ASUS MARS II Graphics Card Pictured

[btarunr]

The Republic of Gamers MARS II, detailed earlier, is a new custom dual-GF110 based graphics card in the works at ASUS. Here are some of its first pictures, revealing a monstrosity that's about as long as a Radeon HD 5970, a couple of inches higher, and three slots thick. Its cooler sticks to the black+red color scheme in use with ASUS ROG products for a while now, and uses an intricate cutout design.

The shroud suspends two 120 mm high-sweep fans that blow air on to two heatsinks with highly dense aluminum fin arrays to which heat is fed by copper heat pipes. The card draws power from three 8-pin PCI-Express power connectors. The card uses two NVIDIA GF110 GPUs with the same core configuration and clock profile as GeForce GTX 580, effectively making MARS II a dual-GTX 580, which also provides the overclocking headroom of a GTX 580, something impossible on a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[AlienIsGOD]

That thing is HUGE.

 

[arterius2]

I only care about 2 things: price and TDP?

 

[slyfox2151]

That thing is HUGE.

lol... nearly looks like an ITX motherboard plugged into an ATX via PCI-E

 

[roast]

I have a plan.

I'm gonna save up enough money for this, then turn around and blow it all on a night out, and get absolutely smashed.

I reckon that would be a better way to spend money.

 

[Undead46]

So it's a GTX 590 but they call it a dual-580?

._.

 

[claylomax]

I only care about 2 things: price and TDP?

This card is for people that don't care about either.

 

[Reeves-81]

Giant pointless card is giant and pointless....

 

[BUCK NASTY]

 

[TheGuruStud]

What's with the insane amount of 560/570/580/590 variations? I've never seen so many video cards made, especially ones that have no purpose.

 

[jalex3]

Not that I would even consider getting this (even if I had the money), but I'm not fussed on the looks. Though its nice to see more 90mm fans.

EDIT: just look at the poor fins its taken some abuse

 

[Andrei23]

a useless behemoth, 6-12 months down the line a single/dual slot card will outdo this card without the need for 24 power connectors

 

[silkstone]

So it's a GTX 590 but they call it a dual-580?

._.

Due to the clocks. A 590 is a dual 580. I guess they can as it's not a reference design...

I can't imagine them (directly) making much money off this thing, but then that's not the point.

 

[Play3r]

all the fins are bent on the first part of it what a fail.

 

[xstayxtruex]

lolol 3-8 pin PCIe connections. you'll need a small nuclear reactor to keep that thing running if you decide to overclock it.

 

[W1zzard]

all the fins are bent on the first part of it what a fail.

it's handmade and the only sample they have at the show. and i didnt treat it too nicely taking it out of its display case

 

[crow1001]

What's the point, guarantee going 580 SLI will be cheaper.

 

[OneCool]

it's handmade and the only sample they have at the show. and i didnt treat it too nicely taking it out of its display case

That sounds about right

 

[hanzi]

What's the point, guarantee going 580 SLI will be cheaper.

World Record. Just like the first Mars. I only knew gtx 295 Mars, which looks like a VHS tape. Dunno if there's an earlier version

 

[btarunr]

I only care about 2 things: price and TDP?

Probably $1200, probably 550~650W.

 

[W1zzard]

in case it's unclear: the little red 100% fan switch is used to switch the fan speed to 100% without any software - great for overclocking. pressing it again returns to normal temperature controlled fan speed.

 

[cadaveca]

3x 8-pin......damn.

 

[arterius2]

probably 550~650W.

doubt it, since it's only 3x8pin connector, its not going to be over 400w after you factor in overhead. to be realistic, the msi 480gtx had 2x8pin+1x6pin(450w), and in reality it had TDP of only 275w. so i'm guessing somewhere around 400w TDP for this card (realistically speaking).

 

[btarunr]

doubt it, since it's only 3x8pin connector, its not going to be over 400w after you factor in overhead. to be realistic, the msi 480gtx had 2x8pin+1x6pin(450w), and in reality it had TDP of only 275w. so i'm guessing somewhere around 400w TDP for this card (realistically speaking).

Those are specifications limits. Nobody follows them in this segment, you can overdraw from the cable by even 40%, it won't burn up. ASUS will recommend what PSU Wattage you'll need. There are many examples of cards from every segment overdrawing from connectors and slots.

 

[theJesus]

W1z, any plans on doing a review of this? It would be great to see how it compares to a 590.