Asus (Monster) Mars - first full review on the planet

http://pctuning.tyden.cz/ilustrace3/...ars/mars_1.jpg

Asus Mars - 058/1000

http://pctuning.tyden.cz/ilustrace3/...ars/slajd0.png

Collectors Edition ... here cost 1000 USD

http://pctuning.tyden.cz/ilustrace3/..._mars/box2.jpg

Ive expected more collectors BOX

http://pctuning.tyden.cz/ilustrace3/...rs_8_small.jpg

PCBs

http://pctuning.tyden.cz/ilustrace3/...mars/mars3.png

GPUz

http://pctuning.tyden.cz/ilustrace3/...est_system.jpg

Test setup:
Core i7 920 @ 3,6 GHz
6GB @ 1800 MHz (24-8-8-8-1T)
Gigabyte EX58-UD5
Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit
Driver 190.38

http://pctuning.tyden.cz/ilustrace3/...s_mars/hry.png

Our 24 tested games ...

http://pctuning.tyden.cz/ilustrace3/...mars/vykon.png

Average performance in 2560x1600 (noAA, 4AA, 8AA)

http://pctuning.tyden.cz/ilustrace3/...spotreba_2.png

Powr consuption under Load

There is issue with overheating GPUs reached under Load 103C and more ..., because that i cannot to overclock card .... by Asus tech support, it is problem only of my card ... will see in another reviews.

Full review here: http://pctuning.tyden.cz/hardware/gr...onstra?start=1
It is in Czech language, but pictures dont need a translation ...

Let's hope the new cards are as powerfull as this monster

Is it just me or there is no link to the review :D

link corrected: http://pctuning.tyden.cz/hardware/gr...onstra?start=1

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Originally Posted by onethreehill

Is it just me or there is no link to the review :D

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Isn't this a link? ;)

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Full review here: http://pctuning.tyden.cz/hardware/gr...nstra?start=17
It is in Czech language, but pictures dont need a translation ...

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Originally Posted by Linuxfan

Isn't this a link? ;)

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Now there is a link :D

So when testing at 16x AF and 8x AA is it slower because it throttles itself due to heat or are the drivers bad?

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Originally Posted by gallardo

So when testing at 16x AF and 8x AA is it slower because it throttles itself due to heat or are the drivers bad?

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You have to make GREAT AIRFLOW in case with many fans, after that my card was under 100C and no throttling .... but in open case still throttling ... lokk at my results, the are good numbers at 8AA

This is quite goood, can you possible add results of SAPPHIRE ATOMIC HD 4870 X2 2G and BFG GTX 295 H2OC with ThermoIntelligence Advanced Cooling Solution?

No, i had tested 4870X2 and GTX 295 ...

ok actrally the SAPPHIRE ATOMIC HD 4870 X2 2G and BFG GTX 295 H2OC with ThermoIntelligence Advanced Cooling Solution would be ideal competition to this. The Nvidia one costs around $850 and dont remmber how much the ATi one costs but both do come with liquid cooling systems... :>

Thanks for the review OBR

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Originally Posted by OBR

You have to make GREAT AIRFLOW in case with many fans, after that my card was under 100C and no throttling .... but in open case still throttling ... lokk at my results, the are good numbers at 8AA

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I meant in comparison to the 4870x2. The Mars beats it hands down right until 4xAA then suddenly at 8xAA it has this performance hit. Why is that?

Useless...

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Originally Posted by SubZero.it

Useless...

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If you have one you have no use for, you're welcome to send me one! :rofl:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gallardo

I meant in comparison to the 4870x2. The Mars beats it hands down right until 4xAA then suddenly at 8xAA it has this performance hit. Why is that?

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Radeon has in some games better 8AA performance, it is known situation. With new GeForce drivers is 8AA perf many better, but in some titules are Radeons still better.

Not useless, it is for collectors or crazy enthusiast ... for LN2/DiCE cooling and WR in Quad SLI ...

Totally dumb product for the price.

How does it stack up to the same price point for 2x 4870x2?

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Originally Posted by Power5

How does it stack up to the same price point for 2x 4870x2?

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Yes or 2x295s, thats what id be interested to know.

Thanks for review. :)

2 8pin power plug = what 375 watts on a 2.0 pcie:shocked:

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Originally Posted by affiliate13

Yes or 2x295s, thats what id be interested to know.

Thanks for review. :)

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you can compare Asus mars results with my measured Quad-SLI results ...

http://pctuning.tyden.cz/ilustrace3/...5_new/quad.png

this isnt a 295 though is it? its 2x285 cores I thought, where the 295 is like 2x275's

I had to laugh when I saw 1000$ for one of them. I guess the heatsink with the cool LED's is worth the extra 500$ !

for that price they could have added a watercool block, and would get less/no problems with overheating...

You might call it useless but it is products like this that keep things interesting in this industry. ;)

hmmm interesting... so they did use nf200 after all? :confused:
heat is a problem? despite this huge heatsink? at stock speeds? that sucks...
for enthusiasts this is a great card, its the only way to get full 4xgtx285 unless you use a hacked vga bios on a dual nf200 board... but the latter is much cheaper...
and there will be faster cards soon... mhhh....

well... to me looking at the review the slight increase over the 295 rwlly isn"t worth the extra 700$ if you have money to waste why not lol.

now thats a nice looking card! :yepp:

I think they will have no problem selling them all

Compared to the regular GTX 295, the results are not very impressive and the card is arriving so late. Wasting $1K on such card is like wasting $1K on a Pentium Emergency Edition, several weeks prior to Core2 launch.

As for me, I will wait for the GT300 and the RV800. Then, depending on their price and performance, I will waste my money on two of them.

So now that we have a GTX285 x2 how long until they do a limited run of 4890x2s?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by initialised

So now that we have a GTX285 x2 how long until they do a limited run of 4890x2s?

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so itll be replaced by R800 in 1 month? i dont think so ^^

lol who will buy this when u can get a GTX295 for around $40

http://cgi.ebay.in/Palite-GeForce-GT...item5882b99d48

lol i know its a typo but if it was real i would buy at least 10 and wait for X68 and SLi them all :>

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Originally Posted by Xenogias

I think they will have no problem selling them all

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really we have 2 threads going now where people don't want to buy a game if it's over 50 bucks

The funny thing about this card is that it goes nowhere on 8AA comparing 4870x2 on some games.

With 5xxx series spotted not anymore as fata morgana, i would say it's too late for this, unless you have your case in front of your eyes instead of monitor....

Think most of you are missing the point of this card, it's a limited edtion (one of the reasons it's so expensive) this makes it for some a real collectors item ( hence for the happy few who don't who don't give a ... about the price). In this case with the current Nvidia technology, it's one of the fastest single card products out there. And as with all dual GPU setups, drivers make it shine or make it totally look as...

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Originally Posted by damtachoa

The funny thing about this card is that it goes nowhere on 8AA comparing 4870x2 on some games.

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Drivers ? And as usual some games prefer the red team, some the green team... it's made for the ones that want something special...

A little late to finally get this product out the door. HD 5xxx should walk all over it and given how well CrossFire scales 3 HD5850s will trounce this single card.

Holy crap. The hd4870x2 kept up with the mars edition and even beat it out in fallout3, mass effect , ut3, grid, brothers in arms and almost coh.

World Exclusive! ASUS ROG MARS GeForce 4,096MB card. SLI numbers thrown in.
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=19875

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/2800/marsszc.jpg

Terrible, terrible scaling.

Also, lol @ 4870X2 staying close to "SLI GTX285."

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Originally Posted by Leeghoofd

Think most of you are missing the point of this card, it's a limited edtion (one of the reasons it's so expensive) this makes it for some a real collectors item ( hence for the happy few who don't who don't give a ... about the price). In this case with the current Nvidia technology, it's one of the fastest single card products out there. And as with all dual GPU setups, drivers make it shine or make it totally look as...



Drivers ? And as usual some games prefer the red team, some the green team... it's made for the ones that want something special...

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I can not think of a worse thing to collect than graphics cards, in a couple of months new cards are out and this thing is already obsolete, you could use it to heat a pizza oven though so that is a plus, or keep your coffe warm:down:

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Originally Posted by dum

I can not think of a worse thing to collect than graphics cards, in a couple of months new cards are out and this thing is already obsolete,

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Why not? Some guys collect processors, some graphics cards and some collect memory, and your last statement is true for every part, a few months later everything is outdated and obsolete.

It's their cash and his moment of glory to show off... budget wise and even for performance there are far better options out there... Keep it in the back of ya mind : LIMITED EDITION ! some people kill to get one... I would liek to review one no biggie, but my monitor can't handle it lol

PC Hardware is already obsolete even before it hit's the shelves...

I'm sorry, but for such relatively small performance increases vs. price, who is going to drop a fusking GRAND on one of these? :shakes:

People complaining about mars, are probably owners of radeon 4870, 4870x2 or 4890... those are buggy video cards, that can't handle OCCT stress test. How would you feel to spend $300 on a video card, and than see it fails a stress test at stock speed? I would feel bad about it. Feel sorry for you guys with buggy cards, thats the way life is... My nvidia card will pass stress tests and everything just fine... I could imagine how sad I would feel if my expensive video card would be buggy and failing a stress test at stock speed.

Now, just because you guys have buggy video cards, thats not right to trash talk other cards... Just live with your buggy card, don't try to compensate it, by trash talking other cards. That is not right.

Anyway I would feel so bad to spend $300 on a card and see it failing a stress test at STOCK SPEEDS... but please don't cry guys, thats the way life is.

Well if the cards do what they are designed for, which is playing games, then they don't have to think about OCCT stress test... I don't see even the point in passing OCCT stress test... it has to run games and run 3dmarks and co... not silly OCCT stress test

I'll take dual 4870X2 instead...

Asus MARS Quad SLI - Extreme Gaming
http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews.php?reviewid=832

5/10 in value now that's exaggerating!
http://www.driverheaven.net/reviewim...terscoring.jpg

Altough I have to admit those scores we're quite impressive...

-- ASUS’ Limited Edition Enthusiast Graphics Card to sell in USA/Canada --

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Fremont, CA August 25, 2009 - ASUS today announced the limited edition Republic of Gamers (ROG) MARS/2DI/4GD3 custom-built graphics cards as first showcased at Computex 2009 will soon be sold in North America on a first come, first served basis. The exact time and place of availability will be announced on ASUS' Official Twitter social networking page.

The Enthusiast’s Dream Card with ROG Innovations
Breaking away from the standard GTX 295 reference design, ROG engineers implemented dual NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 285 GPUs, awe-inspiring 4GB onboard memory and the world’s first 1024-bit memory bandwidth to spawn the ROG MARS graphics card. 23% more powerful than conventional GTX 295 graphics cards, the ROG MARS graphics card also features an improved thermal design that boasts a 65% increase in heatpipe coverage and a 20% heat dissipation rate—thus delivering extreme cooling, even during graphically intensive operations. With this exceptional innovation and design, gamers can realize ultra high resolution gaming with all graphics features maxed out - making every gamers dream a reality.

ASUS Ultimate Armaments
The ROG MARS utilizes the finest graphics card components for clean power delivery, effective cooling and redundant safety. EMI shielding around the card reduces interference by up to 66%. Covered chokes and Low RDS(on) MOSFETs run 25% more efficient and 15C cooler than standard components. A pair of fuses doubles the overvoltage protection found on reference designs, safeguarding your VGA card.

Each graphics card will be assigned a unique serial number. With only 1000 units slated for production, the ASUS ROG MARS is a masterpiece of power and performance for the hardcore gamer and overclocker.

For up-to-the minute information on the ROG MARS VGA card, prospective buyers should follow ASUS' official Twitter account: http://twitter.com/ASUS_NA

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http://forums.legitreviews.com/about22672.html

Looks like and old VCR Videotape. Do they have a DVD looking version?

http://www.professionaldvdservices.c...es/vhs-dvd.jpg

Gautam can get one now :)

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Originally Posted by Dr_ARCHer

It's here. Or rather, in the boot of my car now. Sorry for the poor picture quality... SLS car park very dark....

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/3835/dsc00838i.jpg

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http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/sh...7&postcount=53

You can also buy one right now for just $2400:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ASUS-MARS-GTX-29...d=p3286.c0.m14

Get it fast. :D

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Originally Posted by Utnorris

You can also buy one right now for just $2400:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ASUS-MARS-GTX-29...d=p3286.c0.m14

Get it fast. :D

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if it's no.1 then fair enough,

if it isn't, then this guy either got ripped off or knows how to make a profit.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Smartidiot89

5/10 in value now that's exaggerating!
http://www.driverheaven.net/reviewim...terscoring.jpg

Altough I have to admit those scores we're quite impressive...

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like all nvidia products, you have to sell your left nut to own one of them, the graphs are great and keep something for competition to aspire to, but when its all said and done, the winner is the one who is selling products.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nsegative

Holy crap. The hd4870x2 kept up with the mars edition and even beat it out in fallout3, mass effect , ut3, grid, brothers in arms and almost coh.

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I wouldn't put too much faith in the benchmark scores of reviews out there. Don't get me wrong. The numbers aren't cooked. It's just that in some instances the perceived frame rate during actual game play can be completely different from what the actual frame rate is.

Take the Mars test of Brothers in Arms or Company of Heroes for instance. The first game is completely useless in (dual) SLI and only gets worse as you add more GPUs. Depending on the direction you're looking in the frame rate will range from looking completely smooth to looking like 20 frames per second.

In the second game example (CoH), things look perfectly fine until you hold down the Alt key and move your mouse around to view the map in a birds eye view. Your completely smooth perceived frame rate will now drop to something looking like 10-15 frames per second. It's still better than a single card, but you're not getting 100% smooth game play as the numbers suggest you should.

Almost no one seems to mention this in any GPU review and if they do it's not all that specific...it's treated like a dirty little secret that has to be tucked away as deep as possible. End-users don't appear to mention anything about it either. I guess it might be a little hard to swallow for some that your $4000 dollar rig won't always play games better than a single GPU $800 dollar clunker PC :)

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Originally Posted by OBR

There is issue with overheating GPUs reached under Load 103C and more ..., because that i cannot to overclock card .... by Asus tech support, it is problem only of my card ... will see in another reviews.

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Confirmed by PCGH as well:
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,6...eviews/?page=2

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Originally Posted by cx-ray

Confirmed by PCGH as well:
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,6...eviews/?page=2

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Huge fail for a 1200€ card ... :(

its the same tune as this just a few years later
http://www.hartware.de/review_532_14.html
doh in anglish
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=3654
they wanted almost 1000 usd then but they made 2000 cards lol

ASUS MARS GTX295 Review
http://www.guru3d.com/article/asus-mars-review-test/

News flash!

This card sucks :banana::banana::banana::banana:!

ASUS MARS/2DI/4GD3 Dual GeForce GTX 285 4096 MB
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/A..._GTX_285_MARS/

Useless, problems with overheating, not to mention a single HD5870 will be just as fast as this card if not faster.