir
Hilux SSRGIs it just me or is this overkill for a 7850? I can see it on a 7900 series and possibly the 7870. Isn't the 7850 low-end of the mid-range series of cards?
+1. Just a dash of mojo to hike the price up
Posted on Reply
#15
tacosRcool
TheMailMan78I keep reading "Double Dragon" Edition Graphics Card in the title. I'm getting old.
I used to watch Double Dragon!
Posted on Reply
#16
Xzibit
ensabrenoir+1. Just a dash of mojo to hike the price up
Propably true but since Nvidia hasnt released the new Keplers in this price range it has no incentive to lower prices.

As it is now they are competing with Fermi 570 in performance at a lower price point $30-50 less. 3+ months of no competition.
Posted on Reply
#17
Jegergrim
I really like the Asus PCB color, it looks more qualitative (not saying it is), and fits the surrounding components really well, definately +1 for the aesthethics.
Posted on Reply
#18
anubis44
Dj-ElectriCMother of overclock...
Ha, that's nothing. I had a couple of Asus Direct CUII 7850s about a month ago, and both were able to run at 1050MHz with no voltage adjustment on the core merely by going into the AMD Catalyst control panel and unlocking them and sliding the slider all the way to the right. They were both able to run at 1150MHz with some voltage adjustment stable. I've never seen graphics cards that overclocked so easily, and the Asus fans were still utterly silent (I'm not exaggerating - I really couldn't hear them over my already quiet case/HSF fans; I thought maybe the fans weren't even turning!).

The 7850 is one of the most underrated graphics cards out there right now. Overclocked, they'll run about 4/5 the speed of a 7970-GTX670/680, and they're $250-$270. Get the Asus Direct CUII version for completely quiet operation.
Posted on Reply
#20
Kovoet
I have the 7970 version and love it.

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