AMD's REAL answer to GeForce GTX 480: AIB Custom 5970s

[[XC] gomeler]

i wouldnt worry about it taking up 3 slots (i actually wish more cards did since i dont use up all 7 slots, as long as they were also very quiet) since you can only have 2 of these

Exactly.

[Bolas]

Looks like the colors will match nicely with the EVGA Classified series of motherboards. Like the W555.

[metalop1g]

People, Invest in copper. Cuz the prices are sure going to go WAYY WAY UP with that damn gpu cooler

[tajoh111]

Exactly.

Three slot monster can be inconvenient beyond that. It can take up sometimes the only remaining PCI slot for a sound card, in addition to not fitting on the last slots of the Mb due to case issues.

Also If its taking up this many slots, you might as well go for a dual 5870 because they are cheaper, safer, more overclocking room and take up the same amount of space. Not to mention that current 5970 can already reach these close(albeit with not this much video memory).

How many people would feel safe moving a pc with this sucker in side.

With the 5970 being scalped for 100 dollars over retail, I would hate to see the price on this.

[G.Foyle]

Good thing that dual GPU card's days on HWBot are over. We sure don't need another Mars Vantage bullsh*t.

[ChaosAD]

i wouldnt worry about it taking up 3 slots (i actually wish more cards did since i dont use up all 7 slots, as long as they were also very quiet) since you can only have 2 of these

I also wouldnt worry because i dont think i ll be able to get one

[Frananta]

This is blasphemy!, this is madness!

[STEvil]

3 slots? Pull the fan and shroud off and duct a fan in from the side between the heatsinks with your own shroud!

[kadozer]

Doesn't any one see that there is no logic in this product. This thing is a minimum going to take up three slots(the picture makes it look like its going to take up 4 slots or more). The fan is specified to take up 32mm. With the fan shroud, backplate additional heatsink thickness and the PCB, this should be 50mm+. This makes it a three slot product. Regardless of how good those heatsinks are, they are going to take up as much space as a Crossfire setup which kills the purpose for such a product. This makes it more redundant than the mars card as their was no way to get 2 285 gtx into two slots without waterblocks and a special MB. Additionally the mars differed from the gtx 295 not simply through mhz. The sheer weight might even make it dangerous to install in computers.

I guess it makes sense if your using it for eyefinity and crossfire doesn't get fixed to work for eyefinity setups. A crossfire setup is better for overclocking and will likely be cheaper.

I applaud Asus for making different products, but unless they can keep this to a double slot form factor, I don't see the point as most 5970 can reach these clocks speeds already.

Luxury hobby items never make sense. this goes along the lines of $200 pair jeans that are only good as long as the fad lasts.

[saaya]

love the specs... but it looks really ugly imo... :/

[Leeghoofd]

Put ya hardware in a case and close it case Saaya :p

[Mechanical Man]

That will suck some serious current:
PCI Express connectors (8 + 8 + 6-pin).

[ajaidev]

I am about sure that GTX 480 will also have custom jobs sooner than later. It is possible custom cards show up in weeks after GTX 480 get launched.

[saaya]

Put ya hardware in a case and close it case Saaya :p

you wouldnt use a case either with 35-40C room temps during most of the year!

see it this way, i LIVE inside my pc case
cause 35-40C is the average case temp i used to get when i used cases back in germany

they clearly tried to make it look special, im just saying, it doesnt look good...
and tbh i dont get why they go for so huge and expensive heatsinks when waterblocks cost the same or less and do a MUCH better job...
if theyd watercool this they could probably clock it even higher... i mean the reference 5970 can clock to 850core, right?
people who buy this card will want to oc it beyond that, and it will be 90% heat that limits them... so why not go for a waterblock?

[Final8ty]

Doesn't any one see that there is no logic in this product. This thing is a minimum going to take up three slots(the picture makes it look like its going to take up 4 slots or more). The fan is specified to take up 32mm. With the fan shroud, backplate additional heatsink thickness and the PCB, this should be 50mm+. This makes it a three slot product. Regardless of how good those heatsinks are, they are going to take up as much space as a Crossfire setup which kills the purpose for such a product. This makes it more redundant than the mars card as their was no way to get 2 285 gtx into two slots without waterblocks and a special MB. Additionally the mars differed from the gtx 295 not simply through mhz. The sheer weight might even make it dangerous to install in computers.

I guess it makes sense if your using it for eyefinity and crossfire doesn't get fixed to work for eyefinity setups. A crossfire setup is better for overclocking and will likely be cheaper.

I applaud Asus for making different products, but unless they can keep this to a double slot form factor, I don't see the point as most 5970 can reach these clocks speeds already.

When there are 2GB 5870's out then your point will stand.

[tajoh111]

you wouldnt use a case either with 35-40C room temps during most of the year!

see it this way, i LIVE inside my pc case
cause 35-40C is the average case temp i used to get when i used cases back in germany

they clearly tried to make it look special, im just saying, it doesnt look good...
and tbh i dont get why they go for so huge and expensive heatsinks when waterblocks cost the same or less and do a MUCH better job...
if theyd watercool this they could probably clock it even higher... i mean the reference 5970 can clock to 850core, right?
people who buy this card will want to oc it beyond that, and it will be 90% heat that limits them... so why not go for a waterblock?

I totally agree with you saaya. If the price of this hits anything like the mars, you could buy the 5970, a water block, a new case like a d800, radiator, the pump accessories and still have money left over. Plus you would get better clocks, better temps and a base to start water cooling the rest of your stuff.

The original mars was selling for 1300 dollars. This could get past that considering its looks like even more of a monster.

When there are 2GB 5870's out then your point will stand.

The eyefinity edition(even more of an advantage as it supports 6 monitors) is coming out Mar 11. I bet that sooner than when this card hits with better availability to boot.

[Final8ty]

I totally agree with you saaya. If the price of this hits anything like the mars, you could buy the 5970, a water block, a new case like a d800, radiator, the pump accessories and still have money left over. Plus you would get better clocks, better temps and a base to start water cooling the rest of your stuff.

The original mars was selling for 1300 dollars. This could get past that considering its looks like even more of a monster.



The eyefinity edition(even more of an advantage as it supports 6 monitors) is coming out Mar 11. I bet that sooner than when this card hits with better availability to boot.

Not if it uses the mini DP ports when most do not use them & most people will use only use 3 monitors & that would mean 3 DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapters on that card.

[tajoh111]

Not if it uses the mini DP ports when most do not use them & most people will use only use 3 monitors & that would mean 3 DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapters on that card.

If you can afford a 5970, you can afford a displayport to hdmi wire.

This is likely going to be a 1300+ card(the original mars was 1000 plus british pounds) and your somehow trying to justify it based on video memory. Thats weak. Now your trying to use displayports as an excuse. Just stop arguing.

This card takes up the space of two cards, makes your computer immobile and cost as much as a quadfire solution and then some. If this reaches the 1700+ price of the original, you could build a quadfire 5970, with dual water blocks for less cost. No matter what video memory, this card is going to have a hard time beating a quadfire 5970 system.

http://www.guru3d.com/news/asus-mars-to-cost-1700-usd/

[ajaidev]

I want to see the real pics already waaaa waaaa

Also this uses 8+6 or 8+8??

[DeadlyFire]

Holy crap, 4 gigs of memory?

+1

[trinibwoy]

The Mars had 4GB of memory too didn't it?

[railer]

Translation:
We don't have new architecture so we glue together our current gen and slap 2 pnd heatsink on it to increase clock. Innovation at it's best

[N19h7m4r3]

Translation:
We don't have new architecture so we glue together our current gen and slap 2 pnd heatsink on it to increase clock. Innovation at it's best

Except Asus is doing this not AMD.

It's the same as with the NVidia MARS, where they took two 285's.

Do you also really think they'd release a new gen card now? They've barely had the 5xxx series out.

I'm sure we'll see something new by Q4 2010

[tajoh111]

Except Asus is doing this not AMD.

It's the same as with the NVidia MARS, where they took two 285's.

Do you also really think they'd release a new gen card now? They've barely had the 5xxx series out.

I'm sure we'll see something new by Q4 2010

The mars was a tad different, but ultimately what probably led to its failure. The mars slapped two gtx 285 rather than two pseudo 275 ala gtx 295, and thus was never done before. However it was a failure in engineering as it constantly overheated. In terms of uniqueness the mars was more special than the aries, as Sampsa seems to be implying that other card markers will be getting these low leakage products very soon.

This card is more of just what the 5970 should have been, but with a monster monster heatsink. This card will not fail heatwise like the mars, unless the MB breaks so it is a more usable card.

[jtdigital]

damn that card looks nice $800 guess?