Über Video Cards, the pinnacle of pixel pushers are the stuff of dreams for us mere mortals. Keeping the dream alive ASUS has released the ultimate Über MARS II video card, the most powerful video card in the world. ASUS has pulled out all the stops for the MARS II, with 22% higher performance than it’s younger NVIDIA GTX 590 the MARS II is a video card on fire.
Hidden under nearly 2kg of aluminium heat sinks sits twin GeForce GTX 580 cores along with 3GB of superfast GDDR5 video memory, a potent combination. If all of this has you salivating and reaching for you wallet, pause and know only 999 of these Über video cards are being produced and each one will cost you $1,400 USD, oouch.
In essence MARS II is simply a factory overclocked GTX 590 aimed at securing the title of Fastest Video Card. Compared to it’s older brother the NVIDIA GTX 590 the MARS II has a far higher clock speed –782mhz v 607Mhz on 590 -, it uses faster memory – 4008Mhz v 3414Mhz -, other than that most everything else is identical. They both have 3Gb of DDR5 video memory, use the same graphics processor – GF110 Tesla – and they are both as quick as stink. While the GPU is the same as that found in the GTX 590 these are specially hand-picked for their ability to make it to high speeds and stay stable. During production NVIDIA runs extensive testing on each GPU, each one put into the parts pin for that speed range. A process called bining. This is a hand-picked GPU factory overclocked to extreme speeds.
Most pixel pushers at this end of the market – top – require two 8-pin power plugs to provide enough juice, the MARS II requires 3 8-pin plugs, capable of providing over 500 watts of power to the card. A PC housing this video card will draw at least 700 watts of power, a 1000 watt power supply is recommended, yup that’s right a kilowatt. To keep that much power flowing smoothly ASUS has brought in leading edge Super Alloy Capacitors operating over a 21 phase power system. Super Alloy capacitors contain our favourite rare Earth elements to provide higher peak power using less components.
Redefining heavy weight the MARS II comes in at 2.37 kilos. Thoughts of it damaging motherboards must be common as ASUS have fitted MARS II with custom PCI-E anti-shock retainers that keep the card securely in place at all times. MARS II is also enormous, at 33cm long and taking up 3 PCI-E slots MARS II will require an Über case to contain it. In fact this card would probably be a little insulted if you didn’t surround it with other Über components.
The MARS II has secured the crown, hail the fastest single video card in the world, King of the Über video card. ASUS has brought the hammer down on the competition, producing a stunning piece of engineering that will have fellow noids envious the world over. Will ATI have a response, we can count on it as the battle for the Crown continues.
For further information ASUS, Press Release
ASUS ROG MARS II Specifications
- GPU Cores 2 x GF110 (GTX580)
- GPU Clock 782 MHz
- Shader Clock 1564 MHz
- Memory Clock 4008 MHz
- Memory 3072MB GDDR5
- CUDA Cores 512 x 2
- Power Phases 21 Phases
Buddha’s Brother out…
